diff --git a/beetsplug/embyupdate.py b/beetsplug/embyupdate.py
index 4da124dbb..3af285973 100644
--- a/beetsplug/embyupdate.py
+++ b/beetsplug/embyupdate.py
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 """Updates the Emby Library whenever the beets library is changed.
 
     emby:
-        host: http://localhost
+        host: localhost
         port: 8096
         username: user
         password: password
@@ -34,7 +34,22 @@ def api_url(host, port, endpoint):
     :returns: Full API url
     :rtype: str
     """
-    joined = urljoin('{0}:{1}'.format(host, port), endpoint)
+    # check if http or https is defined as host and create hostname
+    hostname_list = [host]
+    if host.startswith('http://') or host.startswith('https://'):
+        hostname = ''.join(hostname_list)
+    else:
+        hostname_list.insert(0, 'http://')
+        hostname = ''.join(hostname_list)
+
+    joined = urljoin(
+        '{hostname}:{port}'.format(
+            hostname=hostname,
+            port=port
+        ),
+        endpoint
+    )
+
     scheme, netloc, path, query_string, fragment = urlsplit(joined)
     query_params = parse_qs(query_string)
 
diff --git a/docs/plugins/embyupdate.rst b/docs/plugins/embyupdate.rst
index 339f0c818..8dbb7c1db 100644
--- a/docs/plugins/embyupdate.rst
+++ b/docs/plugins/embyupdate.rst
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ EmbyUpdate Plugin
 To use ``embyupdate`` plugin, enable it in your configuration (see :ref:`using-plugins`). Then, you'll probably want to configure the specifics of your Emby server. You can do that using an ``emby:`` section in your ``config.yaml``, which looks like this::
 
     emby:
-        host: http://localhost
+        host: localhost
         port: 8096
         username: user
         apikey: apikey
@@ -25,8 +25,8 @@ Configuration
 
 The available options under the ``emby:`` section are:
 
-- **host**: The Emby server host. You have to include ``http://`` or ``https://``.
-  Default: ``http://localhost``
+- **host**: The Emby server host. You also can include ``http://`` or ``https://``.
+  Default: ``localhost``
 - **port**: The Emby server port.
   Default: 8096
 - **username**: A username of a Emby user that is allowed to refresh the library.
diff --git a/test/test_embyupdate.py b/test/test_embyupdate.py
index 905766f7a..17e82c73e 100644
--- a/test/test_embyupdate.py
+++ b/test/test_embyupdate.py
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ class EmbyUpdateTest(unittest.TestCase, TestHelper):
         self.load_plugins('embyupdate')
 
         self.config['emby'] = {
-            u'host': u'http://localhost',
+            u'host': u'localhost',
             u'port': 8096,
             u'username': u'username',
             u'password': u'password'
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ class EmbyUpdateTest(unittest.TestCase, TestHelper):
         self.teardown_beets()
         self.unload_plugins()
 
-    def test_api_url(self):
+    def test_api_url_only_name(self):
         self.assertEqual(
             embyupdate.api_url(self.config['emby']['host'].get(),
                                self.config['emby']['port'].get(),
@@ -32,6 +32,22 @@ class EmbyUpdateTest(unittest.TestCase, TestHelper):
             'http://localhost:8096/Library/Refresh?format=json'
         )
 
+    def test_api_url_http(self):
+        self.assertEqual(
+            embyupdate.api_url(u'http://localhost',
+                               self.config['emby']['port'].get(),
+                               '/Library/Refresh'),
+            'http://localhost:8096/Library/Refresh?format=json'
+        )
+
+    def test_api_url_https(self):
+        self.assertEqual(
+            embyupdate.api_url(u'https://localhost',
+                               self.config['emby']['port'].get(),
+                               '/Library/Refresh'),
+            'https://localhost:8096/Library/Refresh?format=json'
+        )
+
     def test_password_data(self):
         self.assertEqual(
             embyupdate.password_data(self.config['emby']['username'].get(),