diff --git a/docs/pages/en/3.api/1.options.md b/docs/pages/en/3.api/1.options.md
index f5d4dd4c2..34fed4985 100644
--- a/docs/pages/en/3.api/1.options.md
+++ b/docs/pages/en/3.api/1.options.md
@@ -175,3 +175,54 @@ export default {
 - For `static` provider, if images weren't crawled during generation (unreachable modals, pages or dynamic runtime size), changing `dir` from `static` causes 404 errors.
 - For `ipx` provider, make sure to deploy customized `dir` as well.
 - For some providers (like vercel), using a directory other than `static/` for assets is not supported since resizing happens at runtime (instead of build/generate time) and source fetched from the `static/` directory (deployment URL)
+
+## `alias`
+
+This option allows you to specify aliases for `src`.
+
+When using the default ipx provider, URL aliases are shortened on the server-side.
+This is especially useful for optimizing external URLs and not including them in HTML.
+
+When using other providers, aliases are resolved in runtime and included in HTML. (only the usage is simplified)
+
+**Example:**
+
+```ts [nuxt.config.js]
+export default {
+  image: {
+    domains: [
+      'images.unsplash.com'
+    ],
+    alias: {
+      unsplash: 'https://images.unsplash.com'
+    }
+  }
+}
+```
+
+**Before** using alias:
+
+```html
+<nuxt-img src="https://images.unsplash.com/<id>" />
+```
+
+Generates:
+
+```html
+<img src="/_ipx/https://images.unsplash.com/<id>">
+```
+
+**After** using alias:
+
+
+```html
+<nuxt-img src="/unsplash/<id>" />
+```
+
+Generates:
+
+```html
+<img src="/_ipx/unsplash/<id>" />
+```
+
+Both usage and output are simplified!
diff --git a/playground/nuxt.config.ts b/playground/nuxt.config.ts
index 17e4107ef..b3c66d9c2 100644
--- a/playground/nuxt.config.ts
+++ b/playground/nuxt.config.ts
@@ -16,12 +16,16 @@ export default <NuxtConfig> {
   image: {
     domains: [
       'https://nuxtjs.org',
-      'https://unsplash.com',
+      'https://images.unsplash.com',
       'https://upload.wikimedia.org'
     ],
     screens: {
       750: 750
     },
+    alias: {
+      unsplash: 'https://images.unsplash.com', // ipx
+      blog: '/remote/nuxt-org/blog' // cloudinary
+    },
     twicpics: {
       baseURL: 'https://demo.twic.pics/'
     },
diff --git a/playground/providers.ts b/playground/providers.ts
index dc407be81..1bcd9d8be 100644
--- a/playground/providers.ts
+++ b/playground/providers.ts
@@ -18,21 +18,29 @@ export const providers: Provider[] = [
       {
         src: '/images/colors.jpg',
         from: 'Jeremy Thomas',
+        width: 300,
+        height: 300,
         link: 'https://unsplash.com/@jeremythomasphoto?utm_source=unsplash&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_content=creditCopyText'
       },
       {
         src: '/images/everest.jpg',
-        from: 'Mount Everest Wikipedia page',
+        from: 'Mount Everest Wikipedia page (alias)',
+        width: 300,
+        height: 300,
         link: 'https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Everest'
       },
       {
         src: '/images/tacos.svg',
         from: 'Illustration from Icons8',
+        width: 300,
+        height: 300,
         link: 'https://icons8.com/illustrations/illustration/abstract-1419'
       },
       {
-        src: 'https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1606112219348-204d7d8b94ee?ixlib=rb-1.2.1&ixid=eyJhcHBfaWQiOjEyMDd9&auto=format&fit=crop&w=1940&q=80',
+        src: '/unsplash/photo-1606112219348-204d7d8b94ee',
         from: 'Photo by Omid Armin',
+        width: 300,
+        height: 300,
         link: 'https://unsplash.com/@omidarmin?utm_source=unsplash&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_content=creditCopyText'
       }
     ]
@@ -45,7 +53,7 @@ export const providers: Provider[] = [
         src: '/remote/nuxt-org/blog/going-full-static/main'
       },
       {
-        src: '/remote/nuxt-org/blog/going-full-static/main',
+        src: '/blog/going-full-static/main',
         width: 200,
         height: 200,
         fit: 'cropping'
diff --git a/src/ipx.ts b/src/ipx.ts
index 0e62851fb..f0123e01c 100644
--- a/src/ipx.ts
+++ b/src/ipx.ts
@@ -3,15 +3,16 @@ import { update as updaterc } from 'rc9'
 import { mkdirp, readFile, writeFile } from 'fs-extra'
 import { lt } from 'semver'
 
-import type { ProviderSetup } from './types'
+import type { ProviderSetup, ImageProviders } from './types'
 
 export const ipxSetup: ProviderSetup = async (_providerOptions, moduleOptions, nuxt) => {
   const isStatic = nuxt.options.target === 'static'
   const runtimeDir = resolve(__dirname, 'runtime')
-  const ipxOptions = {
+  const ipxOptions: ImageProviders['ipx'] = {
     dir: resolve(nuxt.options.rootDir, moduleOptions.dir),
     domains: moduleOptions.domains,
-    sharp: moduleOptions.sharp
+    sharp: moduleOptions.sharp,
+    alias: moduleOptions.alias
   }
 
   // Add IPX middleware unless nuxtrc or user added a custom middleware
diff --git a/src/module.ts b/src/module.ts
index 910a4849e..6c5b458ab 100644
--- a/src/module.ts
+++ b/src/module.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 import { resolve } from 'upath'
 import defu from 'defu'
-import { parseURL } from 'ufo'
+import { parseURL, withLeadingSlash } from 'ufo'
 import type { Module } from '@nuxt/types'
 import { setupStaticGeneration } from './generate'
 import { resolveProviders, detectProvider } from './provider'
@@ -29,7 +29,8 @@ const imageModule: Module<ModuleOptions> = async function imageModule (moduleOpt
     },
     internalUrl: '',
     providers: {},
-    static: {}
+    static: {},
+    alias: {}
   }
 
   const options: ModuleOptions = defu(moduleOptions, nuxt.options.image, defaults)
@@ -39,6 +40,9 @@ const imageModule: Module<ModuleOptions> = async function imageModule (moduleOpt
     .map(domain => parseURL(domain, 'https://').host)
     .filter(Boolean) as string[]
 
+  // Normalize alias to start with leading slash
+  options.alias = Object.fromEntries(Object.entries(options.alias).map(e => [withLeadingSlash(e[0]), e[1]]))
+
   options.provider = detectProvider(options.provider, nuxt.options.target === 'static')
   options[options.provider] = options[options.provider] || {}
 
@@ -46,7 +50,8 @@ const imageModule: Module<ModuleOptions> = async function imageModule (moduleOpt
     'screens',
     'presets',
     'provider',
-    'domains'
+    'domains',
+    'alias'
   ])
 
   const providers = resolveProviders(nuxt, options)
diff --git a/src/runtime/image.ts b/src/runtime/image.ts
index e18c104c1..e820ad7d5 100644
--- a/src/runtime/image.ts
+++ b/src/runtime/image.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 import defu from 'defu'
-import { hasProtocol, parseURL } from 'ufo'
+import { hasProtocol, parseURL, joinURL, withLeadingSlash } from 'ufo'
 import type { ImageOptions, ImageSizesOptions, CreateImageOptions, ResolvedImage, MapToStatic, ImageCTX, $Img } from '../types/image'
 import { imageMeta } from './utils/meta'
 import { parseSize } from './utils'
@@ -86,7 +86,7 @@ async function getMeta (ctx: ImageCTX, input: string, options?: ImageOptions) {
 }
 
 function resolveImage (ctx: ImageCTX, input: string, options: ImageOptions): ResolvedImage {
-  if (typeof input !== 'string') {
+  if (typeof input !== 'string' || input === '') {
     throw new TypeError(`input must be a string (received ${typeof input}: ${JSON.stringify(input)})`)
   }
 
@@ -99,6 +99,18 @@ function resolveImage (ctx: ImageCTX, input: string, options: ImageOptions): Res
   const { provider, defaults } = getProvider(ctx, options.provider || ctx.options.provider)
   const preset = getPreset(ctx, options.preset)
 
+  // Normalize input with leading slash
+  input = hasProtocol(input) ? input : withLeadingSlash(input)
+
+  // Resolve alias if provider is not ipx
+  if (!provider.supportsAlias) {
+    for (const base in ctx.options.alias) {
+      if (input.startsWith(base)) {
+        input = joinURL(ctx.options.alias[base], input.substr(base.length))
+      }
+    }
+  }
+
   // Externalize remote images if domain does not match with `domains`
   if (provider.validateDomains && hasProtocol(input)) {
     const inputHost = parseURL(input).host
diff --git a/src/runtime/providers/ipx.ts b/src/runtime/providers/ipx.ts
index c2cba7811..fd86adad2 100644
--- a/src/runtime/providers/ipx.ts
+++ b/src/runtime/providers/ipx.ts
@@ -31,3 +31,4 @@ export const getImage: ProviderGetImage = (src, { modifiers = {}, baseURL = '/_i
 }
 
 export const validateDomains = true
+export const supportsAlias = true
diff --git a/src/runtime/providers/static.ts b/src/runtime/providers/static.ts
index af4ef1219..921467779 100644
--- a/src/runtime/providers/static.ts
+++ b/src/runtime/providers/static.ts
@@ -4,3 +4,5 @@ export const getImage: typeof _getImage = (src, options, ctx) => ({
   ..._getImage(src, options, ctx),
   isStatic: true
 })
+
+export const supportsAlias = true
diff --git a/src/types/image.ts b/src/types/image.ts
index 93f77d143..e006c054a 100644
--- a/src/types/image.ts
+++ b/src/types/image.ts
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ export interface ImageProvider {
   defaults?: any
   getImage: ProviderGetImage
   validateDomains?: Boolean
+  supportsAlias?: Boolean
 }
 
 export interface CreateImageOptions {
@@ -35,7 +36,8 @@ export interface CreateImageOptions {
   }
   presets: { [name: string]: ImageOptions }
   provider: string
-  screens?: Record<string, number>,
+  screens: Record<string, number>,
+  alias: Record<string, string>,
   domains: string[]
 }
 
diff --git a/src/types/module.ts b/src/types/module.ts
index 79a0fbc6f..73ff573f8 100644
--- a/src/types/module.ts
+++ b/src/types/module.ts
@@ -32,7 +32,8 @@ export interface ModuleOptions extends ImageProviders {
   presets: { [name: string]: ImageOptions }
   dir: string
   domains: string[]
-  sharp: {}
+  sharp: any
+  alias: Record<string, string>
   screens: CreateImageOptions['screens'],
   internalUrl: string
   providers: { [name: string]: InputProvider | any } & ImageProviders