diff --git a/extra/http/client/client.factor b/extra/http/client/client.factor
index e4bbf0279f..1c42b174d4 100755
--- a/extra/http/client/client.factor
+++ b/extra/http/client/client.factor
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 USING: assocs http kernel math math.parser namespaces sequences
 io io.sockets io.streams.string io.files io.timeouts strings
 splitting calendar continuations accessors vectors
-io.encodings.8-bit io.encodings.binary fry ;
+io.encodings.8-bit io.encodings.binary fry debugger ;
 IN: http.client
 
 DEFER: http-request
@@ -61,20 +61,43 @@ PRIVATE>
         ] close-on-error
     ] with-variable ;
 
+: read-chunks ( -- )
+    readln ";" split1 drop hex>
+    dup { f 0 } member? [ drop ] [ read % read-chunks ] if ;
+
+: do-chunked-encoding ( response stream -- response stream/string )
+    over "transfer-encoding" header "chunked" = [
+        [ [ read-chunks ] "" make ] with-stream
+    ] when ;
+
 : <get-request> ( url -- request )
     <request> request-with-url "GET" >>method ;
 
-: http-get-stream ( url -- response stream )
-    <get-request> http-request ;
+: string-or-contents ( stream/string -- string )
+    dup string? [ contents ] unless ;
+
+: http-get-stream ( url -- response stream/string )
+    <get-request> http-request do-chunked-encoding ;
 
 : success? ( code -- ? ) 200 = ;
 
-: check-response ( response -- )
-    code>> success?
-    [ "HTTP download failed" throw ] unless ;
+ERROR: download-failed response body ;
+
+M: download-failed error.
+    "HTTP download failed:" print nl
+    [
+        response>>
+            write-response-code
+            write-response-message nl
+        drop
+    ]
+    [ body>> write ] bi ;
+
+: check-response ( response string -- string )
+    over code>> success? [ nip ] [ download-failed ] if ;
 
 : http-get ( url -- string )
-    http-get-stream contents swap check-response ;
+    http-get-stream string-or-contents check-response ;
 
 : download-name ( url -- name )
     file-name "?" split1 drop "/" ?tail drop ;
@@ -95,4 +118,4 @@ PRIVATE>
     swap >>post-data-type ;
 
 : http-post ( content-type content url -- response string )
-    <post-request> http-request contents ;
+    <post-request> http-request do-chunked-encoding string-or-contents ;
diff --git a/extra/http/http.factor b/extra/http/http.factor
index 9e31855e53..926336cae1 100755
--- a/extra/http/http.factor
+++ b/extra/http/http.factor
@@ -175,13 +175,17 @@ post-data
 post-data-type
 cookies ;
 
+: set-header ( request/response value key -- request/response )
+    pick header>> set-at ;
+
 : <request>
     request new
         "1.1" >>version
         http-port >>port
         H{ } clone >>header
         H{ } clone >>query
-        V{ } clone >>cookies ;
+        V{ } clone >>cookies
+        "close" "connection" set-header ;
 
 : query-param ( request key -- value )
     swap query>> at ;
@@ -330,9 +334,6 @@ SYMBOL: max-post-request
         tri
     ] with-string-writer ;
 
-: set-header ( request/response value key -- request/response )
-    pick header>> set-at ;
-
 GENERIC: write-response ( response -- )
 
 GENERIC: write-full-response ( request response -- )
@@ -347,11 +348,11 @@ body ;
 
 : <response>
     response new
-    "1.1" >>version
-    H{ } clone >>header
-    "close" "connection" set-header
-    now timestamp>http-string "date" set-header
-    V{ } clone >>cookies ;
+        "1.1" >>version
+        H{ } clone >>header
+        "close" "connection" set-header
+        now timestamp>http-string "date" set-header
+        V{ } clone >>cookies ;
 
 : read-response-version
     " \t" read-until