diff --git a/app/actors/hyrax/actors/create_with_remote_files_actor.rb b/app/actors/hyrax/actors/create_with_remote_files_actor.rb
index 5b015e76ca..4e51ca3466 100644
--- a/app/actors/hyrax/actors/create_with_remote_files_actor.rb
+++ b/app/actors/hyrax/actors/create_with_remote_files_actor.rb
@@ -5,6 +5,9 @@ module Actors
     #     attributes[:remote_files] = filenames.map do |name|
     #       { url: "https://example.com/file/#{name}", file_name: name }
     #     end
+    #
+    # Browse everything may also return a local file. And although it's in the
+    # url property, it may have spaces, and not be a valid URI.
     class CreateWithRemoteFilesActor < Hyrax::Actors::AbstractActor
       # @param [Hyrax::Actors::Environment] env
       # @return [Boolean] true if create was successful
@@ -26,8 +29,8 @@ def whitelisted_ingest_dirs
           Hyrax.config.whitelisted_ingest_dirs
         end
 
-        def validate_remote_url(url)
-          uri = URI.parse(URI.encode(url))
+        # @param uri [URI] the uri fo the resource to import
+        def validate_remote_url(uri)
           if uri.scheme == 'file'
             path = File.absolute_path(URI.decode(uri.path))
             whitelisted_ingest_dirs.any? do |dir|
@@ -46,26 +49,29 @@ def attach_files(env, remote_files)
           return true unless remote_files
           remote_files.each do |file_info|
             next if file_info.blank? || file_info[:url].blank?
-            unless validate_remote_url(file_info[:url])
+            # Escape any space characters, so that this is a legal URI
+            uri = URI.parse(Addressable::URI.escape(file_info[:url]))
+            unless validate_remote_url(uri)
               Rails.logger.error "User #{env.user.user_key} attempted to ingest file from url #{file_info[:url]}, which doesn't pass validation"
               return false
             end
-            create_file_from_url(env, file_info[:url], file_info[:file_name])
+            create_file_from_url(env, uri, file_info[:file_name])
           end
           true
         end
 
         # Generic utility for creating FileSet from a URL
         # Used in to import files using URLs from a file picker like browse_everything
-        def create_file_from_url(env, url, file_name)
-          ::FileSet.new(import_url: url, label: file_name) do |fs|
+        def create_file_from_url(env, uri, file_name)
+          ::FileSet.new(import_url: uri.to_s, label: file_name) do |fs|
             actor = Hyrax::Actors::FileSetActor.new(fs, env.user)
             actor.create_metadata(visibility: env.curation_concern.visibility)
             actor.attach_to_work(env.curation_concern)
             fs.save!
-            uri = URI.parse(URI.encode(url))
             if uri.scheme == 'file'
-              IngestLocalFileJob.perform_later(fs, URI.decode(uri.path), env.user)
+              # Turn any %20 into spaces.
+              file_path = CGI.unescape(uri.path)
+              IngestLocalFileJob.perform_later(fs, file_path, env.user)
             else
               ImportUrlJob.perform_later(fs, operation_for(user: actor.user))
             end
diff --git a/spec/actors/hyrax/actors/create_with_remote_files_actor_spec.rb b/spec/actors/hyrax/actors/create_with_remote_files_actor_spec.rb
index 65e65179db..f4a25bc4e7 100644
--- a/spec/actors/hyrax/actors/create_with_remote_files_actor_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/actors/hyrax/actors/create_with_remote_files_actor_spec.rb
@@ -86,19 +86,19 @@
     end
 
     it "accepts file: urls in whitelisted directories" do
-      expect(actor.send(:validate_remote_url, "file:///local/file/test.txt")).to be true
-      expect(actor.send(:validate_remote_url, "file:///local/file/subdirectory/test.txt")).to be true
-      expect(actor.send(:validate_remote_url, "file:///test/test.txt")).to be true
+      expect(actor.send(:validate_remote_url, URI('file:///local/file/test.txt'))).to be true
+      expect(actor.send(:validate_remote_url, URI('file:///local/file/subdirectory/test.txt'))).to be true
+      expect(actor.send(:validate_remote_url, URI('file:///test/test.txt'))).to be true
     end
 
     it "rejects file: urls outside whitelisted directories" do
-      expect(actor.send(:validate_remote_url, "file:///tmp/test.txt")).to be false
-      expect(actor.send(:validate_remote_url, "file:///test/../tmp/test.txt")).to be false
-      expect(actor.send(:validate_remote_url, "file:///test/")).to be false
+      expect(actor.send(:validate_remote_url, URI('file:///tmp/test.txt'))).to be false
+      expect(actor.send(:validate_remote_url, URI('file:///test/../tmp/test.txt'))).to be false
+      expect(actor.send(:validate_remote_url, URI('file:///test/'))).to be false
     end
 
     it "accepts other types of urls" do
-      expect(actor.send(:validate_remote_url, "https://example.com/test.txt")).to be true
+      expect(actor.send(:validate_remote_url, URI('https://example.com/test.txt'))).to be true
     end
   end
 end