diff --git a/CHANGELOG.adoc b/CHANGELOG.adoc
index f2cfaae12f9fe0bc563747be5e45f55df9a31699..3e444f2d1ceb04d5f04e8ae9732f6ff98055da20 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.adoc
+++ b/CHANGELOG.adoc
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ For a detailed view of what's changed, refer to the {url-repo}/commits[commit hi
 
 * add `build.stderr` key to Assembler config to control stderr lines emitted by command (`ignore`, `print`, `log`) (#112)
 * route stderr lines from command to Antora log if value of `build.stderr` key is `log` (#112)
+* introduce `embedReferenceStyle` property on exporter's converter object to control how image targets are rewritten (when embedded or bundled) (#100)
 
 === Changed
 
diff --git a/docs/assembler/modules/ROOT/pages/custom-exporter-extension.adoc b/docs/assembler/modules/ROOT/pages/custom-exporter-extension.adoc
index 39841464d56ff0591a91487521463e479c213b69..d2788429d03e5bfd81bb12d08e6e11b8077d96a8 100644
--- a/docs/assembler/modules/ROOT/pages/custom-exporter-extension.adoc
+++ b/docs/assembler/modules/ROOT/pages/custom-exporter-extension.adoc
@@ -25,6 +25,9 @@ backend:: The target backend; the backend that will be set during conversion (e.
 (optional, default: the file extension without the leading dot)
 extname:: The file extension of the target format (e.g., `.epub`).
 mediaType:: The MIME type of the target format (e.g., `application/epub+zip`).
+embedReferenceStyle:: Controls whether images are rewritten relative to the export file (`relative`) or the output directory (`output-relative`).
+The `docdir` attribute passed to the convert function is set accordingly.
+(optional, default: `relative`)
 loggerName:: The name of the Antora logger to use when logging messages captured from stderr of the command (e.g., `@antora/epub-extension`).
 (optional, default: `@antora/assembler`)
 
diff --git a/packages/assembler/lib/assemble-content.js b/packages/assembler/lib/assemble-content.js
index 6aeddbe39880149fe7684b47486d08f5216d9488..2dca8ec85f51b2bd4f29ed0dcbd0c9a147c66f37 100644
--- a/packages/assembler/lib/assemble-content.js
+++ b/packages/assembler/lib/assemble-content.js
@@ -31,10 +31,12 @@ async function assembleContent (playbook, contentCatalog, converter, { configSou
     convert = converter,
     extname: targetExtname = '',
     backend: targetBackend = targetExtname.slice(1),
+    embedReferenceStyle = 'relative',
     mediaType: targetMediaType,
     loggerName = PACKAGE_NAME,
   } = converter ?? {}
   const { assembly: assemblyConfig, build: buildConfig } = assemblerConfig
+  assemblyConfig.embedReferenceStyle = embedReferenceStyle
   const { profile = targetBackend } = assemblyConfig
   const intrinsicAttributes = { 'loader-assembler': '' }
   buildConfig.cwd ??= process.cwd()
@@ -63,7 +65,8 @@ async function assembleContent (playbook, contentCatalog, converter, { configSou
   return new PromiseQueue({ concurrency: buildConfig.processLimit })
     .add(
       assemblyFiles.map((doc) => async () => {
-        const convertAttributes = prepareConvertAttributes(doc, targetExtname, buildConfig)
+        const relativeToOutput = embedReferenceStyle === 'output-relative'
+        const convertAttributes = prepareConvertAttributes(doc, targetExtname, relativeToOutput, buildConfig)
         if (buildConfig.mkdirs) await fsp.mkdir(convertAttributes.outdir, { recursive: true, force: true })
         return boundConvert(doc, convertAttributes, buildConfig).then((result) => {
           const fileOrContents = resolveFileOrContents.call(context, result, convertAttributes, buildConfig, loggerName)
@@ -151,7 +154,7 @@ function createResolveAssemblyModel (context, contentCatalog, common, intrinsicA
   }
 }
 
-function prepareConvertAttributes (doc, targetExtname, buildConfig) {
+function prepareConvertAttributes (doc, targetExtname, relativeToOutput, buildConfig) {
   const {
     asciidoc: { attributes: docAttributes } = { attributes: {} },
     extname: docfilesuffix,
@@ -161,7 +164,8 @@ function prepareConvertAttributes (doc, targetExtname, buildConfig) {
   const { cwd = process.cwd(), dir = cwd } = buildConfig
   const docname = family + '$' + relative.slice(0, relative.length - docfilesuffix.length)
   const docfile = ospath.join(dir, reldocfile)
-  const docdir = dir
+  const outdir = ospath.dirname(docfile)
+  const docdir = relativeToOutput ? dir : outdir
   const imagesdir = ''
   const outfile = docfile.slice(0, docfile.length - docfilesuffix.length) + targetExtname
   const attributes = Object.assign({}, docAttributes, {
@@ -170,7 +174,7 @@ function prepareConvertAttributes (doc, targetExtname, buildConfig) {
     docfilesuffix,
     'docname@': docname,
     imagesdir,
-    outdir: ospath.dirname(docfile),
+    outdir,
     outfile,
     outfilesuffix: targetExtname,
     toArgs (optionFlag, command) {
diff --git a/packages/assembler/lib/produce-assembly-file.js b/packages/assembler/lib/produce-assembly-file.js
index 9a831d3b4b0f8974e8c57c82af0e35358587db7f..e34a0e5d0871e4df6d8b862a1ac0a560d90e576b 100644
--- a/packages/assembler/lib/produce-assembly-file.js
+++ b/packages/assembler/lib/produce-assembly-file.js
@@ -119,10 +119,12 @@ function mergeAsciiDoc (
   const atDocumentRoot = !buffer.inBody
   const atBookRoot = atDocumentRoot && !level && assemblyModel.doctype === 'book' && (supportsParts = true)
   const hasItems = items.length > 0
+  const outdir = asciidocConfig.attributes.outdir
   const siteUrl = ((val) => {
     if (!val) return
     return val.charAt(val.length - 1) === '/' ? val.slice(0, val.length - 1) : val
   })(asciidocConfig.attributes['site-url'] || asciidocConfig.attributes['primary-site-url'])
+  const embedRefStyle = assemblyModel.embedReferenceStyle
   const idSeparator = assemblyModel.xmlIds ? '-' : ':'
   const idScopeSeparator = idSeparator.repeat(3)
   const idCoordinateSeparator = idSeparator === '-' ? '----' : idSeparator
@@ -458,7 +460,7 @@ function mergeAsciiDoc (
             // TODO: handle (or report) unresolved image better
             if (image?.out) {
               pagesInOutline.assembled.assets.add(image)
-              return `image:${image.out.path.replace(/_/g, '{underscore}')}[${attrlist}]`
+              return `image:${resolveEmbedTarget(image, outdir, embedRefStyle, true)}[${attrlist}]`
             }
           }
           return m
@@ -515,7 +517,7 @@ function mergeAsciiDoc (
               if (image?.out) {
                 const attrlist = line.slice(line.indexOf('[') + 1, -1)
                 pagesInOutline.assembled.assets.add(image)
-                lines[idx] = `${prefix}image::${image.out.path}[${attrlist}]`
+                lines[idx] = `${prefix}image::${resolveEmbedTarget(image, outdir, embedRefStyle)}[${attrlist}]`
               }
             }
             lastImageMacroAt = [idx, imageMacroOffset]
@@ -795,4 +797,10 @@ function resolveLinkTarget (resource, siteUrl) {
   return prefix + target.replace(/_/g, '{underscore}')
 }
 
+function resolveEmbedTarget (resource, outdir, referenceStyle, escapeForInline) {
+  const target =
+    referenceStyle === 'output-relative' ? resource.out.path : path.relative(outdir + '/', resource.out.path)
+  return escapeForInline ? target.replace(/_/g, '{underscore}') : target
+}
+
 module.exports = produceAssemblyFile
diff --git a/packages/assembler/lib/produce-assembly-files.js b/packages/assembler/lib/produce-assembly-files.js
index 8da9e91bd50a812e9e1e2cdd86609f97766c9d3d..e660a5791f149bfd818e6608f085dd006ce7e67b 100644
--- a/packages/assembler/lib/produce-assembly-files.js
+++ b/packages/assembler/lib/produce-assembly-files.js
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 'use strict'
 
+const computeOut = require('./util/compute-out')
 const createAsciiDocFile = require('./util/create-asciidoc-file')
 const filterComponentVersions = require('./filter-component-versions')
 const produceAssemblyFile = require('./produce-assembly-file')
@@ -17,6 +18,7 @@ function produceAssemblyFiles (loadAsciiDoc, contentCatalog, assemblerConfig, re
     sectionMergeStrategy: assemblyConfig.sectionMergeStrategy,
     navigation: componentVersion.navigation,
     xmlIds: assemblyConfig.xmlIds,
+    embedReferenceStyle: assemblyConfig.embedReferenceStyle,
   })
   const assemblerAsciiDocAttributes = Object.assign({}, assemblerAsciiDocConfig.attributes)
   const { revdate, 'source-highlighter': sourceHighlighter } = assemblerAsciiDocAttributes
@@ -35,6 +37,12 @@ function produceAssemblyFiles (loadAsciiDoc, contentCatalog, assemblerConfig, re
         assemblerAsciiDocAttributes,
         { logger: assemblyModel.logger, mdc: configMdc }
       )
+      mergedAsciiDocAttributes.outdir = computeOut.call(contentCatalog, {
+        component: componentVersion.name,
+        version: componentVersion.version,
+        family: 'export',
+        relative: '.index.adoc',
+      }).dirname
       const mergedAsciiDocConfig = Object.assign({}, componentVersionAsciiDocConfig, {
         attributes: mergedAsciiDocAttributes,
       })
diff --git a/packages/assembler/test/assemble-content-test.js b/packages/assembler/test/assemble-content-test.js
index a852387e2fe845a4126be67eaf1017efa453a9a7..011d9c035e90cf8af3e38bc2d9d8978945cd67fe 100644
--- a/packages/assembler/test/assemble-content-test.js
+++ b/packages/assembler/test/assemble-content-test.js
@@ -69,7 +69,7 @@ describe('assembleContent()', () => {
       'assembler-backend-pdf': '',
       'assembler-profile': 'pdf',
       'assembler-profile-pdf': '',
-      docdir: buildDir,
+      docdir: ospath.dirname(ospath.join(expectedOutdir, 'index.adoc')),
       docfile: ospath.join(expectedOutdir, 'index.adoc'),
       docfilesuffix: '.adoc',
       'docname@': 'export$index',
@@ -97,6 +97,28 @@ describe('assembleContent()', () => {
     assert.equal(contentCatalog.getFiles().length, 1)
   })
 
+  it('should set docdir to build dir if embedReferenceStyle is output-relative', async () => {
+    const scenario = 'insert-page'
+    const { playbook, contentCatalog, assemblerConfig: configSource } = await loadScenario(scenario, __dirname)
+    configSource.build.publish = false
+    const buildDir = configSource.build.dir
+    const convertCalls = []
+    const convert = async (doc, ...rest) => {
+      convertCalls.push([doc].concat(rest))
+      return doc
+    }
+    const converter = {
+      convert,
+      backend: 'pdf',
+      extname: '.pdf',
+      embedReferenceStyle: 'output-relative',
+      mediaType: 'application/pdf',
+    }
+    await assembleContent(playbook, contentCatalog, converter, { configSource })
+    const actualConvertAttributes = convertCalls[0][1]
+    assert.equal(actualConvertAttributes.docdir, buildDir)
+  })
+
   it('should expand attribute references in attribute values defined in configuration', async () => {
     const scenario = 'expand-attribute-references'
     const playbook = { dir: ospath.join(FIXTURES_DIR, 'project-with-command') }
diff --git a/packages/assembler/test/scenarios/process-asciidoc-table-cell/data.yml b/packages/assembler/test/scenarios/process-asciidoc-table-cell/data.yml
index c3cc478905f837c38f1d32a241e72de56bae3a60..fa2519ff94d85f722daa533120199f52f78118dd 100644
--- a/packages/assembler/test/scenarios/process-asciidoc-table-cell/data.yml
+++ b/packages/assembler/test/scenarios/process-asciidoc-table-cell/data.yml
@@ -37,3 +37,6 @@ files:
 - relative: the-other-image.png
   module: shared
   family: image
+assembler:
+  assembly:
+    embedReferenceStyle: output-relative
diff --git a/packages/assembler/test/scenarios/resolve-image-targets/expects/index.adoc b/packages/assembler/test/scenarios/resolve-image-targets/expects/index.adoc
index 27304a076fa2256639e9901a92ebea370ed89001..568d58b48a1448b42d6f2b023e40bfe327b431e0 100644
--- a/packages/assembler/test/scenarios/resolve-image-targets/expects/index.adoc
+++ b/packages/assembler/test/scenarios/resolve-image-targets/expects/index.adoc
@@ -19,9 +19,9 @@
 [#the-page]
 == The Page Title
 
-image::the-component/1.0/shared/_images/the-image.png[]
+image::../shared/_images/the-image.png[]
 
-Click image:the-component/1.0/{underscore}images/save.svg[] to save the document.
+Click image:../{underscore}images/save.svg[] to save the document.
 
 :docname: the-other-page
 :page-module: ROOT
@@ -34,6 +34,6 @@ Click image:the-component/1.0/{underscore}images/save.svg[] to save the document
 [#the-other-page]
 == The Other Page Title
 
-image::common/_images/logo.png[]
+image::../../../common/_images/logo.png[]
 
-image::the-component/1.0/shared/_images/the-image.png[]
+image::../shared/_images/the-image.png[]
diff --git a/packages/assembler/test/scenarios/root-component/expects/index.adoc b/packages/assembler/test/scenarios/root-component/expects/index.adoc
index 0720646b79c55fd1a13e8a856da9324af7d21281..fee2dc62b64ce30848f2f09857ebc36bbac7cb17 100644
--- a/packages/assembler/test/scenarios/root-component/expects/index.adoc
+++ b/packages/assembler/test/scenarios/root-component/expects/index.adoc
@@ -18,4 +18,4 @@
 [#the-page]
 == The Page Title
 
-image::_images/the-image.png[]
+image::../_images/the-image.png[]
diff --git a/packages/epub-extension/lib/converter.js b/packages/epub-extension/lib/converter.js
index 9e026c79f7f8651de1fdf07bc8355c5a38460f02..842a92d12709f253245f7c71ed01d5bc7687563f 100644
--- a/packages/epub-extension/lib/converter.js
+++ b/packages/epub-extension/lib/converter.js
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ module.exports = {
   convert,
   backend: 'epub3',
   extname: '.epub',
+  embedReferenceStyle: 'output-relative',
   mediaType: 'application/epub+zip',
   loggerName: require('../package.json').name,
 }