diff --git a/NEWS.md b/NEWS.md
index 73d50a55..5718d109 100644
--- a/NEWS.md
+++ b/NEWS.md
@@ -5,6 +5,8 @@ httpuv 1.5.4.9000
 
 * Fixed #195: Responses required `headers` to be a named list. Now it can also be `NULL`, an empty unnamed list, or it can be unset. (#289)
 
+* Resolved #259: Static files now support common range requests on non-Windows platforms. (#290)
+
 httpuv 1.5.4
 ============
 
diff --git a/src/filedatasource-unix.cpp b/src/filedatasource-unix.cpp
index 6db06829..473685e9 100644
--- a/src/filedatasource-unix.cpp
+++ b/src/filedatasource-unix.cpp
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ FileDataSourceResult FileDataSource::initialize(const std::string& path, bool ow
       return FDS_ISDIR;
     }
 
-    _length = info.st_size;
+    _length = _fsize = info.st_size;
 
     if (owned && unlink(path.c_str())) {
       // Print this (on either main or background thread), since we're not
@@ -52,6 +52,18 @@ uint64_t FileDataSource::size() const {
   return _length;
 }
 
+bool FileDataSource::setRange(size_t start, size_t end) {
+  if (end > _fsize) {
+    return false;
+  }
+  if (lseek(_fd, start, SEEK_SET) < 0) {
+    err_printf("Error in lseek: %d\n", errno);
+    return false;
+  }
+  _length = end - start + 1;
+  return true;
+}
+
 uv_buf_t FileDataSource::getData(size_t bytesDesired) {
   ASSERT_BACKGROUND_THREAD()
   if (bytesDesired == 0)
diff --git a/src/filedatasource-win.cpp b/src/filedatasource-win.cpp
index e5366966..d84e413f 100644
--- a/src/filedatasource-win.cpp
+++ b/src/filedatasource-win.cpp
@@ -63,6 +63,10 @@ uint64_t FileDataSource::size() const {
   return _length.QuadPart;
 }
 
+bool FileDataSource::setRange(size_t start, size_t end) {
+  return false;
+}
+
 uv_buf_t FileDataSource::getData(size_t bytesDesired) {
   ASSERT_BACKGROUND_THREAD()
   if (bytesDesired == 0)
diff --git a/src/filedatasource.h b/src/filedatasource.h
index d32ac0b0..c7763678 100644
--- a/src/filedatasource.h
+++ b/src/filedatasource.h
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ class FileDataSource : public DataSource {
 #else
   int _fd;
   off_t _length;
+  off_t _fsize;
 #endif
   std::string _lastErrorMessage;
 
@@ -32,6 +33,7 @@ class FileDataSource : public DataSource {
 
   FileDataSourceResult initialize(const std::string& path, bool owned);
   uint64_t size() const;
+  bool setRange(size_t start, size_t end);
   uv_buf_t getData(size_t bytesDesired);
   void freeData(uv_buf_t buffer);
   // Get the mtime of the file. If there's an error, return 0.
diff --git a/src/webapplication.cpp b/src/webapplication.cpp
index 87b19f65..9eb0673f 100644
--- a/src/webapplication.cpp
+++ b/src/webapplication.cpp
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 #include <boost/bind.hpp>
 #include <boost/shared_ptr.hpp>
 #include <boost/make_shared.hpp>
+#include <regex>
 #include "httpuv.h"
 #include "filedatasource.h"
 #include "webapplication.h"
@@ -555,6 +556,42 @@ boost::shared_ptr<HttpResponse> RWebApplication::staticFileResponse(
     }
   }
 
+  // Check the HTTP Range header, if it has been specified.
+  std::smatch rangeMatch;
+  int start = 0, end = pDataSource->size() - 1;
+  if (pRequest->hasHeader("Range")) {
+    std::string rangeHeader = pRequest->getHeader("Range");
+    // This is a limited form of the HTTP Range header, so don't complain to the
+    // client if it's malformed -- just silently ignore it instead.
+    if (std::regex_search(rangeHeader, rangeMatch, std::regex("bytes=(\\d+)-(\\d+)?$"))) {
+      start = std::stoi(rangeMatch[1].str().c_str());
+      if (!rangeMatch[2].str().empty()) {
+        end = std::stoi(rangeMatch[2].str().c_str());
+      }
+      if (end < start) {
+        // HTTP 416 seems to be for syntactically valid but otherwise
+        // unfulfillable requests, so use HTTP 400 for bad syntax instead.
+        return error_response(pRequest, 400);
+      }
+      if (start >= pDataSource->size()) {
+        boost::shared_ptr<HttpResponse> pResponse = error_response(pRequest, 416);
+        pResponse->headers().push_back(
+          std::make_pair("Content-Range", std::string("bytes */") + toString(pDataSource->size()))
+        );
+        return pResponse;
+      }
+      if (end > pDataSource->size() - 1) {
+        // The client might not know the size, so the range end is supposed to
+        // be redefined to be the last byte in this case instead of issuing an
+        // error.
+        //
+        // See: https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc7233#section-2.1
+        end = pDataSource->size() - 1;
+      }
+    }
+  }
+  bool hasRange = start != 0 || end != pDataSource->size() - 1;
+
   // ==================================
   // Create the HTTP response
   // ==================================
@@ -570,11 +607,22 @@ boost::shared_ptr<HttpResponse> RWebApplication::staticFileResponse(
 
   if (method == "HEAD") {
     pDataSource2.reset();
+    hasRange = false;
   }
 
   if (client_cache_is_valid) {
     pDataSource2.reset();
     status_code = 304;
+    hasRange = false;
+  }
+
+  std::ostringstream contentRange;
+  if (hasRange) {
+    size_t oldSize = pDataSource2->size();
+    if (pDataSource2->setRange(start, end)) {
+      status_code = 206;
+      contentRange << "bytes " << start << "-" << end << "/" << oldSize;
+    }
   }
 
   boost::shared_ptr<HttpResponse> pResponse = boost::shared_ptr<HttpResponse>(
@@ -616,6 +664,10 @@ boost::shared_ptr<HttpResponse> RWebApplication::staticFileResponse(
     respHeaders.push_back(std::make_pair("Last-Modified", http_date_string(pDataSource->getMtime())));
   }
 
+  if (status_code == 206) {
+    respHeaders.push_back(std::make_pair("Content-Range", contentRange.str()));
+  }
+
   return pResponse;
 }
 
diff --git a/tests/testthat/test-static-paths.R b/tests/testthat/test-static-paths.R
index ca7cee18..84861f42 100644
--- a/tests/testthat/test-static-paths.R
+++ b/tests/testthat/test-static-paths.R
@@ -808,3 +808,69 @@ test_that("Paths with non-ASCII characters", {
   expect_identical(r$status_code, 200L)
   expect_identical(r$content, file_content)
 })
+
+
+test_that("Range headers", {
+  s <- startServer("127.0.0.1", randomPort(),
+    list(
+      staticPaths = list(
+        "/" = staticPath(test_path("apps/content"))
+      )
+    )
+  )
+  on.exit(s$stop())
+
+  file_size <- file.info(test_path("apps/content/mtcars.csv"))$size
+
+  # Malformed Range header.
+  h <- new_handle()
+  handle_setheaders(h, "Range" = "bytes=2000-1000")
+  r <- fetch(local_url("/mtcars.csv", s$getPort()), h)
+  expect_identical(r$status_code, 400L)
+
+  # Range starts beyond file length.
+  handle_setheaders(h, "Range" = "bytes=10000-20000")
+  r <- fetch(local_url("/mtcars.csv", s$getPort()), h)
+  expect_identical(r$status_code, 416L)
+  expect_identical(
+    parse_headers_list(r$headers)$`content-range`,
+    sprintf("bytes */%d", file_size)
+  )
+
+  # Multiple ranges, which we just ignore.
+  handle_setheaders(h, "Range" = "bytes=0-500, 1000-")
+  r <- fetch(local_url("/mtcars.csv", s$getPort()), h)
+  expect_identical(r$status_code, 200L)
+
+  skip_on_os("windows")
+
+  # Start of a file.
+  handle_setheaders(h, "Range" = "bytes=0-499")
+  r <- fetch(local_url("/mtcars.csv", s$getPort()), h)
+  expect_identical(r$status_code, 206L)
+  expect_identical(
+    parse_headers_list(r$headers)$`content-range`,
+    sprintf("bytes 0-499/%d", file_size)
+  )
+  expect_equal(length(r$content), 500)
+
+  # End of a file.
+  handle_setheaders(h, "Range" = "bytes=1000-")
+  r <- fetch(local_url("/mtcars.csv", s$getPort()), h)
+  expect_identical(r$status_code, 206L)
+  expect_identical(
+    parse_headers_list(r$headers)$`content-range`,
+    sprintf("bytes 1000-%d/%d", file_size - 1, file_size)
+  )
+  expect_equal(length(r$content), 303)
+
+  # End of a smaller file than expected.
+  handle_setheaders(h, "Range" = "bytes=1000-2000")
+  r <- fetch(local_url("/mtcars.csv", s$getPort()), h)
+  expect_identical(r$status_code, 206L)
+  expect_identical(
+    parse_headers_list(r$headers)$`content-range`,
+    sprintf("bytes 1000-%d/%d", file_size - 1, file_size)
+  )
+  expect_equal(length(r$content), 303)
+})