diff --git a/.changeset/twelve-paws-remember.md b/.changeset/twelve-paws-remember.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..1d484047af0c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/twelve-paws-remember.md
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+'@sveltejs/kit': major
+---
+
+breaking: fix path resolution
diff --git a/packages/kit/src/core/postbuild/fixtures/base/output.json b/packages/kit/src/core/postbuild/fixtures/base/output.json
index af7a9e70a93c..203973f65687 100644
--- a/packages/kit/src/core/postbuild/fixtures/base/output.json
+++ b/packages/kit/src/core/postbuild/fixtures/base/output.json
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 	"hrefs": [
 		"/base-path/styles.css",
 		"/base-path/favicon.png",
-		"https://external.com",
+		"https://external.com/",
 		"/base-path/wheee",
 		"/base-path/wheee2",
 		"/base-path/wheee3",
diff --git a/packages/kit/src/core/postbuild/fixtures/basic-href/output.json b/packages/kit/src/core/postbuild/fixtures/basic-href/output.json
index 415f7b38671f..48b9db674814 100644
--- a/packages/kit/src/core/postbuild/fixtures/basic-href/output.json
+++ b/packages/kit/src/core/postbuild/fixtures/basic-href/output.json
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 	"hrefs": [
 		"/styles.css",
 		"/favicon.png",
-		"https://external.com",
+		"https://external.com/",
 		"/wheee",
 		"/wheee2",
 		"/wheee3",
diff --git a/packages/kit/src/core/postbuild/fixtures/href-with-character-reference/output.json b/packages/kit/src/core/postbuild/fixtures/href-with-character-reference/output.json
index eb649d122431..0ac291842779 100644
--- a/packages/kit/src/core/postbuild/fixtures/href-with-character-reference/output.json
+++ b/packages/kit/src/core/postbuild/fixtures/href-with-character-reference/output.json
@@ -3,9 +3,9 @@
 		"/styles.css",
 		"/favicon.png",
 		"/test&ampersand",
-		"/test\"quotation",
-		"/test♡decimal",
-		"/test♥hex"
+		"/test%22quotation",
+		"/test%E2%99%A1decimal",
+		"/test%E2%99%A5hex"
 	],
 	"ids": []
 }
diff --git a/packages/kit/src/core/postbuild/fixtures/ids/output.json b/packages/kit/src/core/postbuild/fixtures/ids/output.json
index e749d3128d7e..750406f0dbcc 100644
--- a/packages/kit/src/core/postbuild/fixtures/ids/output.json
+++ b/packages/kit/src/core/postbuild/fixtures/ids/output.json
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
 {
-	"hrefs": ["/#encöded"],
+	"hrefs": ["/#enc%C3%B6ded"],
 	"ids": ["before", "after", "encöded"]
 }
diff --git a/packages/kit/src/core/postbuild/fixtures/include-rel-external/output.json b/packages/kit/src/core/postbuild/fixtures/include-rel-external/output.json
index 1d2f9337af06..b389f1b5a3e7 100644
--- a/packages/kit/src/core/postbuild/fixtures/include-rel-external/output.json
+++ b/packages/kit/src/core/postbuild/fixtures/include-rel-external/output.json
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
 {
-	"hrefs": ["/styles.css", "/favicon.png", "https://external.com"],
+	"hrefs": ["/styles.css", "/favicon.png", "https://external.com/"],
 	"ids": []
 }
diff --git a/packages/kit/src/core/postbuild/fixtures/meta/output.json b/packages/kit/src/core/postbuild/fixtures/meta/output.json
index 76cfe72ada91..2e5881e7521d 100644
--- a/packages/kit/src/core/postbuild/fixtures/meta/output.json
+++ b/packages/kit/src/core/postbuild/fixtures/meta/output.json
@@ -1,4 +1,9 @@
 {
-	"hrefs": ["https://external.com", "/og-image.jpg", "https://example.com/audio.mp3", "/video.mp4"],
+	"hrefs": [
+		"https://external.com/",
+		"/og-image.jpg",
+		"https://example.com/audio.mp3",
+		"/video.mp4"
+	],
 	"ids": []
 }
diff --git a/packages/kit/src/core/postbuild/fixtures/unquoted-attributes/output.json b/packages/kit/src/core/postbuild/fixtures/unquoted-attributes/output.json
index 2f95abb62dd4..d2d68c5d41e0 100644
--- a/packages/kit/src/core/postbuild/fixtures/unquoted-attributes/output.json
+++ b/packages/kit/src/core/postbuild/fixtures/unquoted-attributes/output.json
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
 {
-	"hrefs": ["/styles.css", "/favicon.png", "https://external.com", "/wheee"],
+	"hrefs": ["/styles.css", "/favicon.png", "https://external.com/", "/wheee"],
 	"ids": []
 }
diff --git a/packages/kit/src/utils/url.js b/packages/kit/src/utils/url.js
index ac6e25581e52..ebcd3702ea86 100644
--- a/packages/kit/src/utils/url.js
+++ b/packages/kit/src/utils/url.js
@@ -6,39 +6,20 @@ import { BROWSER } from 'esm-env';
  */
 export const SCHEME = /^[a-z][a-z\d+\-.]+:/i;
 
-const absolute = /^([a-z]+:)?\/?\//;
+const internal = new URL('sveltekit-internal://');
 
 /**
  * @param {string} base
  * @param {string} path
  */
 export function resolve(base, path) {
-	if (SCHEME.test(path)) return path;
-	if (path[0] === '#') return base + path;
-	if (path === '') return base;
+	// special case
+	if (path[0] === '/' && path[1] === '/') return path;
 
-	const base_match = absolute.exec(base);
-	const path_match = absolute.exec(path);
+	let url = new URL(base, internal);
+	url = new URL(path, url);
 
-	if (!base_match) {
-		throw new Error(`bad base path: "${base}"`);
-	}
-
-	const baseparts = path_match ? [] : base.slice(base_match[0].length).split('/');
-	const pathparts = path_match ? path.slice(path_match[0].length).split('/') : path.split('/');
-
-	baseparts.pop();
-
-	for (let i = 0; i < pathparts.length; i += 1) {
-		const part = pathparts[i];
-		if (part === '.') continue;
-		else if (part === '..') baseparts.pop();
-		else baseparts.push(part);
-	}
-
-	const prefix = (path_match && path_match[0]) || (base_match && base_match[0]) || '';
-
-	return `${prefix}${baseparts.join('/')}`;
+	return url.protocol === internal.protocol ? url.pathname + url.search + url.hash : url.href;
 }
 
 /** @param {string} path */
diff --git a/packages/kit/src/utils/url.spec.js b/packages/kit/src/utils/url.spec.js
index 8f37b5330def..7de41b1e04d1 100644
--- a/packages/kit/src/utils/url.spec.js
+++ b/packages/kit/src/utils/url.spec.js
@@ -61,6 +61,10 @@ describe('resolve', (test) => {
 	test('resolves empty string', () => {
 		assert.equal(resolve('/a/b/c', ''), '/a/b/c');
 	});
+
+	test('resolves .', () => {
+		assert.equal(resolve('/a/b/c', '.'), '/a/b/');
+	});
 });
 
 describe('normalize_path', (test) => {
diff --git a/packages/kit/test/apps/basics/src/routes/cookies/encoding/set/+server.js b/packages/kit/test/apps/basics/src/routes/cookies/encoding/set/+server.js
index 6198238b21ea..141392352327 100644
--- a/packages/kit/test/apps/basics/src/routes/cookies/encoding/set/+server.js
+++ b/packages/kit/test/apps/basics/src/routes/cookies/encoding/set/+server.js
@@ -3,6 +3,6 @@ import { redirect } from '@sveltejs/kit';
 /** @type {import('@sveltejs/kit').RequestHandler} */
 export const GET = (event) => {
 	const needsEncoding = 'teapot, jane austen';
-	event.cookies.set('encoding', needsEncoding, { path: '.' });
+	event.cookies.set('encoding', needsEncoding, { path: '/cookies/encoding' });
 	redirect(303, '/cookies/encoding');
 };