diff --git a/R/check-built.R b/R/check-built.R
index 3f78e2a30..6c55eac1a 100644
--- a/R/check-built.R
+++ b/R/check-built.R
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ check_missing_images <- function(pkg, src_path, dst_path) {
   img <- xml2::xml_find_all(html, ".//img")
   src <- xml2::xml_attr(img, "src")
 
-  rel_src <- src[xml2::url_parse(src)$scheme == ""]
+  rel_src <- xml2::url_unescape(src[xml2::url_parse(src)$scheme == ""])
   rel_path <- path_norm(path(path_dir(dst_path), rel_src))
   exists <- file_exists(path(pkg$dst_path, rel_path))
 
diff --git a/R/tweak-page.R b/R/tweak-page.R
index 3349dc469..b5e1cf74c 100644
--- a/R/tweak-page.R
+++ b/R/tweak-page.R
@@ -47,10 +47,16 @@ tweak_rmarkdown_html <- function(html, input_path, pkg = list(bs_version = 3)) {
   src <- xml2::xml_attr(img, "src")
   abs_src <- is_absolute_path(src)
   if (any(abs_src)) {
+    img_target_nodes <- img[abs_src]
+    img_src_real <- path_real(xml2::url_unescape(src[abs_src]))
+    input_path_real <- path_real(xml2::url_unescape(input_path))
+    img_rel_paths <- path_rel(path = img_src_real, start = input_path_real)
+    img_rel_paths <- xml2::url_escape(img_rel_paths)
+
     purrr::walk2(
-      img[abs_src],
-      path_rel(path_real(src[abs_src]), path_real(input_path)),
-      xml2::xml_set_attr,
+      .x = img_target_nodes,
+      .y = img_rel_paths,
+      .f = xml2::xml_set_attr,
       attr = "src"
     )
   }
diff --git a/tests/testthat/test-build-article.R b/tests/testthat/test-build-article.R
index e9b92d906..5429d9251 100644
--- a/tests/testthat/test-build-article.R
+++ b/tests/testthat/test-build-article.R
@@ -81,7 +81,7 @@ test_that("BS5 article gets correctly activated navbar", {
 
   html <- xml2::read_html(article_path)
   navbar <- xml2::xml_find_first(html, ".//div[contains(@class, 'navbar')]")
-  
+
   expect_equal(
     xpath_text(navbar,".//li[contains(@class, 'active')]//button"),
     "Articles"
@@ -104,7 +104,7 @@ test_that("output is reproducible by default, i.e. 'seed' is respected", {
     r_code_block("runif(5L)")
   ))
   suppressMessages(path <- build_article("test", pkg))
-  
+
   html <- xml2::read_html(path)
   output <- xpath_text(html, "//main//pre")[[2]]
   expect_snapshot(cat(output))
@@ -133,7 +133,7 @@ test_that("can control math mode", {
   suppressMessages(path <- build_article("math", pkg))
   html <- xml2::read_html(path)
   expect_equal(xpath_length(html, ".//span[contains(@class, 'math')]"), 1)
-  
+
   pkg$meta$template$`math-rendering` <- "katex"
   suppressMessages(init_site(pkg))
   suppressMessages(path <- build_article("math", pkg))
@@ -276,6 +276,21 @@ test_that("warns about missing images", {
   expect_snapshot(build_article("kitten", pkg))
 })
 
+test_that("spaces in sorce paths do work", {
+  # create simulated package
+  pkg0 <- local_pkgdown_site()
+  pkg0 <- pkg_add_file(pkg0, "vignettes/kitten.Rmd", "![Kitten](kitten.jpg)")
+  pkg0 <- pkg_add_kitten(pkg0, "vignettes")
+
+  # copy simulated pkg to path that contains spaces
+  pkg1 <- fs::dir_copy(pkg0$src_path, fs::file_temp(pattern = "beware of spaces-"))
+
+  # check that pkgdown site builds anyways
+  expect_no_error(suppressMessages(
+    build_article("kitten", as_pkgdown(pkg1))
+  ))
+})
+
 test_that("warns about missing alt-text", {
   pkg <- local_pkgdown_site()
   pkg <- pkg_add_file(pkg, "vignettes/kitten.Rmd", "![](kitten.jpg)")