diff --git a/docs/gst/gstreamer-sections.txt b/docs/gst/gstreamer-sections.txt
index 4787245f5c..3a87827bdd 100644
--- a/docs/gst/gstreamer-sections.txt
+++ b/docs/gst/gstreamer-sections.txt
@@ -2569,6 +2569,7 @@ gst_uri_has_protocol
 gst_uri_get_protocol
 gst_uri_get_location
 gst_uri_construct
+gst_filename_to_uri
 gst_element_make_from_uri
 gst_uri_handler_get_uri_type
 gst_uri_handler_get_protocols
diff --git a/gst/gsturi.c b/gst/gsturi.c
index 247604c72f..76a1f87678 100644
--- a/gst/gsturi.c
+++ b/gst/gsturi.c
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 /* GStreamer
  * Copyright (C) 1999,2000 Erik Walthinsen <omega@cse.ogi.edu>
  *                    2000 Wim Taymans <wtay@chello.be>
+ * Copyright (C) 2011 Tim-Philipp Müller <tim centricular net>
  *
  * gsturi.c: register URI handlers
  *
@@ -782,3 +783,113 @@ gst_uri_handler_new_uri (GstURIHandler * handler, const gchar * uri)
 
   g_signal_emit (handler, gst_uri_handler_signals[NEW_URI], 0, uri);
 }
+
+static gchar *
+gst_file_utils_canonicalise_path (const gchar * path)
+{
+  gchar **parts, **p, *clean_path;
+
+  parts = g_strsplit (path, "/", -1);
+
+  p = parts;
+  while (*p != NULL) {
+    if (strcmp (*p, ".") == 0) {
+      /* just move all following parts on top of this, incl. NUL terminator */
+      g_free (*p);
+      g_memmove (p, p + 1, (g_strv_length (p + 1) + 1) * sizeof (gchar *));
+      /* re-check the new current part again in the next iteration */
+      continue;
+    } else if (strcmp (*p, "..") == 0 && p > parts) {
+      /* just move all following parts on top of the previous part, incl.
+       * NUL terminator */
+      g_free (*(p - 1));
+      g_free (*p);
+      g_memmove (p - 1, p + 1, (g_strv_length (p + 1) + 1) * sizeof (gchar *));
+      /* re-check the new current part again in the next iteration */
+      --p;
+      continue;
+    }
+    ++p;
+  }
+  if (*path == '/') {
+    guint num_parts;
+
+    num_parts = g_strv_length (parts) + 1;      /* incl. terminator */
+    parts = g_renew (gchar *, parts, num_parts + 1);
+    g_memmove (parts + 1, parts, num_parts * sizeof (gchar *));
+    parts[0] = g_strdup ("/");
+  }
+
+  clean_path = g_build_filenamev (parts);
+  g_strfreev (parts);
+  return clean_path;
+}
+
+static gboolean
+file_path_contains_relatives (const gchar * path)
+{
+  return (strstr (path, "/./") != NULL || strstr (path, "/../") != NULL ||
+      strstr (path, G_DIR_SEPARATOR_S "." G_DIR_SEPARATOR_S) != NULL ||
+      strstr (path, G_DIR_SEPARATOR_S ".." G_DIR_SEPARATOR_S) != NULL);
+}
+
+/**
+ * gst_filename_to_uri:
+ * @filename: absolute or relative file name path
+ * @error: pointer to error, or NULL
+ *
+ * Similar to g_filename_to_uri(), but attempts to handle relative file paths
+ * as well. Before converting @filename into an URI, it will be prefixed by
+ * the current working directory if it is a relative path, and then the path
+ * will be canonicalised so that it doesn't contain any './' or '../' segments.
+ *
+ * On Windows #filename should be in UTF-8 encoding.
+ *
+ * Since: 0.10.33
+ */
+gchar *
+gst_filename_to_uri (const gchar * filename, GError ** error)
+{
+  gchar *abs_location = NULL;
+  gchar *uri, *abs_clean;
+
+  g_return_val_if_fail (filename != NULL, NULL);
+  g_return_val_if_fail (error == NULL || *error == NULL, NULL);
+
+  if (g_path_is_absolute (filename)) {
+    if (!file_path_contains_relatives (filename)) {
+      uri = g_filename_to_uri (filename, NULL, error);
+      goto beach;
+    }
+
+    abs_location = g_strdup (filename);
+  } else {
+    gchar *cwd;
+
+    cwd = g_get_current_dir ();
+    abs_location = g_build_filename (cwd, filename, NULL);
+    g_free (cwd);
+
+    if (!file_path_contains_relatives (abs_location)) {
+      uri = g_filename_to_uri (abs_location, NULL, error);
+      goto beach;
+    }
+  }
+
+  /* path is now absolute, but contains '.' or '..' */
+#ifndef G_OS_WIN32
+  abs_clean = gst_file_utils_canonicalise_path (abs_location);
+  GST_LOG ("'%s' -> '%s' -> '%s'", filename, abs_location, abs_clean);
+  uri = g_filename_to_uri (abs_clean, NULL, error);
+  g_free (abs_clean);
+#else
+  GST_WARNING ("FIXME: canonicalise win32 path");
+  uri = g_filename_to_uri (abs_location, NULL, error);
+#endif
+
+beach:
+
+  g_free (abs_location);
+  GST_DEBUG ("'%s' -> '%s'", filename, uri);
+  return uri;
+}
diff --git a/gst/gsturi.h b/gst/gsturi.h
index 6193cf3014..48a09c059d 100644
--- a/gst/gsturi.h
+++ b/gst/gsturi.h
@@ -133,6 +133,9 @@ gchar *		gst_uri_get_location		(const gchar * uri);
 gchar *		gst_uri_construct		(const gchar * protocol,
 						 const gchar * location);
 
+gchar *         gst_filename_to_uri             (const gchar * filename,
+                                                 GError     ** error);
+
 GstElement *	gst_element_make_from_uri	(const GstURIType type,
 						 const gchar *    uri,
 						 const gchar *    elementname);
diff --git a/win32/common/libgstreamer.def b/win32/common/libgstreamer.def
index 1e444b9400..aae5e2e41c 100644
--- a/win32/common/libgstreamer.def
+++ b/win32/common/libgstreamer.def
@@ -420,6 +420,7 @@ EXPORTS
 	gst_event_type_get_name
 	gst_event_type_get_type
 	gst_event_type_to_quark
+	gst_filename_to_uri
 	gst_filter_run
 	gst_flow_get_name
 	gst_flow_return_get_type