diff --git a/apps/files_external/3rdparty/Dropbox/OAuth/Curl.php b/apps/files_external/3rdparty/Dropbox/OAuth/Curl.php
index fd66e34bd2..41134511b8 100644
--- a/apps/files_external/3rdparty/Dropbox/OAuth/Curl.php
+++ b/apps/files_external/3rdparty/Dropbox/OAuth/Curl.php
@@ -196,7 +196,7 @@ class Dropbox_OAuth_Curl extends Dropbox_OAuth {
      * @return array Array for request's headers section like
      * array('Authorization' => 'OAuth ...');
      */
-    private function getOAuthHeader($uri, $params, $method = 'GET', $oAuthParams = null) {
+    public function getOAuthHeader($uri, $params, $method = 'GET', $oAuthParams = null) {
         $oAuthParams = $oAuthParams ? $oAuthParams : $this->getOAuthBaseParams();
 
         // create baseString to encode for the sent parameters
diff --git a/apps/files_external/lib/dropbox.php b/apps/files_external/lib/dropbox.php
index 3c4022f24c..f59b5a460e 100644
--- a/apps/files_external/lib/dropbox.php
+++ b/apps/files_external/lib/dropbox.php
@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@ class Dropbox extends \OC\Files\Storage\Common {
 	private $root;
 	private $id;
 	private $metaData = array();
+	private $oauth;
 
 	private static $tempFiles = array();
 
@@ -51,10 +52,10 @@ class Dropbox extends \OC\Files\Storage\Common {
 		) {
 			$this->root = isset($params['root']) ? $params['root'] : '';
 			$this->id = 'dropbox::'.$params['app_key'] . $params['token']. '/' . $this->root;
-			$oauth = new \Dropbox_OAuth_Curl($params['app_key'], $params['app_secret']);
-			$oauth->setToken($params['token'], $params['token_secret']);
+			$this->oauth = new \Dropbox_OAuth_Curl($params['app_key'], $params['app_secret']);
+			$this->oauth->setToken($params['token'], $params['token_secret']);
 			// note: Dropbox_API connection is lazy
-			$this->dropbox = new \Dropbox_API($oauth, 'auto');
+			$this->dropbox = new \Dropbox_API($this->oauth, 'auto');
 		} else {
 			throw new \Exception('Creating \OC\Files\Storage\Dropbox storage failed');
 		}
@@ -248,10 +249,31 @@ class Dropbox extends \OC\Files\Storage\Common {
 		switch ($mode) {
 			case 'r':
 			case 'rb':
-				$tmpFile = \OCP\Files::tmpFile();
 				try {
-					$data = $this->dropbox->getFile($path);
-					file_put_contents($tmpFile, $data);
+					// slashes need to stay
+					$encodedPath = str_replace('%2F', '/', rawurlencode(trim($path, '/')));
+					$downloadUrl = 'https://api-content.dropbox.com/1/files/auto/' . $encodedPath;
+					$headers = $this->oauth->getOAuthHeader($downloadUrl, [], 'GET');
+
+					$client = \OC::$server->getHTTPClientService()->newClient();
+					try {
+						$tmpFile = \OC::$server->getTempManager()->getTemporaryFile();
+						$client->get($downloadUrl, [
+							'headers' => $headers,
+							'save_to' => $tmpFile,
+						]);
+					} catch (RequestException $e) {
+						if (!is_null($e->getResponse())) {
+							if ($e->getResponse()->getStatusCode() === 404) {
+								return false;
+							} else {
+								throw $e;
+							}
+						} else {
+							throw $e;
+						}
+					}
+
 					return fopen($tmpFile, 'r');
 				} catch (\Exception $exception) {
 					\OCP\Util::writeLog('files_external', $exception->getMessage(), \OCP\Util::ERROR);