diff --git a/include/villas/advio.h b/include/villas/advio.h
index 415721aaa..a1741a9f9 100644
--- a/include/villas/advio.h
+++ b/include/villas/advio.h
@@ -61,6 +61,9 @@ typedef struct advio AFILE;
 #define auri(af)			((af)->uri)
 #define ahash(af)			((af)->hash)
 
+/** Check if a URI is pointing to a local file. */
+int aislocal(const char *uri);
+
 AFILE *afopen(const char *url, const char *mode);
 
 int afclose(AFILE *file);
@@ -72,7 +75,6 @@ int afseek(AFILE *file, long offset, int origin);
 void arewind(AFILE *file);
 
 /** Download contens from remote file
- *
  *
  * @param resume Do a partial download and append to the local file
  */
diff --git a/lib/advio.c b/lib/advio.c
index 25206d403..02b955eca 100644
--- a/lib/advio.c
+++ b/lib/advio.c
@@ -169,6 +169,11 @@ static int advio_xferinfo(void *p, curl_off_t dl_total_bytes, curl_off_t dl_byte
 	return 0;
 }
 
+int aislocal(const char *uri)
+{
+	return access(uri, F_OK) != -1;
+}
+
 AFILE * afopen(const char *uri, const char *mode)
 {
 	int ret;
@@ -184,7 +189,7 @@ AFILE * afopen(const char *uri, const char *mode)
 		if (!af->uri)
 			goto out2;
 	}
-	else {
+	else { /* Open local file by prepending file:// schema. */
 		if (strlen(uri) <= 1)
 			return NULL;
 
@@ -416,6 +421,7 @@ int adownload(AFILE *af, int resume)
 		case CURLE_FILE_COULDNT_READ_FILE:
 		case CURLE_TFTP_NOTFOUND:
 		case CURLE_REMOTE_FILE_NOT_FOUND:
+			info("File does not exist.");
 			goto notexist;
 
 		/* If libcurl does not know the protocol, we will try it with the stdio */
@@ -425,7 +431,7 @@ int adownload(AFILE *af, int resume)
 				return -1;
 
 		default:
-			error("ADVIO: Failed to download file: %s: %s", af->uri, curl_easy_strerror(res));
+			error("Failed to download file: %s: %s", af->uri, curl_easy_strerror(res));
 			return -1;
 	}