diff --git a/googleapiclient/http.py b/googleapiclient/http.py
index 10559c5..2245e8d 100644
--- a/googleapiclient/http.py
+++ b/googleapiclient/http.py
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@
 import mimetypes
 import os
 import random
+import ssl
 import sys
 import time
 import uuid
@@ -61,6 +62,46 @@
 MAX_URI_LENGTH = 2048
 
 
+def _retry_request(http, num_retries, req_type, sleep, rand, uri, method, *args,
+                   **kwargs):
+  """Retries an HTTP request multiple times while handling errors.
+
+  If after all retries the request still fails, last error is either returned as
+  return value (for HTTP 5xx errors) or thrown (for ssl.SSLError).
+
+  Args:
+    http: Http object to be used to execute request.
+    num_retries: Maximum number of retries.
+    req_type: Type of the request (used for logging retries).
+    sleep, rand: Functions to sleep for random time between retries.
+    uri: URI to be requested.
+    method: HTTP method to be used.
+    args, kwargs: Additional arguments passed to http.request.
+
+  Returns:
+    resp, content - Response from the http request (may be HTTP 5xx).
+  """
+  resp = None
+  for retry_num in range(num_retries + 1):
+    if retry_num > 0:
+      sleep(rand() * 2**retry_num)
+      logging.warning(
+          'Retry #%d for %s: %s %s%s' % (retry_num, req_type, method, uri,
+          ', following status: %d' % resp.status if resp else ''))
+
+    try:
+      resp, content = http.request(uri, method, *args, **kwargs)
+    except ssl.SSLError:
+      if retry_num == num_retries:
+        raise
+      else:
+        continue
+    if resp.status < 500:
+      break
+
+  return resp, content
+
+
 class MediaUploadProgress(object):
   """Status of a resumable upload."""
 
@@ -546,16 +587,9 @@
         }
     http = self._request.http
 
-    for retry_num in range(num_retries + 1):
-      if retry_num > 0:
-        self._sleep(self._rand() * 2**retry_num)
-        logging.warning(
-            'Retry #%d for media download: GET %s, following status: %d'
-            % (retry_num, self._uri, resp.status))
-
-      resp, content = http.request(self._uri, headers=headers)
-      if resp.status < 500:
-        break
+    resp, content = _retry_request(
+        http, num_retries, 'media download', self._sleep, self._rand, self._uri,
+        'GET', headers=headers)
 
     if resp.status in [200, 206]:
       if 'content-location' in resp and resp['content-location'] != self._uri:
@@ -654,7 +688,7 @@
 
     # Pull the multipart boundary out of the content-type header.
     major, minor, params = mimeparse.parse_mime_type(
-        headers.get('content-type', 'application/json'))
+        self.headers.get('content-type', 'application/json'))
 
     # The size of the non-media part of the request.
     self.body_size = len(self.body or '')
@@ -716,16 +750,9 @@
       self.headers['content-length'] = str(len(self.body))
 
     # Handle retries for server-side errors.
-    for retry_num in range(num_retries + 1):
-      if retry_num > 0:
-        self._sleep(self._rand() * 2**retry_num)
-        logging.warning('Retry #%d for request: %s %s, following status: %d'
-                        % (retry_num, self.method, self.uri, resp.status))
-
-      resp, content = http.request(str(self.uri), method=str(self.method),
-                                   body=self.body, headers=self.headers)
-      if resp.status < 500:
-        break
+    resp, content = _retry_request(
+          http, num_retries, 'request', self._sleep, self._rand, str(self.uri),
+          method=str(self.method), body=self.body, headers=self.headers)
 
     for callback in self.response_callbacks:
       callback(resp)
@@ -799,18 +826,9 @@
         start_headers['X-Upload-Content-Length'] = size
       start_headers['content-length'] = str(self.body_size)
 
-      for retry_num in range(num_retries + 1):
-        if retry_num > 0:
-          self._sleep(self._rand() * 2**retry_num)
-          logging.warning(
-              'Retry #%d for resumable URI request: %s %s, following status: %d'
-              % (retry_num, self.method, self.uri, resp.status))
-
-        resp, content = http.request(self.uri, method=self.method,
-                                     body=self.body,
-                                     headers=start_headers)
-        if resp.status < 500:
-          break
+      resp, content = _retry_request(
+          http, num_retries, 'resumable URI request', self._sleep, self._rand,
+          self.uri, method=self.method, body=self.body, headers=start_headers)
 
       if resp.status == 200 and 'location' in resp:
         self.resumable_uri = resp['location']
diff --git a/tests/test_http.py b/tests/test_http.py
index 6fb8305..943d581 100644
--- a/tests/test_http.py
+++ b/tests/test_http.py
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@
 import os
 import unittest2 as unittest
 import random
+import ssl
 import time
 
 from googleapiclient.discovery import build
@@ -101,6 +102,20 @@
     headers['authorization'] = self._bearer_token + ' ' + str(self._refreshed)
 
 
+class HttpMockWithSSLErrors(object):
+  def __init__(self, num_errors, success_json, success_data):
+    self.num_errors = num_errors
+    self.success_json = success_json
+    self.success_data = success_data
+
+  def request(self, *args, **kwargs):
+    if not self.num_errors:
+      return httplib2.Response(self.success_json), self.success_data
+    else:
+      self.num_errors -= 1
+      raise ssl.SSLError()
+
+
 DATA_DIR = os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__), 'data')
 
 
@@ -394,6 +409,20 @@
 
     self.assertEqual(self.fd.getvalue(), b'123')
 
+  def test_media_io_base_download_retries_ssl_errors(self):
+    self.request.http = HttpMockWithSSLErrors(
+        3, {'status': '200', 'content-range': '0-2/3'}, b'123')
+
+    download = MediaIoBaseDownload(
+        fd=self.fd, request=self.request, chunksize=3)
+    download._sleep = lambda _x: 0  # do nothing
+    download._rand = lambda: 10
+
+    status, done = download.next_chunk(num_retries=3)
+
+    self.assertEqual(self.fd.getvalue(), b'123')
+    self.assertEqual(True, done)
+
   def test_media_io_base_download_retries_5xx(self):
     self.request.http = HttpMockSequence([
       ({'status': '500'}, ''),
@@ -593,6 +622,36 @@
     self.assertEqual(method, http.method)
     self.assertEqual(str, type(http.method))
 
+  def test_retry_ssl_errors_non_resumable(self):
+    model = JsonModel()
+    request = HttpRequest(
+        HttpMockWithSSLErrors(3, {'status': '200'}, '{"foo": "bar"}'),
+        model.response,
+        u'https://www.example.com/json_api_endpoint')
+    request._sleep = lambda _x: 0  # do nothing
+    request._rand = lambda: 10
+    response = request.execute(num_retries=3)
+    self.assertEqual({u'foo': u'bar'}, response)
+
+  def test_retry_ssl_errors_resumable(self):
+    with open(datafile('small.png'), 'rb') as small_png_file:
+      small_png_fd = BytesIO(small_png_file.read())
+    upload = MediaIoBaseUpload(fd=small_png_fd, mimetype='image/png',
+                               chunksize=500, resumable=True)
+    model = JsonModel()
+
+    request = HttpRequest(
+        HttpMockWithSSLErrors(
+            3, {'status': '200', 'location': 'location'}, '{"foo": "bar"}'),
+        model.response,
+        u'https://www.example.com/file_upload',
+        method='POST',
+        resumable=upload)
+    request._sleep = lambda _x: 0  # do nothing
+    request._rand = lambda: 10
+    response = request.execute(num_retries=3)
+    self.assertEqual({u'foo': u'bar'}, response)
+
   def test_retry(self):
     num_retries = 5
     resp_seq = [({'status': '500'}, '')] * num_retries