diff --git a/doc/api/url.markdown b/doc/api/url.markdown
index 5f9b31f451..ac5b1444a3 100644
--- a/doc/api/url.markdown
+++ b/doc/api/url.markdown
@@ -9,19 +9,19 @@ string will not be in the parsed object. Examples are shown for the URL
 
 `'http://user:pass@host.com:8080/p/a/t/h?query=string#hash'`
 
-* `href`: The full URL that was originally parsed.
+* `href`: The full URL that was originally parsed. Both the protocol and host are lowercased.
 
   Example: `'http://user:pass@host.com:8080/p/a/t/h?query=string#hash'`
-* `protocol`: The request protocol.
+* `protocol`: The request protocol, lowercased.
 
   Example: `'http:'`
-* `host`: The full host portion of the URL, including port and authentication information.
+* `host`: The full lowercased host portion of the URL, including port and authentication information.
 
   Example: `'user:pass@host.com:8080'`
 * `auth`: The authentication information portion of a URL.
 
   Example: `'user:pass'`
-* `hostname`: Just the hostname portion of the host.
+* `hostname`: Just the lowercased hostname portion of the host.
 
   Example: `'host.com'`
 * `port`: The port number portion of the host.
diff --git a/lib/url.js b/lib/url.js
index cbea2f0fc3..68f9ae5365 100644
--- a/lib/url.js
+++ b/lib/url.js
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ exports.format = urlFormat;
 
 // define these here so at least they only have to be
 // compiled once on the first module load.
-var protocolPattern = /^([a-z0-9]+:)/,
+var protocolPattern = /^([a-z0-9]+:)/i,
     portPattern = /:[0-9]+$/,
     delims = ['<', '>', '"', '\'', '`', /\s/],
     unwise = ['{', '}', '|', '\\', '^', '~', '[', ']', '`'].concat(delims),
@@ -71,14 +71,17 @@ var protocolPattern = /^([a-z0-9]+:)/,
 function urlParse(url, parseQueryString, slashesDenoteHost) {
   if (url && typeof(url) === 'object' && url.href) return url;
 
-  var out = {},
+  var out = { href: '' },
       rest = url;
 
-  var proto = protocolPattern.exec(rest);
+  var proto = protocolPattern.exec(rest),
+      lowerProto = proto;
   if (proto) {
     proto = proto[0];
-    out.protocol = proto;
+    lowerProto = proto.toLowerCase();
+    out.protocol = lowerProto;
     rest = rest.substr(proto.length);
+    out.href += lowerProto;
   }
 
   // figure out if it's got a host
@@ -87,14 +90,15 @@ function urlParse(url, parseQueryString, slashesDenoteHost) {
   // how the browser resolves relative URLs.
   if (slashesDenoteHost || proto || rest.match(/^\/\/[^@\/]+@[^@\/]+/)) {
     var slashes = rest.substr(0, 2) === '//';
-    if (slashes && !(proto && hostlessProtocol[proto])) {
+    if (slashes && !(lowerProto && hostlessProtocol[lowerProto])) {
       rest = rest.substr(2);
       out.slashes = true;
+      out.href += '//';
     }
   }
 
-  if (!hostlessProtocol[proto] &&
-      (slashes || (proto && !slashedProtocol[proto]))) {
+  if (!hostlessProtocol[lowerProto] &&
+      (slashes || (lowerProto && !slashedProtocol[lowerProto]))) {
     // there's a hostname.
     // the first instance of /, ?, ;, or # ends the host.
     // don't enforce full RFC correctness, just be unstupid about it.
@@ -121,7 +125,7 @@ function urlParse(url, parseQueryString, slashesDenoteHost) {
     }
     // we've indicated that there is a hostname,
     // so even if it's empty, it has to be present.
-    out.hostname = out.hostname || '';
+    out.hostname = (out.hostname) ? out.hostname.toLowerCase() : '';
 
     // validate a little.
     if (out.hostname.length > hostnameMaxLen) {
@@ -136,11 +140,13 @@ function urlParse(url, parseQueryString, slashesDenoteHost) {
         }
       }
     }
+    out.host = ((out.auth)?out.auth +'@':'') + (out.hostname||'') + ((out.port)?':'+out.port:'');
+    out.href += out.host;
   }
 
   // now rest is set to the post-host stuff.
   // chop off any delim chars.
-  if (!unsafeProtocol[proto]) {
+  if (!unsafeProtocol[lowerProto]) {
     var chop = rest.length;
     for (var i = 0, l = delims.length; i < l; i++) {
       var c = rest.indexOf(delims[i]);
@@ -149,6 +155,7 @@ function urlParse(url, parseQueryString, slashesDenoteHost) {
       }
     }
     rest = rest.substr(0, chop);
+    out.href += rest;
   }
 
 
@@ -173,7 +180,7 @@ function urlParse(url, parseQueryString, slashesDenoteHost) {
     out.query = {};
   }
   if (rest) out.pathname = rest;
-  if (slashedProtocol[proto] &&
+  if (slashedProtocol[lowerProto] &&
       out.hostname && !out.pathname) {
     out.pathname = '/';
   }
diff --git a/test/simple/test-url.js b/test/simple/test-url.js
index 4f3d139ca9..0424543706 100644
--- a/test/simple/test-url.js
+++ b/test/simple/test-url.js
@@ -32,6 +32,39 @@ var parseTests = {
     'href': '//some_path',
     'pathname': '//some_path'
   },
+  'HTTP://www.example.com/' : {
+    'href': 'http://www.example.com/',
+    'protocol': 'http:',
+    'host': 'www.example.com',
+    'hostname': 'www.example.com',
+    'pathname': '/'
+  },
+  'http://www.ExAmPlE.com/' : {
+    'href': 'http://www.example.com/',
+    'protocol': 'http:',
+    'host': 'www.example.com',
+    'hostname': 'www.example.com',
+    'pathname': '/'
+
+  },
+  'http://user:pw@www.ExAmPlE.com/' : {
+    'href': 'http://user:pw@www.example.com/',
+    'protocol': 'http:',
+    'auth': 'user:pw',
+    'host': 'user:pw@www.example.com',
+    'hostname': 'www.example.com',
+    'pathname': '/'
+
+  },
+  'http://USER:PW@www.ExAmPlE.com/' : {
+    'href': 'http://USER:PW@www.example.com/',
+    'protocol': 'http:',
+    'auth': 'USER:PW',
+    'host': 'USER:PW@www.example.com',
+    'hostname': 'www.example.com',
+    'pathname': '/'
+
+  },
   'http://www.narwhaljs.org/blog/categories?id=news' : {
     'href': 'http://www.narwhaljs.org/blog/categories?id=news',
     'protocol': 'http:',
@@ -154,11 +187,11 @@ for (var u in parseTests) {
                  'parse(' + u + ').' + i + ' == ' + e + '\nactual: ' + a);
   }
 
-  var expected = u,
+  var expected = parseTests[u].href,
       actual = url.format(parseTests[u]);
 
   assert.equal(expected, actual,
-               'format(' + u + ') == ' + u + '\nactual:' + actual);
+               'format(' + u + ') == ' + expected + '\nactual:' + actual);
 }
 
 var parseTestsWithQueryString = {
@@ -171,7 +204,7 @@ var parseTestsWithQueryString = {
     },
     'pathname': '/foo/bar'
   },
-  'http://example.com' : {
+  'http://example.com/' : {
     'href': 'http://example.com/',
     'protocol': 'http:',
     'slashes': true,