diff --git a/provisioner/ansible/provisioner.go b/provisioner/ansible/provisioner.go
index ead4d44b2..99c4d07d9 100644
--- a/provisioner/ansible/provisioner.go
+++ b/provisioner/ansible/provisioner.go
@@ -366,6 +366,13 @@ func (p *Provisioner) executeAnsible(ui packer.Ui, comm packer.Communicator, pri
 		// args = append(args, "--private-key", privKeyFile)
 		args = append(args, "-e", fmt.Sprintf("ansible_ssh_private_key_file=%s", privKeyFile))
 	}
+
+	// expose packer_http_addr extra variable
+	httpAddr := common.GetHTTPAddr()
+	if httpAddr != "" {
+		args = append(args, "--extra-vars", fmt.Sprintf("packer_http_addr=%s", httpAddr))
+	}
+
 	args = append(args, p.config.ExtraArguments...)
 	if len(p.config.AnsibleEnvVars) > 0 {
 		envvars = append(envvars, p.config.AnsibleEnvVars...)
diff --git a/website/source/docs/provisioners/ansible.html.md b/website/source/docs/provisioners/ansible.html.md
index bf1145f64..890cc00b0 100644
--- a/website/source/docs/provisioners/ansible.html.md
+++ b/website/source/docs/provisioners/ansible.html.md
@@ -163,6 +163,13 @@ commonly useful Ansible variables:
     machine that the script is running on. This is useful if you want to run
     only certain parts of the playbook on systems built with certain builders.
 
+-   `packer_http_addr` If using a builder that provides an http server for file
+    transfer (such as hyperv, parallels, qemu, virtualbox, and vmware), this
+    will be set to the address. You can use this address in your provisioner to
+    download large files over http. This may be useful if you're experiencing
+    slower speeds using the default file provisioner. A file provisioner using
+    the `winrm` communicator may experience these types of difficulties.
+
 ## Debugging
 
 To debug underlying issues with Ansible, add `"-vvvv"` to `"extra_arguments"` to enable verbose logging.