diff --git a/.changeset/large-countries-cheer.md b/.changeset/large-countries-cheer.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..b68723ff8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/large-countries-cheer.md
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+'myst-cli': patch
+---
+
+Prevent html outputs that translate to empty images
diff --git a/packages/myst-cli/src/transforms/outputs.ts b/packages/myst-cli/src/transforms/outputs.ts
index ea014c752..a632a6797 100644
--- a/packages/myst-cli/src/transforms/outputs.ts
+++ b/packages/myst-cli/src/transforms/outputs.ts
@@ -279,6 +279,9 @@ export function reduceOutputs(
             ],
           };
           htmlTransform(htmlTree);
+          if ((selectAll('image', htmlTree) as GenericNode[]).find((htmlImage) => !htmlImage.url)) {
+            return undefined;
+          }
           return htmlTree.children;
         } else if (content_type.startsWith('image/')) {
           const path = writeCachedOutputToFile(session, hash, cache.$outputs[hash], writeFolder, {