diff --git a/packages/vite/src/node/plugins/css.ts b/packages/vite/src/node/plugins/css.ts
index d189ae06231d42..883279b56202de 100644
--- a/packages/vite/src/node/plugins/css.ts
+++ b/packages/vite/src/node/plugins/css.ts
@@ -172,6 +172,8 @@ const postcssConfigCache = new WeakMap<
   PostCSSConfigResult | null | Promise<PostCSSConfigResult | null>
 >()
 
+const rootCssVariableCache = new WeakMap<ResolvedConfig, Map<string, string>>()
+
 function encodePublicUrlsInCSS(config: ResolvedConfig) {
   return config.command === 'build'
 }
@@ -182,6 +184,7 @@ function encodePublicUrlsInCSS(config: ResolvedConfig) {
 export function cssPlugin(config: ResolvedConfig): Plugin {
   let server: ViteDevServer
   let moduleCache: Map<string, Record<string, string>>
+  let rootVarsCache: Map<string, string>
 
   const resolveUrl = config.createResolver({
     preferRelative: true,
@@ -204,6 +207,9 @@ export function cssPlugin(config: ResolvedConfig): Plugin {
       moduleCache = new Map<string, Record<string, string>>()
       cssModulesCache.set(config, moduleCache)
 
+      rootVarsCache = new Map<string, string>()
+      rootCssVariableCache.set(config, rootVarsCache)
+
       removedPureCssFilesCache.set(config, new Map<string, RenderedChunk>())
     },
 
@@ -243,7 +249,7 @@ export function cssPlugin(config: ResolvedConfig): Plugin {
         modules,
         deps,
         map,
-      } = await compileCSS(id, raw, config, urlReplacer)
+      } = await compileCSS(id, raw, config, { urlReplacer, rootVarsCache })
       if (modules) {
         moduleCache.set(id, modules)
       }
@@ -491,6 +497,18 @@ export function cssPostPlugin(config: ResolvedConfig): Plugin {
         return null
       }
 
+      // remove duplicate base64 css variables
+      const base64VarRE = /(--base64-[^:]+):.+?\);/g
+      const cssVarCache = new Map<string, boolean>()
+      chunkCSS = chunkCSS.replace(base64VarRE, (s, cssVar) => {
+        if (cssVarCache.has(cssVar)) {
+          return ''
+        }
+
+        cssVarCache.set(cssVar, true)
+        return s
+      })
+
       const publicAssetUrlMap = publicAssetUrlCache.get(config)!
 
       // resolve asset URL placeholders to their built file URLs
@@ -809,7 +827,10 @@ async function compileCSS(
   id: string,
   code: string,
   config: ResolvedConfig,
-  urlReplacer?: CssUrlReplacer,
+  options?: {
+    urlReplacer?: CssUrlReplacer
+    rootVarsCache: Map<string, string>
+  },
 ): Promise<{
   code: string
   map?: SourceMapInput
@@ -938,11 +959,12 @@ async function compileCSS(
     )
   }
 
-  if (urlReplacer) {
+  if (options?.urlReplacer) {
     postcssPlugins.push(
       UrlRewritePostcssPlugin({
-        replacer: urlReplacer,
+        replacer: options.urlReplacer,
         logger: config.logger,
+        rootVars: options.rootVarsCache,
       }),
     )
   }
@@ -1236,6 +1258,7 @@ const cssImageSetRE = /(?<=image-set\()((?:[\w\-]{1,256}\([^)]*\)|[^)])*)(?=\))/
 const UrlRewritePostcssPlugin: PostCSS.PluginCreator<{
   replacer: CssUrlReplacer
   logger: Logger
+  rootVars: Map<string, string>
 }> = (opts) => {
   if (!opts) {
     throw new Error('base or replace is required')
@@ -1245,6 +1268,7 @@ const UrlRewritePostcssPlugin: PostCSS.PluginCreator<{
     postcssPlugin: 'vite-url-rewrite',
     Once(root) {
       const promises: Promise<void>[] = []
+      const isCssFile = !root.source?.input.file?.includes('.html')
       root.walkDecls((declaration) => {
         const importer = declaration.source?.input.file
         if (!importer) {
@@ -1267,14 +1291,40 @@ const UrlRewritePostcssPlugin: PostCSS.PluginCreator<{
           promises.push(
             rewriterToUse(declaration.value, replacerForDeclaration).then(
               (url) => {
-                declaration.value = url
+                let match
+
+                if (
+                  isCssFile &&
+                  (match = url.match(/url\(['"]?data:.+?;base64,.+?\)/))
+                ) {
+                  const [base64] = match
+
+                  const cssVar =
+                    opts.rootVars.get(base64) || `--base64-${getHash(base64)}`
+                  opts.rootVars.set(base64, cssVar)
+
+                  declaration.value = url.replace(base64, `var(${cssVar})`)
+                } else {
+                  declaration.value = url
+                }
               },
             ),
           )
         }
       })
       if (promises.length) {
-        return Promise.all(promises) as any
+        return Promise.all(promises).then(() => {
+          isCssFile &&
+            root.prepend(
+              `:root{${Array.from(opts.rootVars.entries()).reduce(
+                (cssVars, [url, cssVar]) => {
+                  cssVars += `\n${cssVar}: ${url};`
+                  return cssVars
+                },
+                '',
+              )}}`,
+            )
+        }) as any
       }
     },
   }