diff --git a/src/main/java/com/rarchives/ripme/ripper/AbstractHTMLRipper.java b/src/main/java/com/rarchives/ripme/ripper/AbstractHTMLRipper.java
index 122c0ffe..e5d09b8e 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/rarchives/ripme/ripper/AbstractHTMLRipper.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/rarchives/ripme/ripper/AbstractHTMLRipper.java
@@ -73,7 +73,7 @@ public abstract class AbstractHTMLRipper extends AbstractRipper {
     }
 
     @Override
-    public URL sanitizeURL(URL url) throws MalformedURLException {
+    public URL sanitizeURL(URL url) throws MalformedURLException, URISyntaxException {
         return url;
     }
     protected boolean hasDescriptionSupport() {
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/rarchives/ripme/ripper/AbstractRipper.java b/src/main/java/com/rarchives/ripme/ripper/AbstractRipper.java
index ff47174a..5772eb85 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/rarchives/ripme/ripper/AbstractRipper.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/rarchives/ripme/ripper/AbstractRipper.java
@@ -172,7 +172,11 @@ public abstract class AbstractRipper
         if (!canRip(url)) {
             throw new MalformedURLException("Unable to rip url: " + url);
         }
-        this.url = sanitizeURL(url);
+        try {
+            this.url = sanitizeURL(url);
+        } catch (URISyntaxException e) {
+            throw new MalformedURLException(e.getMessage());
+        }
     }
 
     /**
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/rarchives/ripme/ripper/RipperInterface.java b/src/main/java/com/rarchives/ripme/ripper/RipperInterface.java
index 63d48917..cc994549 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/rarchives/ripme/ripper/RipperInterface.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/rarchives/ripme/ripper/RipperInterface.java
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ import java.net.URL;
 interface RipperInterface {
     void rip() throws IOException, URISyntaxException;
     boolean canRip(URL url);
-    URL sanitizeURL(URL url) throws MalformedURLException;
+    URL sanitizeURL(URL url) throws MalformedURLException, URISyntaxException;
     void setWorkingDir(URL url) throws IOException;
     String getHost();
     String getGID(URL url) throws MalformedURLException;
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/rarchives/ripme/ripper/rippers/FlickrRipper.java b/src/main/java/com/rarchives/ripme/ripper/rippers/FlickrRipper.java
index 901a857c..f33c079e 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/rarchives/ripme/ripper/rippers/FlickrRipper.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/rarchives/ripme/ripper/rippers/FlickrRipper.java
@@ -2,6 +2,8 @@ package com.rarchives.ripme.ripper.rippers;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.net.MalformedURLException;
+import java.net.URI;
+import java.net.URISyntaxException;
 import java.net.URL;
 import java.util.*;
 import java.util.regex.Matcher;
@@ -62,7 +64,7 @@ public class FlickrRipper extends AbstractHTMLRipper {
     }
 
     @Override
-    public URL sanitizeURL(URL url) throws MalformedURLException {
+    public URL sanitizeURL(URL url) throws MalformedURLException, URISyntaxException {
         String sUrl = url.toExternalForm();
         // Strip out https
         sUrl = sUrl.replace("https://secure.flickr.com", "http://www.flickr.com");
@@ -73,7 +75,7 @@ public class FlickrRipper extends AbstractHTMLRipper {
             }
             sUrl += "pool";
         }
-        return new URL(sUrl);
+        return new URI(sUrl).toURL();
     }
     // FLickr is one of those sites what includes a api key in sites javascript
     // TODO let the user provide their own api key
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/rarchives/ripme/ripper/rippers/LusciousRipper.java b/src/main/java/com/rarchives/ripme/ripper/rippers/LusciousRipper.java
index 277c5ff0..930eb38d 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/rarchives/ripme/ripper/rippers/LusciousRipper.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/rarchives/ripme/ripper/rippers/LusciousRipper.java
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ import org.jsoup.select.Elements;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.net.MalformedURLException;
+import java.net.URISyntaxException;
 import java.net.URL;
 import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.List;
@@ -84,7 +85,7 @@ public class LusciousRipper extends AbstractHTMLRipper {
     }
 
     @Override
-    public URL sanitizeURL(URL url) throws MalformedURLException {
+    public URL sanitizeURL(URL url) throws MalformedURLException, URISyntaxException {
         // Sanitizes the url removing GET parameters and convert to legacy api url.
         // "https://legacy.luscious.net/albums/albumname"
         try {