diff --git a/src/js/utils/url.js b/src/js/utils/url.js
index 2d288550ae..2967bfde02 100644
--- a/src/js/utils/url.js
+++ b/src/js/utils/url.js
@@ -5,80 +5,18 @@
 import document from 'global/document';
 import window from 'global/window';
 
-/**
- * @typedef {Object} url:URLObject
- *
- * @property {string} protocol
- *           The protocol of the url that was parsed.
- *
- * @property {string} hostname
- *           The hostname of the url that was parsed.
- *
- * @property {string} port
- *           The port of the url that was parsed.
- *
- * @property {string} pathname
- *           The pathname of the url that was parsed.
- *
- * @property {string} search
- *           The search query of the url that was parsed.
- *
- * @property {string} hash
- *           The hash of the url that was parsed.
- *
- * @property {string} host
- *           The host of the url that was parsed.
- */
-
 /**
  * Resolve and parse the elements of a URL.
  *
  * @function
- * @param    {String} url
+ * @param    {string} url
  *           The url to parse
  *
- * @return   {url:URLObject}
+ * @return   {URL}
  *           An object of url details
  */
 export const parseUrl = function(url) {
-  // This entire method can be replace with URL once we are able to drop IE11
-
-  const props = ['protocol', 'hostname', 'port', 'pathname', 'search', 'hash', 'host'];
-
-  // add the url to an anchor and let the browser parse the URL
-  const a = document.createElement('a');
-
-  a.href = url;
-
-  // Copy the specific URL properties to a new object
-  // This is also needed for IE because the anchor loses its
-  // properties when it's removed from the dom
-  const details = {};
-
-  for (let i = 0; i < props.length; i++) {
-    details[props[i]] = a[props[i]];
-  }
-
-  // IE adds the port to the host property unlike everyone else. If
-  // a port identifier is added for standard ports, strip it.
-  if (details.protocol === 'http:') {
-    details.host = details.host.replace(/:80$/, '');
-  }
-
-  if (details.protocol === 'https:') {
-    details.host = details.host.replace(/:443$/, '');
-  }
-
-  if (!details.protocol) {
-    details.protocol = window.location.protocol;
-  }
-
-  /* istanbul ignore if */
-  if (!details.host) {
-    details.host = window.location.host;
-  }
-
-  return details;
+  return new URL(url, document.baseURI);
 };
 
 /**
@@ -90,21 +28,9 @@ export const parseUrl = function(url) {
  *
  * @return   {string}
  *           Absolute URL
- *
- * @see      http://stackoverflow.com/questions/470832/getting-an-absolute-url-from-a-relative-one-ie6-issue
  */
 export const getAbsoluteURL = function(url) {
-  // Check if absolute URL
-  if (!url.match(/^https?:\/\//)) {
-    // Add the url to an anchor and let the browser parse it to convert to an absolute url
-    const a = document.createElement('a');
-
-    a.href = url;
-
-    url = a.href;
-  }
-
-  return url;
+  return (new URL(url, document.baseURI)).href;
 };
 
 /**
@@ -139,27 +65,12 @@ export const getFileExtension = function(path) {
  * @param    {string} url
  *           The url to check.
  *
- * @param    {Object} [winLoc]
+ * @param    {URL} [winLoc]
  *           the domain to check the url against, defaults to window.location
  *
- * @param    {string} [winLoc.protocol]
- *           The window location protocol defaults to window.location.protocol
- *
- * @param    {string} [winLoc.host]
- *           The window location host defaults to window.location.host
- *
  * @return   {boolean}
  *           Whether it is a cross domain request or not.
  */
 export const isCrossOrigin = function(url, winLoc = window.location) {
-  const urlInfo = parseUrl(url);
-
-  // IE8 protocol relative urls will return ':' for protocol
-  const srcProtocol = urlInfo.protocol === ':' ? winLoc.protocol : urlInfo.protocol;
-
-  // Check if url is for another domain/origin
-  // IE8 doesn't know location.origin, so we won't rely on it here
-  const crossOrigin = (srcProtocol + urlInfo.host) !== (winLoc.protocol + winLoc.host);
-
-  return crossOrigin;
+  return parseUrl(url).origin !== winLoc.origin;
 };
diff --git a/test/unit/utils/url.test.js b/test/unit/utils/url.test.js
index f72cfd394c..19449fcfa9 100644
--- a/test/unit/utils/url.test.js
+++ b/test/unit/utils/url.test.js
@@ -41,9 +41,8 @@ QUnit.test('should strip port from hosts using http or https', function(assert)
 });
 
 QUnit.test('should get an absolute URL', function(assert) {
-  // Errors on compiled tests that don't use unit.html. Need a better solution.
-  // assert.ok(Url.getAbsoluteURL('unit.html') === window.location.href);
-  assert.ok(Url.getAbsoluteURL('http://asdf.com') === 'http://asdf.com');
+  assert.ok(Url.getAbsoluteURL(window.location.pathname + window.location.search) === window.location.href);
+  assert.ok(Url.getAbsoluteURL('http://asdf.com') === 'http://asdf.com/');
   assert.ok(Url.getAbsoluteURL('https://asdf.com/index.html') === 'https://asdf.com/index.html');
 });
 
@@ -81,12 +80,9 @@ QUnit.test('isCrossOrigin can identify cross origin urls', function(assert) {
   // we cannot test that relative urls work on https, though
   assert.ok(!Url.isCrossOrigin('example.vtt'), 'relative url is not cross origin');
 
-  const location = {
-    protocol: 'https:',
-    host: 'google.com'
-  };
+  const location = new URL('https:/google.com');
 
-  assert.ok(!Url.isCrossOrigin('https://google.com/example.vtt', location), 'http://google.com from https://google.com is not cross origin');
+  assert.ok(!Url.isCrossOrigin('https://google.com/example.vtt', location), 'https://google.com from https://google.com is not cross origin');
   assert.ok(Url.isCrossOrigin('http://google.com/example.vtt', location), 'http://google.com from https://google.com is cross origin');
   assert.ok(Url.isCrossOrigin('http://example.com/example.vtt', location), 'http://example.com from https://google.com is cross origin');
   assert.ok(Url.isCrossOrigin('https://example.com/example.vtt', location), 'https://example.com from https://google.com is cross origin');