diff --git a/docs/changelog.rst b/docs/changelog.rst
index aefcd125..3eed6d02 100644
--- a/docs/changelog.rst
+++ b/docs/changelog.rst
@@ -5,6 +5,14 @@ Changelog
 This changelog is used to track all major changes to Mopidy.
 
 
+v2.2.1 (UNRELEASED)
+===================
+
+- HTTP: Stop blocking connections where the network location part of the Origin
+  header is empty, such as websocket connections originating from local files.
+  (Fixes: :issue:`1711`, PR: :issue:`1712`)
+
+
 v2.2.0 (2018-09-30)
 ===================
 
diff --git a/mopidy/http/handlers.py b/mopidy/http/handlers.py
index 1a16d43b..220cba80 100644
--- a/mopidy/http/handlers.py
+++ b/mopidy/http/handlers.py
@@ -150,11 +150,18 @@ def set_mopidy_headers(request_handler):
 
 def check_origin(origin, request_headers, allowed_origins):
     if origin is None:
-        logger.debug('Origin was not set')
+        logger.warn('HTTP request denied for missing Origin header')
         return False
     allowed_origins.add(request_headers.get('Host'))
     parsed_origin = urllib.parse.urlparse(origin).netloc.lower()
-    return parsed_origin and parsed_origin in allowed_origins
+    # Some frameworks (e.g. Apache Cordova) use local files. Requests from
+    # these files don't really have a sensible Origin so the browser sets the
+    # header to something like 'file://' or 'null'. This results here in an
+    # empty parsed_origin which we choose to allow.
+    if parsed_origin and parsed_origin not in allowed_origins:
+        logger.warn('HTTP request denied for Origin "%s"', origin)
+        return False
+    return True
 
 
 class JsonRpcHandler(tornado.web.RequestHandler):
diff --git a/tests/http/test_handlers.py b/tests/http/test_handlers.py
index 23472499..5941d6b0 100644
--- a/tests/http/test_handlers.py
+++ b/tests/http/test_handlers.py
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 from __future__ import absolute_import, unicode_literals
 
 import os
+import unittest
 
 import mock
 
@@ -86,3 +87,42 @@ class WebSocketHandlerTest(tornado.testing.AsyncHTTPTestCase):
         for client in handlers.WebSocketHandler.clients:
             client.ws_connection = None
         handlers.WebSocketHandler.broadcast('message')
+
+
+class CheckOriginTests(unittest.TestCase):
+
+    def setUp(self):
+        self.headers = {'Host': 'localhost:6680'}
+        self.allowed = set()
+
+    def test_missing_origin_blocked(self):
+        self.assertFalse(handlers.check_origin(
+            None, self.headers, self.allowed))
+
+    def test_empty_origin_allowed(self):
+        self.assertTrue(handlers.check_origin('', self.headers, self.allowed))
+
+    def test_chrome_file_origin_allowed(self):
+        self.assertTrue(handlers.check_origin(
+            'file://', self.headers, self.allowed))
+
+    def test_firefox_null_origin_allowed(self):
+        self.assertTrue(handlers.check_origin(
+            'null', self.headers, self.allowed))
+
+    def test_same_host_origin_allowed(self):
+        self.assertTrue(handlers.check_origin(
+            'http://localhost:6680', self.headers, self.allowed))
+
+    def test_different_host_origin_blocked(self):
+        self.assertFalse(handlers.check_origin(
+            'http://other:6680', self.headers, self.allowed))
+
+    def test_different_port_blocked(self):
+        self.assertFalse(handlers.check_origin(
+            'http://localhost:80', self.headers, self.allowed))
+
+    def test_extra_origin_allowed(self):
+        self.allowed.add('other:6680')
+        self.assertTrue(handlers.check_origin(
+            'http://other:6680', self.headers, self.allowed))