diff --git a/src/js/media/html5.js b/src/js/media/html5.js
index 9f1ffe35ee..7c41ac884f 100644
--- a/src/js/media/html5.js
+++ b/src/js/media/html5.js
@@ -307,13 +307,13 @@ vjs.Html5.nativeSourceHandler = {};
  * @return {String}         'probably', 'maybe', or '' (empty string)
  */
 vjs.Html5.nativeSourceHandler.canHandleSource = function(source){
-  var ext;
+  var match, ext;
 
   function canPlayType(type){
     // IE9 on Windows 7 without MediaPlayer throws an error here
     // https://github.com/videojs/video.js/issues/519
     try {
-      return !!vjs.TEST_VID.canPlayType(type);
+      return vjs.TEST_VID.canPlayType(type);
     } catch(e) {
       return '';
     }
@@ -322,11 +322,15 @@ vjs.Html5.nativeSourceHandler.canHandleSource = function(source){
   // If a type was provided we should rely on that
   if (source.type) {
     return canPlayType(source.type);
-  } else {
+  } else if (source.src) {
     // If no type, fall back to checking 'video/[EXTENSION]'
-    ext = source.src.match(/\.([^\/\?]+)(\?[^\/]+)?$/i)[1];
+    match = source.src.match(/\.([^\/\?]+)(\?[^\/]+)?$/i);
+    ext = match && match[1];
+
     return canPlayType('video/'+ext);
   }
+
+  return '';
 };
 
 /**
diff --git a/test/unit/media.html5.js b/test/unit/media.html5.js
index a2e1758221..f99520b036 100644
--- a/test/unit/media.html5.js
+++ b/test/unit/media.html5.js
@@ -134,3 +134,29 @@ test('error events may not set the errors property', function() {
 test('should have the source handler interface', function() {
   ok(vjs.Html5.registerSourceHandler, 'has the registerSourceHandler function');
 });
+
+test('native source handler canHandleSource', function(){
+  var result;
+
+  // Stub the test video canPlayType (used in canHandleSource) to control results
+  var origCPT = vjs.TEST_VID.canPlayType;
+  vjs.TEST_VID.canPlayType = function(type){
+    if (type === 'video/mp4') {
+      return 'maybe';
+    }
+    return '';
+  };
+
+  var canHandleSource = vjs.Html5.nativeSourceHandler.canHandleSource;
+
+  equal(canHandleSource({ type: 'video/mp4', src: 'video.flv' }), 'maybe', 'Native source handler reported type support');
+  equal(canHandleSource({ src: 'http://www.example.com/video.mp4' }), 'maybe', 'Native source handler reported extension support');
+  // Test for issue videojs/video.js#1785 and other potential failures
+  equal(canHandleSource({ src: '' }), '', 'Native source handler handled empty src');
+  equal(canHandleSource({}), '', 'Native source handler handled empty object');
+  equal(canHandleSource({ src: 'foo' }), '', 'Native source handler handled bad src');
+  equal(canHandleSource({ type: 'foo' }), '', 'Native source handler handled bad type');
+
+  // Reset test video canPlayType
+  vjs.TEST_VID.canPlayType = origCPT;
+});