diff --git a/packages/ipfs-core-utils/package.json b/packages/ipfs-core-utils/package.json
index b59e21115d..08b4b554c0 100644
--- a/packages/ipfs-core-utils/package.json
+++ b/packages/ipfs-core-utils/package.json
@@ -46,6 +46,8 @@
     "it-all": "^1.0.4",
     "it-map": "^1.0.4",
     "it-peekable": "^1.0.1",
+    "multiaddr": "^8.0.0",
+    "multiaddr-to-uri": "^6.0.0",
     "uint8arrays": "^1.1.0"
   },
   "devDependencies": {
diff --git a/packages/ipfs-core-utils/src/to-url-string.js b/packages/ipfs-core-utils/src/to-url-string.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..c74f0e601a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/ipfs-core-utils/src/to-url-string.js
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+'use strict'
+
+const multiaddr = require('multiaddr')
+const multiAddrToUri = require('multiaddr-to-uri')
+
+/**
+ * @param {string|Multiaddr|URL} url - A string, multiaddr or URL to convert to a url string
+ * @returns {string}
+ */
+module.exports = (url) => {
+  try {
+    // @ts-expect-error
+    url = multiAddrToUri(multiaddr(url))
+  } catch (err) { }
+
+  url = url.toString()
+
+  return url
+}
+
+/**
+ * @typedef {import('multiaddr')} Multiaddr
+ */
diff --git a/packages/ipfs-http-client/package.json b/packages/ipfs-http-client/package.json
index dc8dba97ff..599229b116 100644
--- a/packages/ipfs-http-client/package.json
+++ b/packages/ipfs-http-client/package.json
@@ -61,7 +61,6 @@
     "ipld-dag-cbor": "^0.17.0",
     "ipld-dag-pb": "^0.20.0",
     "ipld-raw": "^6.0.0",
-    "iso-url": "^1.0.0",
     "it-last": "^1.0.4",
     "it-map": "^1.0.4",
     "it-tar": "^1.2.2",
@@ -69,7 +68,6 @@
     "it-to-stream": "^0.1.2",
     "merge-options": "^2.0.0",
     "multiaddr": "^8.0.0",
-    "multiaddr-to-uri": "^6.0.0",
     "multibase": "^3.0.0",
     "multicodec": "^2.0.1",
     "multihashes": "^3.0.1",
diff --git a/packages/ipfs-http-client/src/lib/core.js b/packages/ipfs-http-client/src/lib/core.js
index a2f957a892..e4e09662c1 100644
--- a/packages/ipfs-http-client/src/lib/core.js
+++ b/packages/ipfs-http-client/src/lib/core.js
@@ -1,58 +1,59 @@
 'use strict'
 /* eslint-env browser */
 const Multiaddr = require('multiaddr')
-const toUri = require('multiaddr-to-uri')
 const { isBrowser, isWebWorker } = require('ipfs-utils/src/env')
-const { URL } = require('iso-url')
 const parseDuration = require('parse-duration').default
 const log = require('debug')('ipfs-http-client:lib:error-handler')
 const HTTP = require('ipfs-utils/src/http')
 const merge = require('merge-options')
+const toUrlString = require('ipfs-core-utils/src/to-url-string')
 
-/**
- * @param {any} input
- * @returns {input is Multiaddr}
- */
-const isMultiaddr = (input) => {
-  try {
-    Multiaddr(input) // eslint-disable-line no-new
-    return true
-  } catch (e) {
-    return false
-  }
-}
+const DEFAULT_PROTOCOL = isBrowser || isWebWorker ? location.protocol : 'http'
+const DEFAULT_HOST = isBrowser || isWebWorker ? location.hostname : 'localhost'
+const DEFAULT_PORT = isBrowser || isWebWorker ? location.port : '5001'
 
 /**
- * @param {any} options
+ * @param {ClientOptions|URL|Multiaddr|string} [options]
  * @returns {ClientOptions}
  */
-const normalizeInput = (options = {}) => {
-  if (isMultiaddr(options)) {
-    options = { url: toUri(options) }
-  } else if (typeof options === 'string') {
-    options = { url: options }
+const normalizeOptions = (options = {}) => {
+  let url
+  let opts = {}
+
+  if (typeof options === 'string' || Multiaddr.isMultiaddr(options)) {
+    url = new URL(toUrlString(options))
+  } else if (options instanceof URL) {
+    url = options
+  } else if (typeof options.url === 'string' || Multiaddr.isMultiaddr(options.url)) {
+    url = new URL(toUrlString(options.url))
+    opts = options
+  } else if (options.url instanceof URL) {
+    url = options.url
+    opts = options
+  } else {
+    opts = options || {}
+
+    const protocol = (opts.protocol || DEFAULT_PROTOCOL).replace(':', '')
+    const host = (opts.host || DEFAULT_HOST).split(':')[0]
+    const port = (opts.port || DEFAULT_PORT)
+
+    url = new URL(`${protocol}://${host}:${port}`)
   }
 
-  const url = new URL(options.url)
-  if (options.apiPath) {
-    url.pathname = options.apiPath
+  if (opts.apiPath) {
+    url.pathname = opts.apiPath
   } else if (url.pathname === '/' || url.pathname === undefined) {
     url.pathname = 'api/v0'
   }
-  if (!options.url) {
-    if (isBrowser || isWebWorker) {
-      url.protocol = options.protocol || location.protocol
-      url.hostname = options.host || location.hostname
-      url.port = options.port || location.port
-    } else {
-      url.hostname = options.host || 'localhost'
-      url.port = options.port || '5001'
-      url.protocol = options.protocol || 'http'
-    }
-  }
-  options.url = url
 
-  return options
+  return {
+    ...opts,
+    host: url.host,
+    protocol: url.protocol.replace(':', ''),
+    port: Number(url.port),
+    apiPath: url.pathname,
+    url
+  }
 }
 
 const errorHandler = async (response) => {
@@ -111,7 +112,7 @@ const parseTimeout = (value) => {
  * @property {Headers|Record<string, string>} [headers] - Request headers.
  * @property {number|string} [timeout] - Amount of time until request should timeout in ms or humand readable. https://www.npmjs.com/package/parse-duration for valid string values.
  * @property {string} [apiPath] - Path to the API.
- * @property {URL|string} [url] - Full API URL.
+ * @property {URL|string|Multiaddr} [url] - Full API URL.
  * @property {object} [ipld]
  * @property {any[]} [ipld.formats] - An array of additional [IPLD formats](https://github.com/ipld/interface-ipld-format) to support
  * @property {(format: string) => Promise<any>} [ipld.loadFormat] - an async function that takes the name of an [IPLD format](https://github.com/ipld/interface-ipld-format) as a string and should return the implementation of that codec
@@ -121,7 +122,7 @@ class Client extends HTTP {
    * @param {ClientOptions|URL|Multiaddr|string} [options]
    */
   constructor (options = {}) {
-    const opts = normalizeInput(options)
+    const opts = normalizeOptions(options)
 
     super({
       timeout: parseTimeout(opts.timeout) || 60000 * 20,
diff --git a/packages/ipfs-http-client/test/constructor.spec.js b/packages/ipfs-http-client/test/constructor.spec.js
index 9b579839da..004dcb2984 100644
--- a/packages/ipfs-http-client/test/constructor.spec.js
+++ b/packages/ipfs-http-client/test/constructor.spec.js
@@ -28,6 +28,15 @@ describe('ipfs-http-client constructor tests', () => {
       expectConfig(ipfs, { host, port, protocol })
     })
 
+    it('opts with URL components from URL', () => {
+      const host = 'wizard.world'
+      const port = '999'
+      const protocol = 'https'
+      const url = new URL(`${protocol}://${host}:${port}`)
+      const ipfs = ipfsClient({ host: url.host, port: url.port, protocol: url.protocol })
+      expectConfig(ipfs, { host, port, protocol })
+    })
+
     it('multiaddr dns4 string (implicit http)', () => {
       const host = 'foo.com'
       const port = '1001'
@@ -79,6 +88,22 @@ describe('ipfs-http-client constructor tests', () => {
       expectConfig(ipfs, { host, port })
     })
 
+    it('URL as string', () => {
+      const host = '10.100.100.255'
+      const port = '9999'
+      const apiPath = '/future/api/v1/'
+      const ipfs = ipfsClient(`http://${host}:${port}${apiPath}`)
+      expectConfig(ipfs, { host, port, apiPath })
+    })
+
+    it('URL as URL', () => {
+      const host = '10.100.100.255'
+      const port = '9999'
+      const apiPath = '/future/api/v1/'
+      const ipfs = ipfsClient(new URL(`http://${host}:${port}${apiPath}`))
+      expectConfig(ipfs, { host, port, apiPath })
+    })
+
     it('host, port and api path', () => {
       const host = '10.100.100.255'
       const port = '9999'
@@ -87,13 +112,57 @@ describe('ipfs-http-client constructor tests', () => {
       expectConfig(ipfs, { host, port, apiPath })
     })
 
-    it('url', () => {
+    it('options.url as URL string', () => {
       const host = '10.100.100.255'
       const port = '9999'
       const apiPath = '/future/api/v1/'
       const ipfs = ipfsClient({ url: `http://${host}:${port}${apiPath}` })
       expectConfig(ipfs, { host, port, apiPath })
     })
+
+    it('options.url as URL', () => {
+      const host = '10.100.100.255'
+      const port = '9999'
+      const apiPath = '/future/api/v1/'
+      const ipfs = ipfsClient({ url: new URL(`http://${host}:${port}${apiPath}`) })
+      expectConfig(ipfs, { host, port, apiPath })
+    })
+
+    it('options.url as multiaddr (implicit http)', () => {
+      const host = 'foo.com'
+      const port = '1001'
+      const protocol = 'http' // default to http if not specified in multiaddr
+      const addr = `/dns4/${host}/tcp/${port}`
+      const ipfs = ipfsClient({ url: multiaddr(addr) })
+      expectConfig(ipfs, { host, port, protocol })
+    })
+
+    it('options.url as multiaddr (explicit https)', () => {
+      const host = 'foo.com'
+      const port = '1001'
+      const protocol = 'https'
+      const addr = `/dns4/${host}/tcp/${port}/https`
+      const ipfs = ipfsClient({ url: multiaddr(addr) })
+      expectConfig(ipfs, { host, port, protocol })
+    })
+
+    it('options.url as multiaddr string (implicit http)', () => {
+      const host = 'foo.com'
+      const port = '1001'
+      const protocol = 'http' // default to http if not specified in multiaddr
+      const addr = `/dns4/${host}/tcp/${port}`
+      const ipfs = ipfsClient({ url: addr })
+      expectConfig(ipfs, { host, port, protocol })
+    })
+
+    it('options.url as multiaddr string (explicit https)', () => {
+      const host = 'foo.com'
+      const port = '1001'
+      const protocol = 'https'
+      const addr = `/dns4/${host}/tcp/${port}/https`
+      const ipfs = ipfsClient({ url: addr })
+      expectConfig(ipfs, { host, port, protocol })
+    })
   })
 
   describe('integration', () => {