diff --git a/cwltool/pathmapper.py b/cwltool/pathmapper.py
index 6802a91eb..dd7c09ae7 100644
--- a/cwltool/pathmapper.py
+++ b/cwltool/pathmapper.py
@@ -5,6 +5,11 @@
 import stat
 import uuid
 from functools import partial
+from tempfile import NamedTemporaryFile
+
+import requests
+from cachecontrol import CacheControl
+from cachecontrol.caches import FileCache
 from typing import Any, Callable, Dict, Iterable, List, Set, Text, Tuple, Union
 
 import schema_salad.validate as validate
@@ -139,6 +144,29 @@ def trim_listing(obj):
     if obj.get("location", "").startswith("file://") and "listing" in obj:
         del obj["listing"]
 
+# Download http Files
+def downloadHttpFile(httpurl):
+    # type: (Text) -> Text
+    cache_session = None
+    if "XDG_CACHE_HOME" in os.environ:
+        directory = os.environ["XDG_CACHE_HOME"]
+    elif "HOME" in os.environ:
+        directory = os.environ["HOME"]
+    else:
+        directory = os.path.expanduser('~')
+
+    cache_session = CacheControl(
+        requests.Session(),
+        cache=FileCache(
+            os.path.join(directory, ".cache", "cwltool")))
+
+    r = cache_session.get(httpurl, stream=True)
+    with NamedTemporaryFile(mode='wb', delete=False) as f:
+        for chunk in r.iter_content(chunk_size=16384):
+            if chunk:  # filter out keep-alive new chunks
+                f.write(chunk)
+    r.close()
+    return f.name
 
 class PathMapper(object):
     """Mapping of files from relative path provided in the file to a tuple of
@@ -208,14 +236,18 @@ def visit(self, obj, stagedir, basedir, copy=False, staged=False):
                 self._pathmap[obj["location"]] = MapperEnt(obj["contents"], tgt, "CreateFile", staged)
             else:
                 with SourceLine(obj, "location", validate.ValidationException):
-                    # Dereference symbolic links
                     deref = ab
-                    st = os.lstat(deref)
-                    while stat.S_ISLNK(st.st_mode):
-                        rl = os.readlink(deref)
-                        deref = rl if os.path.isabs(rl) else os.path.join(
-                            os.path.dirname(deref), rl)
+                    if urllib.parse.urlsplit(deref).scheme in ['http','https']:
+                        deref = downloadHttpFile(path)
+                    else:
+                        # Dereference symbolic links
                         st = os.lstat(deref)
+                        while stat.S_ISLNK(st.st_mode):
+                            rl = os.readlink(deref)
+                            deref = rl if os.path.isabs(rl) else os.path.join(
+                                os.path.dirname(deref), rl)
+                            st = os.lstat(deref)
+
                     self._pathmap[path] = MapperEnt(deref, tgt, "WritableFile" if copy else "File", staged)
                     self.visitlisting(obj.get("secondaryFiles", []), stagedir, basedir, copy=copy, staged=staged)
 
diff --git a/cwltool/stdfsaccess.py b/cwltool/stdfsaccess.py
index df5056b04..72016a861 100644
--- a/cwltool/stdfsaccess.py
+++ b/cwltool/stdfsaccess.py
@@ -13,6 +13,8 @@
 def abspath(src, basedir):  # type: (Text, Text) -> Text
     if src.startswith(u"file://"):
         ab = six.text_type(uri_file_path(str(src)))
+    elif urllib.parse.urlsplit(src).scheme in ['http','https']:
+        return src
     else:
         if basedir.startswith(u"file://"):
             ab = src if os.path.isabs(src) else basedir+ '/'+ src
diff --git a/tests/test_http_input.py b/tests/test_http_input.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..e3a298190
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_http_input.py
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+from __future__ import absolute_import
+import unittest
+import os
+import tempfile
+from cwltool.pathmapper import PathMapper
+
+
+class TestHttpInput(unittest.TestCase):
+    def test_http_path_mapping(self):
+        class SubPathMapper(PathMapper):
+            def __init__(self, referenced_files, basedir, stagedir):
+                super(SubPathMapper, self).__init__(referenced_files, basedir, stagedir)
+        input_file_path = "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/common-workflow-language/cwltool/master/tests/2.fasta"
+        tempdir = tempfile.mkdtemp()
+        base_file = [{
+            "class": "File",
+            "location": "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/common-workflow-language/cwltool/master/tests/2.fasta",
+            "basename": "chr20.fa"
+        }]
+        path_map_obj = SubPathMapper(base_file, os.getcwd(), tempdir)
+
+        self.assertIn(input_file_path,path_map_obj._pathmap)
+        assert os.path.exists(path_map_obj._pathmap[input_file_path].resolved) == 1
+        with open(path_map_obj._pathmap[input_file_path].resolved) as f:
+            self.assertIn(">Sequence 561 BP; 135 A; 106 C; 98 G; 222 T; 0 other;",f.read())
+            f.close()
\ No newline at end of file