diff --git a/src/spec/Reference.php b/src/spec/Reference.php
index f1df189..279fbe9 100644
--- a/src/spec/Reference.php
+++ b/src/spec/Reference.php
@@ -289,7 +289,9 @@ private function resolveTransitiveReference(Reference $referencedObject, Referen
         return $transitiveRefResult;
     }
 
-    // adjust relative refernces inside of the file to match the context of the base file
+    /**
+     * Adjust relative references inside of the file to match the context of the base file
+     */
     private function adjustRelativeReferences($referencedDocument, $basePath, $baseDocument = null, $oContext = null)
     {
         $context = new ReferenceContext(null, $basePath);
@@ -298,6 +300,7 @@ private function adjustRelativeReferences($referencedDocument, $basePath, $baseD
         }
 
         foreach ($referencedDocument as $key => $value) {
+            // adjust reference URLs
             if ($key === '$ref' && is_string($value)) {
                 if (isset($value[0]) && $value[0] === '#') {
                     // direcly inline references in the same document,
@@ -309,9 +312,17 @@ private function adjustRelativeReferences($referencedDocument, $basePath, $baseD
                 $parts = explode('#', $referencedDocument[$key], 2);
                 if ($parts[0] === $oContext->getUri()) {
                     $referencedDocument[$key] = '#' . ($parts[1] ?? '');
+                } else {
+                    $referencedDocument[$key] = $this->makeRelativePath($oContext->getUri(), $referencedDocument[$key]);
                 }
                 continue;
             }
+            // adjust URLs for 'externalValue' references in Example Objects
+            // https://spec.openapis.org/oas/v3.0.3#example-object
+            if ($key === 'externalValue' && is_string($value)) {
+                $referencedDocument[$key] = $this->makeRelativePath($oContext->getUri(), $context->resolveRelativeUri($value));
+                continue;
+            }
             if (is_array($value)) {
                 $referencedDocument[$key] = $this->adjustRelativeReferences($value, $basePath, $baseDocument, $oContext);
             }
@@ -319,6 +330,20 @@ private function adjustRelativeReferences($referencedDocument, $basePath, $baseD
         return $referencedDocument;
     }
 
+    /**
+     * If $path can be expressed relative to $base, make it a relative path, otherwise $path is returned.
+     * @param string $base
+     * @param string $path
+     */
+    private function makeRelativePath($base, $path)
+    {
+        if (strpos($path, dirname($base)) === 0) {
+            return '.' . DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR . substr($path, strlen(dirname($base) . DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR));
+        }
+
+        return $path;
+    }
+
     /**
      * Resolves all Reference Objects in this object and replaces them with their resolution.
      * @throws UnresolvableReferenceException
diff --git a/tests/spec/ReferenceTest.php b/tests/spec/ReferenceTest.php
index 124a1e4..4448da3 100644
--- a/tests/spec/ReferenceTest.php
+++ b/tests/spec/ReferenceTest.php
@@ -484,6 +484,16 @@ public function testReferencedCommonParamsInReferencedPath()
       responses:
         '200':
           description: 'OK if common params can be references'
+      request:
+        content:
+          application/json:
+            examples:
+              user:
+                summary: 'User Example'
+                externalValue: ./paths/examples/user-example.json
+              userex:
+                summary: 'External User Example'
+                externalValue: 'https://api.example.com/examples/user-example.json'
     parameters:
       -
         name: test
diff --git a/tests/spec/data/reference/paths/ReferencesCommonParams.yml b/tests/spec/data/reference/paths/ReferencesCommonParams.yml
index 514d9a9..5513a53 100644
--- a/tests/spec/data/reference/paths/ReferencesCommonParams.yml
+++ b/tests/spec/data/reference/paths/ReferencesCommonParams.yml
@@ -5,3 +5,13 @@ get:
   responses:
     200:
       description: OK if common params can be references
+  request:
+    content:
+      application/json:
+        examples:
+          "user":
+            "summary": "User Example"
+            "externalValue": "./examples/user-example.json"
+          "userex":
+            "summary": "External User Example"
+            "externalValue": "https://api.example.com/examples/user-example.json"
diff --git a/tests/spec/data/reference/paths/examples/user-example.json b/tests/spec/data/reference/paths/examples/user-example.json
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c6f2c4b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/spec/data/reference/paths/examples/user-example.json
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+{
+    "type": "user",
+    "properties": {
+        "name": "John"
+    }
+}