diff --git a/Libraries/Network/RCTNetworking.h b/Libraries/Network/RCTNetworking.h
index 2068f32b803038..358ab52b6d1206 100644
--- a/Libraries/Network/RCTNetworking.h
+++ b/Libraries/Network/RCTNetworking.h
@@ -45,6 +45,8 @@
 - (RCTNetworkTask *)networkTaskWithRequest:(NSURLRequest *)request
                            completionBlock:(RCTURLRequestCompletionBlock)completionBlock;
 
+- (RCTNetworkTask *)networkTaskWithRequest:(NSURLRequest *)request handler:(id<RCTURLRequestHandler>)handler completionBlock:(RCTURLRequestCompletionBlock)completionBlock;
+
 - (void)addRequestHandler:(id<RCTNetworkingRequestHandler>)handler;
 
 - (void)addResponseHandler:(id<RCTNetworkingResponseHandler>)handler;
diff --git a/Libraries/Network/RCTNetworking.mm b/Libraries/Network/RCTNetworking.mm
index 22ca45b0fa3ff4..7010709e287d93 100644
--- a/Libraries/Network/RCTNetworking.mm
+++ b/Libraries/Network/RCTNetworking.mm
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@
 #import <React/RCTUtils.h>
 
 #import <React/RCTHTTPRequestHandler.h>
+#import <React/RCTFileRequestHandler.h>
 
 #import "RCTNetworkPlugins.h"
 
@@ -393,9 +394,9 @@ - (RCTURLRequestCancellationBlock)processDataForHTTPQuery:(nullable NSDictionary
   }
   NSURLRequest *request = [RCTConvert NSURLRequest:query[@"uri"]];
   if (request) {
-
     __block RCTURLRequestCancellationBlock cancellationBlock = nil;
-    RCTNetworkTask *task = [self networkTaskWithRequest:request completionBlock:^(NSURLResponse *response, NSData *data, NSError *error) {
+    id<RCTURLRequestHandler> handler = [self.bridge moduleForClass:[RCTFileRequestHandler class]];
+    RCTNetworkTask *task = [self networkTaskWithRequest:request handler:handler completionBlock:^(NSURLResponse *response, NSData *data, NSError *error) {
       dispatch_async(self->_methodQueue, ^{
         cancellationBlock = callback(error, data ? @{@"body": data, @"contentType": RCTNullIfNil(response.MIMEType)} : nil);
       });
@@ -676,6 +677,19 @@ - (RCTNetworkTask *)networkTaskWithRequest:(NSURLRequest *)request completionBlo
   return task;
 }
 
+- (RCTNetworkTask *)networkTaskWithRequest:(NSURLRequest *)request handler:(id<RCTURLRequestHandler>)handler completionBlock:(RCTURLRequestCompletionBlock)completionBlock
+{
+  if (!handler) {
+    // specified handler is nil, fall back to generic method
+    return [self networkTaskWithRequest:request completionBlock:completionBlock];
+  }
+  RCTNetworkTask *task = [[RCTNetworkTask alloc] initWithRequest:request
+                                                         handler:handler
+                                                   callbackQueue:_methodQueue];
+  task.completionBlock = completionBlock;
+  return task;
+}
+
 #pragma mark - JS API
 
 RCT_EXPORT_METHOD(sendRequest:(JS::NativeNetworkingIOS::SpecSendRequestQuery &)query