diff --git a/src/custom-media.js b/src/custom-media.js
index 5a8d4e74..0d95c023 100644
--- a/src/custom-media.js
+++ b/src/custom-media.js
@@ -1,8 +1,9 @@
 import { ValidationError } from './errors';
-import { parse as parseURL } from 'url';
+import { parse as urlParse } from 'url';
 import net from 'net';
 import Media from './media';
 import { hash } from './util/hash';
+import { get as httpGet } from 'http';
 
 const SOURCE_QUALITIES = new Set([
     240,
@@ -25,6 +26,73 @@ const SOURCE_CONTENT_TYPES = new Set([
     'video/webm'
 ]);
 
+export function lookup(url, opts) {
+    if (!opts) opts = {};
+    if (!opts.hasOwnProperty('timeout')) opts.timeout = 10000;
+
+    return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
+        const options = {
+            headers: {
+                'Accept': 'application/json'
+            }
+        };
+
+        Object.assign(options, parseURL(url));
+
+        const req = httpGet(options);
+
+        req.setTimeout(opts.timeout, () => {
+            const error = new Error('Request timed out');
+            error.code = 'ETIMEDOUT';
+            reject(error);
+        });
+
+        req.on('error', error => {
+            reject(error);
+        });
+
+        req.on('response', res => {
+            if (res.statusCode !== 200) {
+                req.abort();
+
+                reject(new Error(
+                    `Expected HTTP 200 OK, not ${res.statusCode} ${res.statusMessage}`
+                ));
+
+                return;
+            }
+
+            if (!/^application\/json/.test(res.headers['content-type'])) {
+                req.abort();
+
+                reject(new Error(
+                    `Expected content-type application/json, not ${res.headers['content-type']}`
+                ));
+
+                return;
+            }
+
+            let buffer = '';
+            res.setEncoding('utf8');
+
+            res.on('data', data => {
+                buffer += data;
+
+                if (buffer.length > 100 * 1024) {
+                    req.abort();
+                    reject(new Error('Response size exceeds 100KB'));
+                }
+            });
+
+            res.on('end', () => {
+                resolve(buffer);
+            });
+        });
+    }).then(body => {
+        return convert(JSON.parse(body));
+    });
+}
+
 export function convert(data) {
     validate(data);
 
@@ -138,15 +206,21 @@ function validateTextTracks(textTracks) {
     }
 }
 
+function parseURL(urlstring) {
+    const url = urlParse(urlstring);
+
+    // legacy url.parse doesn't check this
+    if (url.protocol == null || url.host == null) {
+        throw new Error(`Invalid URL "${urlstring}"`);
+    }
+
+    return url;
+}
+
 function validateURL(urlstring) {
     let url;
     try {
         url = parseURL(urlstring);
-
-        // legacy url.parse doesn't check this
-        if (url.protocol == null || url.host == null) {
-            throw new Error();
-        }
     } catch (error) {
         throw new ValidationError(`invalid URL "${urlstring}"`);
     }
diff --git a/test/custom-media.js b/test/custom-media.js
index e3f24149..81bb3216 100644
--- a/test/custom-media.js
+++ b/test/custom-media.js
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 const assert = require('assert');
-const { validate, convert } = require('../lib/custom-media');
+const { validate, convert, lookup } = require('../lib/custom-media');
+const http = require('http');
 
 describe('custom-media', () => {
     let valid, invalid;
@@ -270,4 +271,148 @@ describe('custom-media', () => {
             assert.deepStrictEqual(actual, expected);
         });
     });
+
+    describe('#lookup', () => {
+        let server;
+        let serveFunc;
+
+        beforeEach(() => {
+            serveFunc = function (req, res) {
+                res.writeHead(200, { 'Content-Type': 'application/json' });
+                res.write(JSON.stringify(valid, null, 2));
+                res.end();
+            };
+
+            server = http.createServer((req, res) => serveFunc(req, res));
+            server.listen(10111);
+        });
+
+        afterEach(done => {
+            server.close(() => done());
+        });
+
+        it('retrieves metadata', () => {
+            function cleanForComparison(actual) {
+                actual = actual.pack();
+                delete actual.id;
+
+                // Strip out extraneous undefineds
+                for (let key in actual.meta) {
+                    if (actual.meta[key] === undefined) delete actual.meta[key];
+                }
+
+                return actual;
+            }
+
+            const expected = {
+                title: 'Test Video',
+                seconds: 10,
+                duration: '00:10',
+                type: 'cm',
+                meta: {
+                    direct: {
+                        1080: [
+                            {
+                                link: 'https://example.com/video.mp4',
+                                contentType: 'video/mp4',
+                                quality: 1080
+                            }
+                        ]
+                    },
+                    textTracks: [
+                        {
+                            url: 'https://example.com/subtitles.vtt',
+                            contentType: 'text/vtt',
+                            name: 'English Subtitles'
+                        }
+                    ]
+                }
+            };
+
+            return lookup('http://127.0.0.1:10111/').then(result => {
+                assert.deepStrictEqual(cleanForComparison(result), expected);
+            });
+        });
+
+        it('rejects the wrong content-type', () => {
+            serveFunc = (req, res) => {
+                res.writeHead(200, { 'Content-Type': 'text/plain' });
+                res.write(JSON.stringify(valid, null, 2));
+                res.end();
+            };
+
+            return lookup('http://127.0.0.1:10111/').then(() => {
+                throw new Error('Expected failure due to wrong content-type');
+            }).catch(error => {
+                assert.strictEqual(
+                    error.message,
+                    'Expected content-type application/json, not text/plain'
+                );
+            });
+        });
+
+        it('rejects non-200 status codes', () => {
+            serveFunc = (req, res) => {
+                res.writeHead(404, { 'Content-Type': 'application/json' });
+                res.write(JSON.stringify(valid, null, 2));
+                res.end();
+            };
+
+            return lookup('http://127.0.0.1:10111/').then(() => {
+                throw new Error('Expected failure due to 404');
+            }).catch(error => {
+                assert.strictEqual(
+                    error.message,
+                    'Expected HTTP 200 OK, not 404 Not Found'
+                );
+            });
+        });
+
+        it('rejects responses >100KB', () => {
+            serveFunc = (req, res) => {
+                res.writeHead(200, { 'Content-Type': 'application/json' });
+                res.write(Buffer.alloc(200 * 1024));
+                res.end();
+            };
+
+            return lookup('http://127.0.0.1:10111/').then(() => {
+                throw new Error('Expected failure due to response size');
+            }).catch(error => {
+                assert.strictEqual(
+                    error.message,
+                    'Response size exceeds 100KB'
+                );
+            });
+        });
+
+        it('times out', () => {
+            serveFunc = (req, res) => {
+                res.writeHead(200, { 'Content-Type': 'application/json' });
+                res.write(JSON.stringify(valid, null, 2));
+
+                setTimeout(() => res.end(), 100);
+            };
+
+            return lookup('http://127.0.0.1:10111/', { timeout: 1 }).then(() => {
+                throw new Error('Expected failure due to request timeout');
+            }).catch(error => {
+                assert.strictEqual(
+                    error.message,
+                    'Request timed out'
+                );
+                assert.strictEqual(error.code, 'ETIMEDOUT');
+            });
+        });
+
+        it('rejects invalid URLs', () => {
+            return lookup('not valid').then(() => {
+                throw new Error('Expected failure due to invalid URL');
+            }).catch(error => {
+                assert.strictEqual(
+                    error.message,
+                    'Invalid URL "not valid"'
+                );
+            });
+        });
+    });
 });