diff --git a/subprojects/gstreamer/plugins/elements/gsttypefindelement.c b/subprojects/gstreamer/plugins/elements/gsttypefindelement.c
index 84e60a9c68..41dedb27fe 100644
--- a/subprojects/gstreamer/plugins/elements/gsttypefindelement.c
+++ b/subprojects/gstreamer/plugins/elements/gsttypefindelement.c
@@ -803,6 +803,8 @@ gst_type_find_get_extension (GstTypeFindElement * typefind, GstPad * pad)
   gchar *uri, *result, *path, *base_path, *find;
   GstUri *gst_uri;
 
+  base_path = NULL;
+
   query = gst_query_new_uri ();
 
   /* try getting the caps with an uri query and from the extension */
@@ -813,6 +815,11 @@ gst_type_find_get_extension (GstTypeFindElement * typefind, GstPad * pad)
   if (uri == NULL)
     goto no_uri;
 
+  /* data URIs paths are opaque and do not semantically represent a
+     filesystem-like resource path, so skip URI parsing for this case. */
+  if (g_str_has_prefix (uri, "data:"))
+    goto no_extension;
+
   GST_DEBUG_OBJECT (typefind, "finding extension of %s", uri);
 
   gst_uri = gst_uri_from_string (uri);