diff --git a/includes/locale.inc b/includes/locale.inc
index c168da0..c52ea59 100644
--- a/includes/locale.inc
+++ b/includes/locale.inc
@@ -1485,7 +1485,17 @@ function _locale_parse_js_file($filepath) {
   $parsed_url = drupal_parse_url($filepath);
   $filepath = $parsed_url['path'];
   // Load the JavaScript file.
-  $file = file_get_contents($filepath);
+  if (file_uri_scheme($filepath) === FALSE) {
+    global $base_url;
+    $streamed_filepath = $base_url . '/' . $filepath;
+  }
+  else {
+    $streamed_filepath = $filepath;
+  }
+  // Prefering drupal_http_request() to file_get_contents().
+  // drupal_http_request() needs an absolute path. In locales_source, however
+  // we store $filepath.
+  $file = drupal_http_request($streamed_filepath)->data;
 
   // Match all calls to Drupal.t() in an array.
   // Note: \s also matches newlines with the 's' modifier.