diff --git a/Doc/library/urllib.request.rst b/Doc/library/urllib.request.rst
index 21255e5..84c387c 100644
--- a/Doc/library/urllib.request.rst
+++ b/Doc/library/urllib.request.rst
@@ -121,7 +121,7 @@
    instances of them or subclasses of them: :class:`ProxyHandler`,
    :class:`UnknownHandler`, :class:`HTTPHandler`, :class:`HTTPDefaultErrorHandler`,
    :class:`HTTPRedirectHandler`, :class:`FTPHandler`, :class:`FileHandler`,
-   :class:`HTTPErrorProcessor`.
+   :class:`HTTPErrorProcessor`, :class:`DataHandler`.
 
    If the Python installation has SSL support (i.e., if the :mod:`ssl` module
    can be imported), :class:`HTTPSHandler` will also be added.
@@ -346,6 +346,11 @@
 
    Open local files.
 
+.. class:: DataHandler()
+
+   Open data URLs.
+
+   .. versionadded:: 3.4
 
 .. class:: FTPHandler()
 
@@ -972,6 +977,21 @@
       hostname is given, an :exc:`URLError` is raised.
 
 
+.. _data-handler-objects:
+
+DataHandler Objects
+-------------------
+
+.. method:: DataHandler.data_open(req)
+
+   Read a data URL. This kind of URL contains the content encoded in the URL
+   itself. The data URL syntax is specified in :rfc:`2397`. This implementation
+   ignores white spaces in base64 encoded data URLs so the URL may be wrapped
+   in whatever source file it comes from. But even though some browsers don't
+   mind about a missing padding at the end of a base64 encoded data URL, this
+   implementation will raise an :exc:`ValueError` in that case.
+
+
 .. _ftp-handler-objects:
 
 FTPHandler Objects
@@ -1374,7 +1394,9 @@
      pair: FTP; protocol
 
 * Currently, only the following protocols are supported: HTTP (versions 0.9 and
-  1.0), FTP, and local files.
+  1.0), FTP, local files, and data URLs.
+
+  .. versionchanged:: 3.4 Added support for data URLs.
 
 * The caching feature of :func:`urlretrieve` has been disabled until someone
   finds the time to hack proper processing of Expiration time headers.
diff --git a/Lib/test/test_urllib.py b/Lib/test/test_urllib.py
index 52b9292..1e30fa6 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_urllib.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_urllib.py
@@ -337,6 +337,79 @@
         with support.check_warnings(('',DeprecationWarning)):
             urllib.request.URLopener()
 
+class urlopen_DataTests(unittest.TestCase):
+    """Test urlopen() opening a data URL."""
+
+    def setUp(self):
+        # text containing URL special- and unicode-characters
+        self.text = "test data URLs :;,%=& \u00f6 \u00c4 "
+        # 2x1 pixel RGB PNG image with one black and one white pixel
+        self.image = (
+            b'\x89PNG\r\n\x1a\n\x00\x00\x00\rIHDR\x00\x00\x00\x02\x00\x00\x00'
+            b'\x01\x08\x02\x00\x00\x00{@\xe8\xdd\x00\x00\x00\x01sRGB\x00\xae'
+            b'\xce\x1c\xe9\x00\x00\x00\x0fIDAT\x08\xd7c```\xf8\xff\xff?\x00'
+            b'\x06\x01\x02\xfe\no/\x1e\x00\x00\x00\x00IEND\xaeB`\x82')
+
+        self.text_url = (
+            "data:text/plain;charset=UTF-8,test%20data%20URLs%20%3A%3B%2C%25%3"
+            "D%26%20%C3%B6%20%C3%84%20")
+        self.text_url_base64 = (
+            "data:text/plain;charset=ISO-8859-1;base64,dGVzdCBkYXRhIFVSTHMgOjs"
+            "sJT0mIPYgxCA%3D")
+        # base64 encoded data URL that contains ignorable spaces,
+        # such as "\n", " ", "%0A", and "%20".
+        self.image_url = (
+            "data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAIAAAABCAIAAAB7\n"
+            "QOjdAAAAAXNSR0IArs4c6QAAAA9JREFUCNdj%0AYGBg%2BP//PwAGAQL%2BCm8 "
+            "vHgAAAABJRU5ErkJggg%3D%3D%0A%20")
+
+        self.text_url_resp = urllib.request.urlopen(self.text_url)
+        self.text_url_base64_resp = urllib.request.urlopen(
+            self.text_url_base64)
+        self.image_url_resp = urllib.request.urlopen(self.image_url)
+
+    def test_interface(self):
+        # Make sure object returned by urlopen() has the specified methods
+        for attr in ("read", "readline", "readlines",
+                     "close", "info", "geturl", "getcode", "__iter__"):
+            self.assertTrue(hasattr(self.text_url_resp, attr),
+                         "object returned by urlopen() lacks %s attribute" %
+                         attr)
+
+    def test_info(self):
+        self.assertIsInstance(self.text_url_resp.info(), email.message.Message)
+        self.assertEqual(self.text_url_base64_resp.info().get_params(),
+            [('text/plain', ''), ('charset', 'ISO-8859-1')])
+        self.assertEqual(self.image_url_resp.info()['content-length'],
+            str(len(self.image)))
+        self.assertEqual(urllib.request.urlopen("data:,").info().get_params(),
+            [('text/plain', ''), ('charset', 'US-ASCII')])
+
+    def test_geturl(self):
+        self.assertEqual(self.text_url_resp.geturl(), self.text_url)
+        self.assertEqual(self.text_url_base64_resp.geturl(),
+            self.text_url_base64)
+        self.assertEqual(self.image_url_resp.geturl(), self.image_url)
+
+    def test_read_text(self):
+        self.assertEqual(self.text_url_resp.read().decode(
+            dict(self.text_url_resp.info().get_params())['charset']), self.text)
+
+    def test_read_text_base64(self):
+        self.assertEqual(self.text_url_base64_resp.read().decode(
+            dict(self.text_url_base64_resp.info().get_params())['charset']),
+            self.text)
+
+    def test_read_image(self):
+        self.assertEqual(self.image_url_resp.read(), self.image)
+
+    def test_missing_comma(self):
+        self.assertRaises(ValueError,urllib.request.urlopen,'data:text/plain')
+
+    def test_invalid_base64_data(self):
+        # missing padding character
+        self.assertRaises(ValueError,urllib.request.urlopen,'data:;base64,Cg=')
+
 class urlretrieve_FileTests(unittest.TestCase):
     """Test urllib.urlretrieve() on local files"""
 
@@ -1313,6 +1386,7 @@
     support.run_unittest(
         urlopen_FileTests,
         urlopen_HttpTests,
+        urlopen_DataTests,
         urlretrieve_FileTests,
         urlretrieve_HttpTests,
         ProxyTests,
diff --git a/Lib/urllib/request.py b/Lib/urllib/request.py
index d389fa9..74725f9 100644
--- a/Lib/urllib/request.py
+++ b/Lib/urllib/request.py
@@ -103,7 +103,8 @@
 from urllib.parse import (
     urlparse, urlsplit, urljoin, unwrap, quote, unquote,
     splittype, splithost, splitport, splituser, splitpasswd,
-    splitattr, splitquery, splitvalue, splittag, to_bytes, urlunparse)
+    splitattr, splitquery, splitvalue, splittag, to_bytes,
+    unquote_to_bytes, urlunparse)
 from urllib.response import addinfourl, addclosehook
 
 # check for SSL
@@ -121,7 +122,7 @@
     'HTTPPasswordMgr', 'HTTPPasswordMgrWithDefaultRealm',
     'AbstractBasicAuthHandler', 'HTTPBasicAuthHandler', 'ProxyBasicAuthHandler',
     'AbstractDigestAuthHandler', 'HTTPDigestAuthHandler', 'ProxyDigestAuthHandler',
-    'HTTPHandler', 'FileHandler', 'FTPHandler', 'CacheFTPHandler',
+    'HTTPHandler', 'FileHandler', 'FTPHandler', 'CacheFTPHandler', 'DataHandler',
     'UnknownHandler', 'HTTPErrorProcessor',
     # Functions
     'urlopen', 'install_opener', 'build_opener',
@@ -535,7 +536,8 @@
     opener = OpenerDirector()
     default_classes = [ProxyHandler, UnknownHandler, HTTPHandler,
                        HTTPDefaultErrorHandler, HTTPRedirectHandler,
-                       FTPHandler, FileHandler, HTTPErrorProcessor]
+                       FTPHandler, FileHandler, HTTPErrorProcessor,
+                       DataHandler]
     if hasattr(http.client, "HTTPSConnection"):
         default_classes.append(HTTPSHandler)
     skip = set()
@@ -1541,6 +1543,36 @@
         self.cache.clear()
         self.timeout.clear()
 
+class DataHandler(BaseHandler):
+    def data_open(self, req):
+        # data URLs as specified in RFC 2397.
+        #
+        # ignores POSTed data
+        #
+        # syntax:
+        # dataurl   := "data:" [ mediatype ] [ ";base64" ] "," data
+        # mediatype := [ type "/" subtype ] *( ";" parameter )
+        # data      := *urlchar
+        # parameter := attribute "=" value
+        url = req.full_url
+
+        scheme, data = url.split(":",1)
+        mediatype, data = data.split(",",1)
+
+        # even base64 encoded data URLs might be quoted so unquote in any case:
+        data = unquote_to_bytes(data)
+        if mediatype.endswith(";base64"):
+            data = base64.decodebytes(data)
+            mediatype = mediatype[:-7]
+
+        if not mediatype:
+            mediatype = "text/plain;charset=US-ASCII"
+
+        headers = email.message_from_string("Content-type: %s\nContent-length: %d\n" %
+            (mediatype, len(data)))
+
+        return addinfourl(io.BytesIO(data), headers, url)
+
 
 # Code move from the old urllib module
 
diff --git a/Misc/ACKS b/Misc/ACKS
index 45ef0c7..0b29321 100644
--- a/Misc/ACKS
+++ b/Misc/ACKS
@@ -884,6 +884,7 @@
 Todd R. Palmer
 Juan David Ibáñez Palomar
 Jan Palus
+Mathias Panzenböck
 M. Papillon
 Peter Parente
 Alexandre Parenteau
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS b/Misc/NEWS
index 8fe37dc..619a851 100644
--- a/Misc/NEWS
+++ b/Misc/NEWS
@@ -138,6 +138,9 @@
 Library
 -------
 
+- Issue #16423: urllib.request now has support for ``data:`` URLs.  Patch by
+  Mathias Panzenböck.
+
 - Issue #4473: Add a POP3.stls() to switch a clear-text POP3 session into
   an encrypted POP3 session, on supported servers.  Patch by Lorenzo Catucci.