diff --git a/goldens/public-api/angular_devkit/build_angular/index.md b/goldens/public-api/angular_devkit/build_angular/index.md
index 1450faeb3199..bfd2d1f2c2f4 100644
--- a/goldens/public-api/angular_devkit/build_angular/index.md
+++ b/goldens/public-api/angular_devkit/build_angular/index.md
@@ -79,7 +79,7 @@ export type BrowserBuilderOutput = BuilderOutput & {
     outputs: {
         locale?: string;
         path: string;
-        baseHref: string;
+        baseHref?: string;
     }[];
 };
 
diff --git a/packages/angular_devkit/build_angular/src/builders/app-shell/index.ts b/packages/angular_devkit/build_angular/src/builders/app-shell/index.ts
index ec88c92cbcc4..37b1c7cb29e5 100644
--- a/packages/angular_devkit/build_angular/src/builders/app-shell/index.ts
+++ b/packages/angular_devkit/build_angular/src/builders/app-shell/index.ts
@@ -118,7 +118,7 @@ async function _renderUniversal(
         projectRoot,
         root,
         outputPath,
-        baseHref,
+        baseHref ?? '/',
         browserOptions.ngswConfigPath,
       );
     }
diff --git a/packages/angular_devkit/build_angular/src/builders/browser/index.ts b/packages/angular_devkit/build_angular/src/builders/browser/index.ts
index 0651ae889f8b..34f21b81543c 100644
--- a/packages/angular_devkit/build_angular/src/builders/browser/index.ts
+++ b/packages/angular_devkit/build_angular/src/builders/browser/index.ts
@@ -79,7 +79,7 @@ export type BrowserBuilderOutput = BuilderOutput & {
   outputs: {
     locale?: string;
     path: string;
-    baseHref: string;
+    baseHref?: string;
   }[];
 };
 
@@ -183,8 +183,6 @@ export function buildWebpackBrowser(
       ({ config, projectRoot, projectSourceRoot, i18n, target, cacheOptions }) => {
         const normalizedOptimization = normalizeOptimization(options.optimization);
 
-        const defaultBaseHref = options.baseHref ?? '/';
-
         return runWebpack(config, context, {
           webpackFactory: require('webpack') as typeof webpack,
           logging:
@@ -319,7 +317,7 @@ export function buildWebpackBrowser(
                   for (const [locale, outputPath] of outputPaths.entries()) {
                     try {
                       const { content, warnings, errors } = await indexHtmlGenerator.process({
-                        baseHref: getLocaleBaseHref(i18n, locale) || defaultBaseHref,
+                        baseHref: getLocaleBaseHref(i18n, locale) ?? options.baseHref,
                         // i18nLocale is used when Ivy is disabled
                         lang: locale || undefined,
                         outputPath,
@@ -363,7 +361,7 @@ export function buildWebpackBrowser(
                         projectRoot,
                         context.workspaceRoot,
                         outputPath,
-                        getLocaleBaseHref(i18n, locale) ?? defaultBaseHref,
+                        getLocaleBaseHref(i18n, locale) ?? options.baseHref ?? '/',
                         options.ngswConfigPath,
                       );
                     } catch (error) {
@@ -393,10 +391,10 @@ export function buildWebpackBrowser(
                   [...outputPaths.entries()].map(([locale, path]) => ({
                     locale,
                     path,
-                    baseHref: getLocaleBaseHref(i18n, locale) ?? defaultBaseHref,
+                    baseHref: getLocaleBaseHref(i18n, locale) ?? options.baseHref,
                   }))) || {
                   path: baseOutputPath,
-                  baseHref: defaultBaseHref,
+                  baseHref: options.baseHref,
                 },
               } as BrowserBuilderOutput),
           ),
diff --git a/packages/angular_devkit/build_angular/src/builders/browser/specs/base-href_spec.ts b/packages/angular_devkit/build_angular/src/builders/browser/specs/base-href_spec.ts
index bb8b6e784171..536ea0c5ae16 100644
--- a/packages/angular_devkit/build_angular/src/builders/browser/specs/base-href_spec.ts
+++ b/packages/angular_devkit/build_angular/src/builders/browser/specs/base-href_spec.ts
@@ -39,6 +39,27 @@ describe('Browser Builder base href', () => {
     await run.stop();
   });
 
+  it('should not override base href in HTML when option is not set', async () => {
+    host.writeMultipleFiles({
+      'src/index.html': `
+      <html>
+        <head><base href="."></head>
+        <body></body>
+      </html>
+      `,
+    });
+
+    const run = await architect.scheduleTarget(targetSpec);
+    const output = (await run.result) as BrowserBuilderOutput;
+
+    expect(output.success).toBeTrue();
+    const fileName = join(normalize(output.outputs[0].path), 'index.html');
+    const content = virtualFs.fileBufferToString(await host.read(fileName).toPromise());
+    expect(content).toContain(`<base href=".">`);
+
+    await run.stop();
+  });
+
   it('should insert base href in the the correct position', async () => {
     host.writeMultipleFiles({
       'src/index.html': tags.oneLine`
diff --git a/packages/angular_devkit/build_angular/src/testing/test-utils.ts b/packages/angular_devkit/build_angular/src/testing/test-utils.ts
index 3387b8cee8f9..c83d76f8d9c3 100644
--- a/packages/angular_devkit/build_angular/src/testing/test-utils.ts
+++ b/packages/angular_devkit/build_angular/src/testing/test-utils.ts
@@ -83,8 +83,7 @@ export async function browserBuild(
     };
   }
 
-  const [{ path, baseHref }] = output.outputs;
-  expect(baseHref).toBeTruthy();
+  const [{ path }] = output.outputs;
   expect(path).toBeTruthy();
   const outputPath = normalize(path);