diff --git a/proxy/proxy.go b/proxy/proxy.go
index 08788dc..1b3f34a 100644
--- a/proxy/proxy.go
+++ b/proxy/proxy.go
@@ -29,19 +29,26 @@ func (e URLError) Error() string {
 
 // NewRequest parses an http.Request into an image request.
 func NewRequest(r *http.Request) (*data.Request, error) {
-	path := strings.SplitN(r.URL.Path, "/", 3)
-	if len(path) != 3 {
-		return nil, URLError{"too few path segments", r.URL}
-	}
-
 	var err error
 	req := new(data.Request)
 
-	req.URL, err = url.Parse(path[2])
-	if err != nil {
-		return nil, URLError{
-			fmt.Sprintf("unable to parse remote URL: %v", err),
-			r.URL,
+	path := r.URL.Path[1:] // strip leading slash
+	req.URL, err = url.Parse(path)
+	if err != nil || !req.URL.IsAbs() {
+		// first segment is likely options
+		parts := strings.SplitN(path, "/", 2)
+		if len(parts) != 2 {
+			return nil, URLError{"too few path segments", r.URL}
+		}
+
+		req.URL, err = url.Parse(parts[1])
+		if err != nil {
+			return nil, URLError{fmt.Sprintf("unable to parse remote URL: %v", err), r.URL}
+		}
+
+		req.Options, err = data.ParseOptions(parts[0])
+		if err != nil {
+			return nil, URLError{err.Error(), r.URL}
 		}
 	}
 
@@ -55,11 +62,6 @@ func NewRequest(r *http.Request) (*data.Request, error) {
 
 	// query string is always part of the remote URL
 	req.URL.RawQuery = r.URL.RawQuery
-	req.Options, err = data.ParseOptions(path[1])
-	if err != nil {
-		return nil, URLError{err.Error(), r.URL}
-	}
-
 	return req, nil
 }
 
diff --git a/proxy/proxy_test.go b/proxy/proxy_test.go
index 05a8575..d879379 100644
--- a/proxy/proxy_test.go
+++ b/proxy/proxy_test.go
@@ -2,71 +2,79 @@ package proxy
 
 import (
 	"net/http"
+	"reflect"
 	"testing"
+
+	"github.com/willnorris/go-imageproxy/data"
 )
 
+var emptyOptions = new(data.Options)
+
 func TestNewRequest(t *testing.T) {
 	tests := []struct {
 		URL         string
 		RemoteURL   string
-		Width       int
-		Height      int
+		Options     *data.Options
 		ExpectError bool
 	}{
 		// invalid URLs
 		{
-			"http://localhost/", "", 0, 0, true,
+			"http://localhost/", "", nil, true,
 		},
 		{
-			"http://localhost/1/", "", 0, 0, true,
+			"http://localhost/1/", "", nil, true,
 		},
 		{
-			"http://localhost//example.com/foo", "", 0, 0, true,
+			"http://localhost//example.com/foo", "", nil, true,
 		},
 		{
-			"http://localhost//ftp://example.com/foo", "", 0, 0, true,
+			"http://localhost//ftp://example.com/foo", "", nil, true,
 		},
 		{
-			"http://localhost/s/http://example.com/", "", 0, 0, true,
+			"http://localhost/s/http://example.com/", "", nil, true,
 		},
 		{
-			"http://localhost/1xs/http://example.com/", "", 0, 0, true,
+			"http://localhost/1xs/http://example.com/", "", nil, true,
 		},
 
 		// valid URLs
+		{
+			"http://localhost/http://example.com/foo",
+			"http://example.com/foo", nil, false,
+		},
 		{
 			"http://localhost//http://example.com/foo",
-			"http://example.com/foo", 0, 0, false,
+			"http://example.com/foo", emptyOptions, false,
 		},
 		{
 			"http://localhost//https://example.com/foo",
-			"https://example.com/foo", 0, 0, false,
+			"https://example.com/foo", emptyOptions, false,
 		},
 		{
 			"http://localhost//http://example.com/foo?bar",
-			"http://example.com/foo?bar", 0, 0, false,
+			"http://example.com/foo?bar", emptyOptions, false,
 		},
 
 		// size variations
 		{
 			"http://localhost/x/http://example.com/",
-			"http://example.com/", 0, 0, false,
+			"http://example.com/", emptyOptions, false,
 		},
 		{
 			"http://localhost/0/http://example.com/",
-			"http://example.com/", 0, 0, false,
+			"http://example.com/", emptyOptions, false,
 		},
 		{
 			"http://localhost/1x/http://example.com/",
-			"http://example.com/", 1, 0, false,
+			"http://example.com/", &data.Options{1, 0}, false,
 		},
 		{
 			"http://localhost/x1/http://example.com/",
-			"http://example.com/", 0, 1, false,
+			"http://example.com/", &data.Options{0, 1}, false,
 		},
 		{
 			"http://localhost/1x2/http://example.com/",
-			"http://example.com/", 1, 2, false,
+			"http://example.com/", &data.Options{1, 2}, false,
 		},
 	}
 
@@ -91,11 +99,8 @@ func TestNewRequest(t *testing.T) {
 		if got := r.URL.String(); tt.RemoteURL != got {
 			t.Errorf("%d. Request URL = %v, want %v", i, got, tt.RemoteURL)
 		}
-		if tt.Height != r.Height {
-			t.Errorf("%d. Request Height = %v, want %v", i, r.Height, tt.Height)
-		}
-		if tt.Width != r.Width {
-			t.Errorf("%d. Request Width = %v, want %v", i, r.Width, tt.Width)
+		if !reflect.DeepEqual(tt.Options, r.Options) {
+			t.Errorf("%d. Request Options = %v, want %v", i, r.Options, tt.Options)
 		}
 	}
 }