diff --git a/vllm/connections.py b/vllm/connections.py
index 31b0d5e9c..f79d681ce 100644
--- a/vllm/connections.py
+++ b/vllm/connections.py
@@ -3,10 +3,10 @@
 
 from collections.abc import Mapping, MutableMapping
 from pathlib import Path
-from urllib.parse import urlparse
 
 import aiohttp
 import requests
+from urllib3.util import parse_url
 
 from vllm.version import __version__ as VLLM_VERSION
 
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ class HTTPConnection:
         return self._async_client
 
     def _validate_http_url(self, url: str):
-        parsed_url = urlparse(url)
+        parsed_url = parse_url(url)
 
         if parsed_url.scheme not in ("http", "https"):
             raise ValueError(
diff --git a/vllm/envs.py b/vllm/envs.py
index 6953ab1ac..9ffb79fb7 100755
--- a/vllm/envs.py
+++ b/vllm/envs.py
@@ -439,9 +439,9 @@ def get_vllm_port() -> int | None:
     try:
         return int(port)
     except ValueError as err:
-        from urllib.parse import urlparse
+        from urllib3.util import parse_url
 
-        parsed = urlparse(port)
+        parsed = parse_url(port)
         if parsed.scheme:
             raise ValueError(
                 f"VLLM_PORT '{port}' appears to be a URI. "
diff --git a/vllm/multimodal/utils.py b/vllm/multimodal/utils.py
index b807ca24c..85a699ace 100644
--- a/vllm/multimodal/utils.py
+++ b/vllm/multimodal/utils.py
@@ -9,13 +9,13 @@ from concurrent.futures import ThreadPoolExecutor
 from itertools import groupby
 from pathlib import Path
 from typing import TYPE_CHECKING, Any, TypeVar
-from urllib.parse import ParseResult, urlparse
 from urllib.request import url2pathname
 
 import numpy as np
 import numpy.typing as npt
 import torch
 from PIL import Image, UnidentifiedImageError
+from urllib3.util import Url, parse_url
 
 import vllm.envs as envs
 from vllm.connections import HTTPConnection, global_http_connection
@@ -105,11 +105,14 @@ class MediaConnector:
 
     def _load_data_url(
         self,
-        url_spec: ParseResult,
+        url_spec: Url,
         media_io: MediaIO[_M],
     ) -> _M:  # type: ignore[type-var]
-        data_spec, data = url_spec.path.split(",", 1)
+        url_spec_path = url_spec.path or ""
+        data_spec, data = url_spec_path.split(",", 1)
         media_type, data_type = data_spec.split(";", 1)
+        # media_type starts with a leading "/" (e.g., "/video/jpeg")
+        media_type = media_type.lstrip("/")
 
         if data_type != "base64":
             msg = "Only base64 data URLs are supported for now."
@@ -119,7 +122,7 @@ class MediaConnector:
 
     def _load_file_url(
         self,
-        url_spec: ParseResult,
+        url_spec: Url,
         media_io: MediaIO[_M],
     ) -> _M:  # type: ignore[type-var]
         allowed_local_media_path = self.allowed_local_media_path
@@ -128,7 +131,9 @@ class MediaConnector:
                 "Cannot load local files without `--allowed-local-media-path`."
             )
 
-        filepath = Path(url2pathname(url_spec.netloc + url_spec.path))
+        url_spec_path = url_spec.path or ""
+        url_spec_netloc = url_spec.netloc or ""
+        filepath = Path(url2pathname(url_spec_netloc + url_spec_path))
         if allowed_local_media_path not in filepath.resolve().parents:
             raise ValueError(
                 f"The file path {filepath} must be a subpath "
@@ -137,7 +142,7 @@ class MediaConnector:
 
         return media_io.load_file(filepath)
 
-    def _assert_url_in_allowed_media_domains(self, url_spec: ParseResult) -> None:
+    def _assert_url_in_allowed_media_domains(self, url_spec: Url) -> None:
         if (
             self.allowed_media_domains
             and url_spec.hostname not in self.allowed_media_domains
@@ -155,9 +160,9 @@ class MediaConnector:
         *,
         fetch_timeout: int | None = None,
     ) -> _M:  # type: ignore[type-var]
-        url_spec = urlparse(url)
+        url_spec = parse_url(url)
 
-        if url_spec.scheme.startswith("http"):
+        if url_spec.scheme and url_spec.scheme.startswith("http"):
             self._assert_url_in_allowed_media_domains(url_spec)
 
             connection = self.connection
@@ -185,10 +190,10 @@ class MediaConnector:
         *,
         fetch_timeout: int | None = None,
     ) -> _M:
-        url_spec = urlparse(url)
+        url_spec = parse_url(url)
         loop = asyncio.get_running_loop()
 
-        if url_spec.scheme.startswith("http"):
+        if url_spec.scheme and url_spec.scheme.startswith("http"):
             self._assert_url_in_allowed_media_domains(url_spec)
 
             connection = self.connection
diff --git a/vllm/utils/network_utils.py b/vllm/utils/network_utils.py
index 80ff0df28..7d01533cb 100644
--- a/vllm/utils/network_utils.py
+++ b/vllm/utils/network_utils.py
@@ -11,12 +11,12 @@ from collections.abc import (
     Sequence,
 )
 from typing import Any
-from urllib.parse import urlparse
 from uuid import uuid4
 
 import psutil
 import zmq
 import zmq.asyncio
+from urllib3.util import parse_url
 
 import vllm.envs as envs
 from vllm.logger import init_logger
@@ -217,13 +217,15 @@ def find_process_using_port(port: int) -> psutil.Process | None:
 
 def split_zmq_path(path: str) -> tuple[str, str, str]:
     """Split a zmq path into its parts."""
-    parsed = urlparse(path)
+    parsed = parse_url(path)
     if not parsed.scheme:
         raise ValueError(f"Invalid zmq path: {path}")
 
     scheme = parsed.scheme
     host = parsed.hostname or ""
     port = str(parsed.port or "")
+    if host.startswith("[") and host.endswith("]"):
+        host = host[1:-1]  # Remove brackets for IPv6 address
 
     if scheme == "tcp" and not all((host, port)):
         # The host and port fields are required for tcp