diff --git a/filter/mediaplugin/filter.php b/filter/mediaplugin/filter.php
index 57e58d513dc1d..b71cb4989db01 100644
--- a/filter/mediaplugin/filter.php
+++ b/filter/mediaplugin/filter.php
@@ -68,18 +68,52 @@ public function filter($text, array $options = array()) {
         // Check SWF permissions.
         $this->trusted = !empty($options['noclean']) or !empty($CFG->allowobjectembed);
 
-        // Handle all links that contain any 'embeddable' marker text (it could
-        // do all links, but the embeddable markers thing should make it faster
-        // by meaning for most links it doesn't drop into PHP code).
-        $newtext = preg_replace_callback($re = '~<a\s[^>]*href="([^"]*(?:' .
-                $this->embedmarkers . ')[^"]*)"[^>]*>([^>]*)</a>~is',
-                array($this, 'callback'), $text);
-
-        if (empty($newtext) or $newtext === $text) {
-            // error or not filtered
+        // Looking for tags.
+        $matches = preg_split('/(<a\s[^>]*>)/i', $text, -1, PREG_SPLIT_NO_EMPTY | PREG_SPLIT_DELIM_CAPTURE);
+
+        if (!$matches) {
             return $text;
         }
 
+        // Regex to find media extensions in an <a> tag.
+        $re = '~<a\s[^>]*href="([^"]*(?:' .  $this->embedmarkers . ')[^"]*)"[^>]*>([^>]*)</a>~is';
+
+        $newtext = '';
+        $validtag = '';
+        $sizeofmatches = count($matches);
+
+        // We iterate through the given string to find valid <a> tags
+        // and build them so that the callback function can check it for
+        // embedded content. Then we rebuild the string.
+        foreach ($matches as $idx => $tag) {
+            if (preg_match('|</a>|', $tag) && !empty($validtag)) {
+                $validtag .= $tag;
+
+                // Given we now have a valid <a> tag to process it's time for
+                // ReDoS protection. Stop processing if a word is too large.
+                if (strlen($validtag) < 4096) {
+                    $processed = preg_replace_callback($re, array($this, 'callback'), $validtag);
+                }
+                // Rebuilding the string with our new processed text.
+                $newtext .= !empty($processed) ? $processed : $validtag;
+                // Wipe it so we can catch any more instances to filter.
+                $validtag = '';
+                $processed = '';
+            } else if (preg_match('/<a\s[^>]*/', $tag) && $sizeofmatches > 1) {
+                // Looking for a starting <a> tag.
+                $validtag = $tag;
+            } else {
+                // If we have a validtag add to that to process later,
+                // else add straight onto our newtext string.
+                if (!empty($validtag)) {
+                    $validtag .= $tag;
+                } else {
+                    $newtext .= $tag;
+                }
+            }
+        }
+
+        // Return the same string except processed by the above.
         return $newtext;
     }
 
diff --git a/filter/mediaplugin/tests/filter_test.php b/filter/mediaplugin/tests/filter_test.php
index c0044fb6ab5a8..0148d4a8d870a 100644
--- a/filter/mediaplugin/tests/filter_test.php
+++ b/filter/mediaplugin/tests/filter_test.php
@@ -51,6 +51,15 @@ function test_filter_mediaplugin_link() {
 
         $filterplugin = new filter_mediaplugin(null, array());
 
+        $longurl = '<a href="http://moodle/.mp4">my test file</a>';
+        $longhref = '';
+
+        do {
+            $longhref .= 'a';
+        } while(strlen($longhref) + strlen($longurl) < 4095);
+
+        $longurl = '<a href="http://moodle/' . $longhref . '.mp4">my test file</a>';
+
         $validtexts = array (
             '<a href="http://moodle.org/testfile/test.mp3">test mp3</a>',
             '<a href="http://moodle.org/testfile/test.ogg">test ogg</a>',
@@ -76,7 +85,9 @@ function test_filter_mediaplugin_link() {
 
                             href="http://moodle.org/testfile/test.avi">test mp3
                                     </a>',
-            '<a             href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JghQgA2HMX8?d=200x200"     >youtube\'s</a>'
+            '<a             href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JghQgA2HMX8?d=200x200"     >youtube\'s</a>',
+            // Test a long URL under 4096 characters.
+            $longurl
         );
 
         //test for valid link
@@ -86,6 +97,9 @@ function test_filter_mediaplugin_link() {
             $this->assertNotEquals($text, $filter, $msg);
         }
 
+        $insertpoint = strrpos($longurl, 'http://');
+        $longurl = substr_replace($longurl, 'http://pushover4096chars', $insertpoint, 0);
+
         $invalidtexts = array(
             '<a class="_blanktarget">href="http://moodle.org/testfile/test.mp3"</a>',
             '<a>test test</a>',
@@ -101,7 +115,9 @@ function test_filter_mediaplugin_link() {
             '<href="http://moodle.org/testfile/test.avi">test</a>',
             '<abbr href="http://moodle.org/testfile/test.mp3">test mp3</abbr>',
             '<ahref="http://moodle.org/testfile/test.mp3">test mp3</a>',
-            '<aclass="content" href="http://moodle.org/testfile/test.mp3">test mp3</a>'
+            '<aclass="content" href="http://moodle.org/testfile/test.mp3">test mp3</a>',
+            // Test a long URL over 4096 characters.
+            $longurl
         );
 
         //test for invalid link
@@ -110,5 +126,11 @@ function test_filter_mediaplugin_link() {
             $filter = $filterplugin->filter($text);
             $this->assertEquals($text, $filter, $msg);
         }
+
+        // Valid mediaurl followed by a longurl.
+        $precededlongurl = '<a href="http://moodle.org/testfile/test.mp3">test.mp3</a>'. $longurl;
+        $filter = $filterplugin->filter($precededlongurl);
+        $this->assertEquals(1, substr_count($filter, 'M.util.add_audio_player'));
+        $this->assertContains($longurl, $filter);
     }
 }