diff --git a/tests/test_data_utils.py b/tests/test_data_utils.py
index a4232739735..fabc29798ac 100644
--- a/tests/test_data_utils.py
+++ b/tests/test_data_utils.py
@@ -244,6 +244,29 @@ def test_message_with_tool_calling_turns(self):
 
         assert messages == expected
 
+    def test_prepared_image_blocks_without_new_images(self):
+        """Test that existing image payloads are preserved when no new images are provided."""
+        image = Image.new("RGB", (10, 10), color="blue")
+        messages = [
+            {
+                "role": "user",
+                "content": [{"type": "image", "image": image}, {"type": "text", "text": "What color is the sky?"}],
+            },
+            {"role": "assistant", "content": "It is blue."},
+        ]
+
+        messages = prepare_multimodal_messages(messages)
+
+        expected = [
+            {
+                "role": "user",
+                "content": [{"type": "image", "image": image}, {"type": "text", "text": "What color is the sky?"}],
+            },
+            {"role": "assistant", "content": [{"type": "text", "text": "It is blue."}]},
+        ]
+
+        assert messages == expected
+
 
 @require_vision
 class TestPrepareMultimodalMessagesVLLM:
diff --git a/trl/data_utils.py b/trl/data_utils.py
index 46fd4a96b68..617f0052767 100644
--- a/trl/data_utils.py
+++ b/trl/data_utils.py
@@ -53,6 +53,8 @@ def prepare_multimodal_messages(messages: list[dict[str, Any]], images: list | N
           the function transforms them into the structured format by wrapping text in `{"type": "text", "text": ...}`
           and inserting `{"type": "image"}` placeholders for the images *before* the first user message.
           If the number of placeholders does not match the number of provided images, an error is raised.
+        - Existing image blocks that already include an `"image"` payload are preserved as-is. Only unfilled image
+          placeholders are counted and populated from `images`.
 
     Example:
     ```python
@@ -94,7 +96,7 @@ def prepare_multimodal_messages(messages: list[dict[str, Any]], images: list | N
 
     # Then, check that the number of image placeholders matches the number of images provided
     num_placeholders = sum(
-        sum(1 for part in message["content"] if part["type"] == "image")
+        sum(1 for part in message["content"] if part["type"] == "image" and "image" not in part)
         for message in new_messages
         if message.get("content") and message["role"] != "tool"
     )
@@ -104,18 +106,19 @@ def prepare_multimodal_messages(messages: list[dict[str, Any]], images: list | N
         )
 
     # Then, fill in the actual images in the placeholders
-    img_idx = 0
-    for i, message in enumerate(new_messages):
-        if not message.get("content") or message["role"] == "tool":
-            continue
-        new_content = []
-        for part in message["content"]:
-            if part["type"] == "image":
-                new_content.append({**part, "image": images[img_idx]})
-                img_idx += 1
-            else:
-                new_content.append(part)
-        new_messages[i] = {**message, "content": new_content}
+    if images:
+        img_idx = 0
+        for i, message in enumerate(new_messages):
+            if not message.get("content") or message["role"] == "tool":
+                continue
+            new_content = []
+            for part in message["content"]:
+                if part["type"] == "image" and "image" not in part:
+                    new_content.append({**part, "image": images[img_idx]})
+                    img_idx += 1
+                else:
+                    new_content.append(part)
+            new_messages[i] = {**message, "content": new_content}
 
     return new_messages
 
diff --git a/trl/trainer/grpo_trainer.py b/trl/trainer/grpo_trainer.py
index bcabd5e17be..1aafe324b27 100644
--- a/trl/trainer/grpo_trainer.py
+++ b/trl/trainer/grpo_trainer.py
@@ -1275,17 +1275,8 @@ def _tokenize_prompts(self, prompts: list):
         """Tokenize prompts and extract images/multimodal fields for generation."""
         if is_conversational({"prompt": prompts[0]}):
             # Normalize string content to content blocks for VLM processors that don't handle plain strings.
-            # Use copies to avoid mutating the original prompts.
             if self._is_vlm:
-                prompts = [
-                    [
-                        {**msg, "content": [{"type": "text", "text": msg["content"]}]}
-                        if isinstance(msg.get("content"), str)
-                        else msg
-                        for msg in prompt
-                    ]
-                    for prompt in prompts
-                ]
+                prompts = [prepare_multimodal_messages(prompt) for prompt in prompts]
 
             # Extract images from messages for VLM support
             images = []