diff --git a/libs/rtorrent/__init__.py b/libs/rtorrent/__init__.py
index d70e6e10..a3f16078 100755
--- a/libs/rtorrent/__init__.py
+++ b/libs/rtorrent/__init__.py
@@ -89,13 +89,16 @@ class RTorrent:
 
     def _get_conn(self):
         """Get ServerProxy instance"""
-        if self.username is not None and self.password is not None:
+
+        if self.username and self.password:
             if self.scheme == 'scgi':
                 raise NotImplementedError()
 
+            secure = self.scheme == 'https'
+
             return self.sp(
                 self.uri,
-                transport=BasicAuthTransport(self.username, self.password),
+                transport=BasicAuthTransport(secure, self.username, self.password),
                 **self.sp_kwargs
             )
 
diff --git a/libs/rtorrent/lib/xmlrpc/basic_auth.py b/libs/rtorrent/lib/xmlrpc/basic_auth.py
index 20c02d9a..c5654a21 100644
--- a/libs/rtorrent/lib/xmlrpc/basic_auth.py
+++ b/libs/rtorrent/lib/xmlrpc/basic_auth.py
@@ -20,24 +20,46 @@
 # OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION
 # WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.
 
-from base64 import encodestring
-import string
+from base64 import b64encode
+import httplib
 import xmlrpclib
 
 
 class BasicAuthTransport(xmlrpclib.Transport):
-    def __init__(self, username=None, password=None):
+    def __init__(self, secure=False, username=None, password=None):
         xmlrpclib.Transport.__init__(self)
 
+        self.secure = secure
+
         self.username = username
         self.password = password
 
     def send_auth(self, h):
-        if self.username is not None and self.password is not None:
-            h.putheader('AUTHORIZATION', "Basic %s" % string.replace(
-                encodestring("%s:%s" % (self.username, self.password)),
-                "\012", ""
-            ))
+        if not self.username or not self.password:
+            return
+
+        auth = b64encode("%s:%s" % (self.username, self.password))
+
+        h.putheader('Authorization', "Basic %s" % auth)
+
+    def make_connection(self, host):
+        if self._connection and host == self._connection[0]:
+            return self._connection[1]
+
+        chost, self._extra_headers, x509 = self.get_host_info(host)
+
+        if self.secure:
+            try:
+                self._connection = host, httplib.HTTPSConnection(chost, None, **(x509 or {}))
+            except AttributeError:
+                raise NotImplementedError(
+                    "your version of httplib doesn't support HTTPS"
+                )
+        else:
+            self._connection = host, httplib.HTTPConnection(chost)
+
+        return self._connection[1]
+
 
     def single_request(self, host, handler, request_body, verbose=0):
         # issue XML-RPC request