diff --git a/docs/config/build-options.md b/docs/config/build-options.md
index da1d33d453e8d1..2c60c838fa54ee 100644
--- a/docs/config/build-options.md
+++ b/docs/config/build-options.md
@@ -209,6 +209,14 @@ Set to `false` to disable writing the bundle to disk. This is mostly used in [pr
 
 By default, Vite will empty the `outDir` on build if it is inside project root. It will emit a warning if `outDir` is outside of root to avoid accidentally removing important files. You can explicitly set this option to suppress the warning. This is also available via command line as `--emptyOutDir`.
 
+## build.copyPublicDir
+
+- **Experimental**
+- **Type:** `boolean`
+- **Default:** `true`
+
+By default, Vite will copy files from the `publicDir` into the `outDir` on build. Set to `false` to disable this.
+
 ## build.reportCompressedSize
 
 - **Type:** `boolean`
diff --git a/packages/vite/src/node/build.ts b/packages/vite/src/node/build.ts
index 94f08c14b17b64..f4c14834a2380f 100644
--- a/packages/vite/src/node/build.ts
+++ b/packages/vite/src/node/build.ts
@@ -158,6 +158,12 @@ export interface BuildOptions {
    * @default true when outDir is a sub directory of project root
    */
   emptyOutDir?: boolean | null
+  /**
+   * Copy the public directory to outDir on write.
+   * @default true
+   * @experimental
+   */
+  copyPublicDir?: boolean
   /**
    * Whether to emit a manifest.json under assets dir to map hash-less filenames
    * to their hashed versions. Useful when you want to generate your own HTML
@@ -308,6 +314,7 @@ export function resolveBuildOptions(
     terserOptions: {},
     write: true,
     emptyOutDir: null,
+    copyPublicDir: true,
     manifest: false,
     lib: false,
     ssr: false,
@@ -687,7 +694,11 @@ function prepareOutDir(
         .filter(Boolean)
       emptyDir(outDir, [...skipDirs, '.git'])
     }
-    if (config.publicDir && fs.existsSync(config.publicDir)) {
+    if (
+      config.build.copyPublicDir &&
+      config.publicDir &&
+      fs.existsSync(config.publicDir)
+    ) {
       copyDir(config.publicDir, outDir)
     }
   }