diff --git a/lib/transport-stream.js b/lib/transport-stream.js
index b152fc9ff..da864a9b7 100644
--- a/lib/transport-stream.js
+++ b/lib/transport-stream.js
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ module.exports = loadTransportStreamBuilder
 async function loadTransportStreamBuilder (target) {
   let fn
   try {
-    const toLoad = 'file://' + target
+    const toLoad = target.startsWith('file://') ? target : 'file://' + target
 
     if (toLoad.endsWith('.ts') || toLoad.endsWith('.cts')) {
       // TODO: add support for the TSM modules loader ( https://github.com/lukeed/tsm ).
diff --git a/test/transport/core.test.js b/test/transport/core.test.js
index ee5ef107c..b8af6738d 100644
--- a/test/transport/core.test.js
+++ b/test/transport/core.test.js
@@ -134,7 +134,7 @@ test('pino.transport with two files', async ({ same, teardown }) => {
   const transport = pino.transport({
     targets: [{
       level: 'info',
-      target: join(__dirname, '..', 'fixtures', 'to-file-transport.js'),
+      target: 'file://' + join(__dirname, '..', 'fixtures', 'to-file-transport.js'),
       options: { destination: dest1 }
     }, {
       level: 'info',