diff --git a/app/models/upload.rb b/app/models/upload.rb
index 055b396e272..a9907954922 100644
--- a/app/models/upload.rb
+++ b/app/models/upload.rb
@@ -84,7 +84,7 @@ class Upload < ActiveRecord::Base
 
     # always try to get the path
     uri = begin
-      URI(url)
+      URI(URI.unescape(url))
     rescue URI::InvalidURIError
     end
 
diff --git a/spec/models/upload_spec.rb b/spec/models/upload_spec.rb
index e7d9fdde7a8..a7c0d4ab0e8 100644
--- a/spec/models/upload_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/models/upload_spec.rb
@@ -87,6 +87,7 @@ describe Upload do
 
     it "doesn't blow up with an invalid URI" do
       expect { Upload.get_from_url("http://ip:port/index.html") }.not_to raise_error
+      expect { Upload.get_from_url("mailto:admin%40example.com") }.not_to raise_error
     end
 
     describe "s3 store" do