diff --git a/synapse/rest/media/v1/base_resource.py b/synapse/rest/media/v1/base_resource.py
index 4af5f73878f20e22f8e38e101dbd1f18428c73de..9a60b777cae9302aa76599d6ca1f5fd524b5ce9c 100644
--- a/synapse/rest/media/v1/base_resource.py
+++ b/synapse/rest/media/v1/base_resource.py
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@
 
 from .thumbnailer import Thumbnailer
 
+from synapse.http.matrixfederationclient import MatrixFederationHttpClient
 from synapse.http.server import respond_with_json
 from synapse.util.stringutils import random_string
 from synapse.api.errors import (
@@ -52,7 +53,7 @@ class BaseMediaResource(Resource):
     def __init__(self, hs, filepaths):
         Resource.__init__(self)
         self.auth = hs.get_auth()
-        self.client = hs.get_http_client()
+        self.client = MatrixFederationHttpClient(hs)
         self.clock = hs.get_clock()
         self.server_name = hs.hostname
         self.store = hs.get_datastore()