diff --git a/CHANGES b/CHANGES
index 5a7c980b1..7462381a4 100644
--- a/CHANGES
+++ b/CHANGES
@@ -61,6 +61,8 @@ Bugs fixed
 * C, C++: in general fix intersphinx and role lookup types.
 * #8683: :confval:`html_last_updated_fmt` does not support UTC offset (%z)
 * #8683: :confval:`html_last_updated_fmt` generates wrong time zone for %Z
+* #1112: ``download`` role creates duplicated copies when relative path is
+  specified
 
 Testing
 --------
diff --git a/sphinx/environment/__init__.py b/sphinx/environment/__init__.py
index be5e52f49..af3e2b8d5 100644
--- a/sphinx/environment/__init__.py
+++ b/sphinx/environment/__init__.py
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@
 
 import os
 import pickle
+import posixpath
 import warnings
 from collections import defaultdict
 from copy import copy
@@ -356,9 +357,9 @@ class BuildEnvironment:
             docdir = path.dirname(self.doc2path(docname or self.docname,
                                                 base=None))
             rel_fn = path.join(docdir, filename)
-        # the path.abspath() might seem redundant, but otherwise artifacts
-        # such as ".." will remain in the path
-        return rel_fn, path.abspath(path.join(self.srcdir, rel_fn))
+
+        return (posixpath.normpath(rel_fn),
+                path.normpath(path.join(self.srcdir, rel_fn)))
 
     @property
     def found_docs(self) -> Set[str]:
diff --git a/tests/test_environment.py b/tests/test_environment.py
index ccf396d9c..9791c2d5b 100644
--- a/tests/test_environment.py
+++ b/tests/test_environment.py
@@ -138,6 +138,11 @@ def test_env_relfn2path(app):
     assert relfn == '../logo.jpg'
     assert absfn == app.srcdir.parent / 'logo.jpg'
 
+    # relative path traversal
+    relfn, absfn = app.env.relfn2path('subdir/../logo.jpg', 'index')
+    assert relfn == 'logo.jpg'
+    assert absfn == app.srcdir / 'logo.jpg'
+
     # omit docname (w/ current docname)
     app.env.temp_data['docname'] = 'subdir/document'
     relfn, absfn = app.env.relfn2path('images/logo.jpg')