diff --git a/lib/handshake.c b/lib/handshake.c
index 4be448ab..720ee685 100644
--- a/lib/handshake.c
+++ b/lib/handshake.c
@@ -219,7 +219,7 @@ http_postbody:
 				memset(&wsi->u, 0, sizeof(wsi->u));
 				wsi->mode = LWS_CONNMODE_HTTP_SERVING_ACCEPTED;
 				wsi->state = WSI_STATE_HTTP;
-				wsi->u.http.fd = -1;
+				wsi->u.http.fd = LWS_INVALID_FILE;
 
 				/* expose it at the same offset as u.hdr */
 				wsi->u.http.ah = ah;
diff --git a/lib/libwebsockets.c b/lib/libwebsockets.c
index 458a5479..7f9d20eb 100644
--- a/lib/libwebsockets.c
+++ b/lib/libwebsockets.c
@@ -286,10 +286,14 @@ libwebsocket_close_and_free_session(struct libwebsocket_context *context,
 			free(wsi->u.http.post_buffer);
 			wsi->u.http.post_buffer = NULL;
 		}
-		if (wsi->u.http.fd >= 0) {
-			lwsl_debug("closing http fd %d\n", wsi->u.http.fd);
+		if (wsi->u.http.fd != LWS_INVALID_FILE) {
+			lwsl_debug("closing http file\n");
+#if defined(WIN32) || defined(_WIN32)
+			CloseHandle(wsi->u.http.fd);
+#else
 			close(wsi->u.http.fd);
-			wsi->u.http.fd = -1;
+#endif
+			wsi->u.http.fd = LWS_INVALID_FILE;
 			context->protocols[0].callback(context, wsi,
 				LWS_CALLBACK_CLOSED_HTTP, wsi->user_space, NULL, 0);
 		}
diff --git a/lib/output.c b/lib/output.c
index 173cda49..8188ec25 100644
--- a/lib/output.c
+++ b/lib/output.c
@@ -629,7 +629,12 @@ send_raw:
 LWS_VISIBLE int libwebsockets_serve_http_file_fragment(
 		struct libwebsocket_context *context, struct libwebsocket *wsi)
 {
-	int n, m;
+#if defined(WIN32) || defined(_WIN32)
+	DWORD n;
+#else
+	int n;
+#endif
+	int m;
 
 	while (!lws_send_pipe_choked(wsi)) {
 
@@ -643,22 +648,33 @@ LWS_VISIBLE int libwebsockets_serve_http_file_fragment(
 		if (wsi->u.http.filepos == wsi->u.http.filelen)
 			goto all_sent;
 
+#if defined(WIN32) || defined(_WIN32)
+		if (!ReadFile(wsi->u.http.fd, context->service_buffer,
+						sizeof(context->service_buffer), &n, NULL))
+			return -1; /* caller will close */
+#else
 		n = read(wsi->u.http.fd, context->service_buffer,
 					       sizeof(context->service_buffer));
-		if (n > 0) {
+
+		if (n < 0)
+			return -1; /* caller will close */
+#endif
+		if (n) {
 			m = libwebsocket_write(wsi, context->service_buffer, n,
 								LWS_WRITE_HTTP);
 			if (m < 0)
 				return -1;
 
 			wsi->u.http.filepos += m;
-			if (m != n)
+			if (m != n) {
 				/* adjust for what was not sent */
+#if defined(WIN32) || defined(_WIN32)
+				SetFilePointer(wsi->u.http.fd, m - n, NULL, FILE_CURRENT);
+#else
 				lseek(wsi->u.http.fd, m - n, SEEK_CUR);
+#endif
+			}
 		}
-
-		if (n < 0)
-			return -1; /* caller will close */
 all_sent:
 		if (!wsi->truncated_send_malloc &&
 				wsi->u.http.filepos == wsi->u.http.filelen) {
diff --git a/lib/private-libwebsockets.h b/lib/private-libwebsockets.h
index f9df4a64..33321065 100644
--- a/lib/private-libwebsockets.h
+++ b/lib/private-libwebsockets.h
@@ -81,6 +81,7 @@
 #include <winsock2.h>
 #include <ws2ipdef.h>
 #include <windows.h>
+#define LWS_INVALID_FILE INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE
 #else
 #include <sys/types.h>
 #include <sys/socket.h>
@@ -99,6 +100,7 @@
 #include <sys/mman.h>
 #include <sys/time.h>
 
+#define LWS_INVALID_FILE -1
 #define compatible_close(fd) close(fd);
 #endif
 
@@ -344,7 +346,11 @@ struct allocated_headers {
 
 struct _lws_http_mode_related {
 	struct allocated_headers *ah; /* mirroring  _lws_header_related */
+#if defined(WIN32) || defined(_WIN32)
+	HANDLE fd;
+#else
 	int fd;
+#endif
 	unsigned long filepos;
 	unsigned long filelen;
 
diff --git a/lib/server.c b/lib/server.c
index 4547a34e..11632c13 100644
--- a/lib/server.c
+++ b/lib/server.c
@@ -485,6 +485,31 @@ LWS_VISIBLE int libwebsockets_return_http_status(
 	return m;
 }
 
+#if defined(WIN32) || defined(_WIN32)
+static inline HANDLE lws_open_file(const char* filename, unsigned long* filelen)
+{
+	HANDLE ret = CreateFileA(filename, GENERIC_READ, FILE_SHARE_READ, NULL, OPEN_EXISTING, FILE_ATTRIBUTE_NORMAL, NULL);
+
+	if (ret != LWS_INVALID_FILE)
+		*filelen = GetFileSize(ret, NULL);
+
+	return ret;
+}
+#else
+static inline int lws_open_file(const char* filename, unsigned long* filelen)
+{
+	struct stat stat_buf;
+	int ret = open(filename, O_RDONLY);
+
+	if (ret < 0)
+		return LWS_INVALID_FILE;
+
+	fstat(ret, &stat_buf);
+	*filelen = stat_buf.st_size;
+	return ret;
+}
+#endif
+
 /**
  * libwebsockets_serve_http_file() - Send a file back to the client using http
  * @context:		libwebsockets context
@@ -508,27 +533,19 @@ LWS_VISIBLE int libwebsockets_serve_http_file(
 			struct libwebsocket *wsi, const char *file,
 			   const char *content_type, const char *other_headers)
 {
-	struct stat stat_buf;
 	unsigned char *p = context->service_buffer;
 	int ret = 0;
 	int n;
 
-	wsi->u.http.fd = open(file, O_RDONLY
-#ifdef WIN32
-			 | _O_BINARY
-#endif
-	);
+	wsi->u.http.fd = lws_open_file(file, &wsi->u.http.filelen);
 
-	if (wsi->u.http.fd < 1) {
+	if (wsi->u.http.fd == LWS_INVALID_FILE) {
 		lwsl_err("Unable to open '%s'\n", file);
 		libwebsockets_return_http_status(context, wsi,
 						HTTP_STATUS_NOT_FOUND, NULL);
-		wsi->u.http.fd = -1;
 		return -1;
 	}
 
-	fstat(wsi->u.http.fd, &stat_buf);
-	wsi->u.http.filelen = stat_buf.st_size;
 	p += sprintf((char *)p,
 "HTTP/1.0 200 OK\x0d\x0aServer: libwebsockets\x0d\x0a""Content-Type: %s\x0d\x0a",
 								  content_type);
@@ -538,8 +555,7 @@ LWS_VISIBLE int libwebsockets_serve_http_file(
 		p += n;
 	}
 	p += sprintf((char *)p,
-		"Content-Length: %u\x0d\x0a\x0d\x0a",
-					(unsigned int)stat_buf.st_size);
+		"Content-Length: %lu\x0d\x0a\x0d\x0a", wsi->u.http.filelen);
 
 	ret = libwebsocket_write(wsi, context->service_buffer,
 				   p - context->service_buffer, LWS_WRITE_HTTP);