diff --git a/libraries/networking/src/FileResourceRequest.cpp b/libraries/networking/src/FileResourceRequest.cpp
index b55f1839a0..0625c3f0b8 100644
--- a/libraries/networking/src/FileResourceRequest.cpp
+++ b/libraries/networking/src/FileResourceRequest.cpp
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@
 
 #include <StatTracker.h>
 #include <shared/FileUtils.h>
+#include <pathUtils.h>
 
 #include "ResourceManager.h"
 
@@ -28,7 +29,7 @@ void FileResourceRequest::doSend() {
     if (_url.scheme() == URL_SCHEME_QRC) {
         filename = ":/" + _url.path();
     } else {
-        filename = _url.toLocalFile();
+        filename = PathUtils::expandToAppAbsolutePath(_url.toLocalFile(), true);
         // sometimes on windows, we see the toLocalFile() return null,
         // in this case we will attempt to simply use the url as a string
         if (filename.isEmpty()) {
diff --git a/libraries/shared/src/PathUtils.cpp b/libraries/shared/src/PathUtils.cpp
index 6ce9ac1176..4f58f5ebce 100644
--- a/libraries/shared/src/PathUtils.cpp
+++ b/libraries/shared/src/PathUtils.cpp
@@ -133,10 +133,15 @@ QUrl PathUtils::resourcesUrl(const QString& relativeUrl) {
     return QUrl(resourcesUrl() + relativeUrl);
 }
 
-QString PathUtils::expandToAppAbsolutePath(const QString& filePath) {
+QString PathUtils::expandToAppAbsolutePath(const QString& filePath, bool localPath) {
     QString path = filePath;
     if (path.startsWith("/~/")) {
-        path.replace(1, 2, applicationAbsolutePath());
+        QString absolutePath = applicationAbsolutePath();
+        if (localPath) {
+            path.replace(0, 3, absolutePath);
+        } else {
+            path.replace(1, 2, absolutePath);
+        }
     }
     return path;
 }
diff --git a/libraries/shared/src/PathUtils.h b/libraries/shared/src/PathUtils.h
index 4e8c442384..bf40a485a6 100644
--- a/libraries/shared/src/PathUtils.h
+++ b/libraries/shared/src/PathUtils.h
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ public:
     static QUrl resourcesUrl(const QString& relative);
     static const QString& resourcesPath();
     static const QString& qmlBaseUrl();
-    static QString expandToAppAbsolutePath(const QString& filePath);
+    static QString expandToAppAbsolutePath(const QString& filePath, bool localPath = false);
     static QUrl qmlUrl(const QString& relative);
 #ifdef DEV_BUILD
     static const QString& projectRootPath();