diff --git a/beets/autotag/mb.py b/beets/autotag/mb.py
index 3ca5463c2..0334cff1e 100644
--- a/beets/autotag/mb.py
+++ b/beets/autotag/mb.py
@@ -97,7 +97,11 @@ def configure():
     from the beets configuration. This should be called at startup.
     """
     hostname = config['musicbrainz']['host'].as_str()
-    musicbrainzngs.set_hostname(hostname)
+    https = config['musicbrainz']['https'].get(bool)
+    # Only call set_hostname when a custom server is configured. Since
+    # musicbrainz-ngs connects to musicbrainz.org with HTTPS by default
+    if hostname != "musicbrainz.org":
+        musicbrainzngs.set_hostname(hostname, https)
     musicbrainzngs.set_rate_limit(
         config['musicbrainz']['ratelimit_interval'].as_number(),
         config['musicbrainz']['ratelimit'].get(int),
diff --git a/beets/config_default.yaml b/beets/config_default.yaml
index dd140675f..74540891e 100644
--- a/beets/config_default.yaml
+++ b/beets/config_default.yaml
@@ -102,6 +102,7 @@ statefile: state.pickle
 
 musicbrainz:
     host: musicbrainz.org
+    https: no
     ratelimit: 1
     ratelimit_interval: 1.0
     searchlimit: 5
diff --git a/docs/changelog.rst b/docs/changelog.rst
index c81173209..b3447b936 100644
--- a/docs/changelog.rst
+++ b/docs/changelog.rst
@@ -46,6 +46,8 @@ Major new features:
 
 Other new things:
 
+* Enable HTTPS for MusicBrainz by default and add configuration option
+  `https` for custom servers.
 * :doc:`/plugins/mpdstats`: Add a new `strip_path` option to help build the
   right local path from MPD information.
 * :doc:`/plugins/convert`: Conversion can now parallelize conversion jobs on
@@ -361,6 +363,7 @@ Fixes:
   :bug:`2984`
 * :doc:`/plugins/lyrics`: Fix crashes for Tekstowo false positives
   :bug:`3904`
+* :doc`/reference/cli`: Remove reference to rarfile version in link
 
 For plugin developers:
 
diff --git a/docs/reference/cli.rst b/docs/reference/cli.rst
index f7b68c4a8..0be752eab 100644
--- a/docs/reference/cli.rst
+++ b/docs/reference/cli.rst
@@ -151,7 +151,7 @@ Optional command flags:
 
     beet import --set genre="Alternative Rock" --set mood="emotional"
 
-.. _rarfile: https://pypi.python.org/pypi/rarfile/2.2
+.. _rarfile: https://pypi.python.org/pypi/rarfile/
 .. _py7zr: https://pypi.org/project/py7zr/
 
 .. only:: html
diff --git a/docs/reference/config.rst b/docs/reference/config.rst
index 9dd7447a4..455639be0 100644
--- a/docs/reference/config.rst
+++ b/docs/reference/config.rst
@@ -691,15 +691,18 @@ MusicBrainz Options
 -------------------
 
 You can instruct beets to use `your own MusicBrainz database`_ instead of
-the `main server`_. Use the ``host`` and ``ratelimit`` options under a
-``musicbrainz:`` header, like so::
+the `main server`_. Use the ``host``, ``https`` and ``ratelimit`` options
+under a ``musicbrainz:`` header, like so::
 
     musicbrainz:
         host: localhost:5000
+        https: no
         ratelimit: 100
 
 The ``host`` key, of course, controls the Web server hostname (and port,
 optionally) that will be contacted by beets (default: musicbrainz.org).
+The ``https`` key makes the client use HTTPS instead of HTTP. This setting applies
+only to custom servers. The official MusicBrainz server always uses HTTPS. (Default: no.)
 The server must have search indices enabled (see `Building search indexes`_).
 
 The ``ratelimit`` option, an integer, controls the number of Web service requests