diff --git a/docs/changelog/1949.bugfix.rst b/docs/changelog/1949.bugfix.rst
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..adb7575f7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/changelog/1949.bugfix.rst
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+``virtualenv.pyz`` no longer fails when zipapp path contains a symlink - by :user:`petamas`.
diff --git a/src/virtualenv/util/zipapp.py b/src/virtualenv/util/zipapp.py
index 3049b8400..86464720a 100644
--- a/src/virtualenv/util/zipapp.py
+++ b/src/virtualenv/util/zipapp.py
@@ -23,8 +23,10 @@ def extract(full_path, dest):
 
 
 def _get_path_within_zip(full_path):
-    full_path = os.path.abspath(str(full_path))
-    sub_file = full_path[len(ROOT) + 1 :]
+    full_path = os.path.realpath(os.path.abspath(str(full_path)))
+    prefix = ROOT + os.sep
+    assert full_path.startswith(prefix), f"full_path={full_path} should start with prefix={prefix}"
+    sub_file = full_path[len(prefix) :]
     if IS_WIN:
         # paths are always UNIX separators, even on Windows, though __file__ still follows platform default
         sub_file = sub_file.replace(os.sep, "/")