diff --git a/newsfragments/6284.fixed.md b/newsfragments/6284.fixed.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..a6fa55fc1c2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/newsfragments/6284.fixed.md
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Fix `pyo3_build_config::add_libpython_rpath_link_args` emitting Unix-style rpath linker arguments on Windows and Cygwin.
diff --git a/pyo3-build-config/src/lib.rs b/pyo3-build-config/src/lib.rs
index 7298c004384..85ce1120275 100644
--- a/pyo3-build-config/src/lib.rs
+++ b/pyo3-build-config/src/lib.rs
@@ -296,10 +296,12 @@ pub mod pyo3_build_script_impl {
             target.architecture,
             Architecture::Wasm32 | Architecture::Wasm64
         );
-        let is_emscripten = target.operating_system == target_lexicon::OperatingSystem::Emscripten;
+        let is_emscripten = target.operating_system == OperatingSystem::Emscripten;
+        let is_cygwin = target.operating_system == OperatingSystem::Cygwin;
+        let is_windows = target.operating_system == OperatingSystem::Windows;
         // webassembly targets generally don't support rpath, emscripten is the only exception currently aware of:
         // https://github.com/emscripten-core/emscripten/issues/22126
-        if is_linking_libpython && (!is_wasm || is_emscripten) {
+        if is_linking_libpython && !is_windows && !is_cygwin && (!is_wasm || is_emscripten) {
             if let Some(lib_dir) = interpreter_config.lib_dir() {
                 println!("cargo:rustc-link-arg=-Wl,-rpath,{lib_dir}");
             }