diff --git a/aegisub/libaegisub/common/charset.cpp b/aegisub/libaegisub/common/charset.cpp
index 8ad4df4b6..649353082 100644
--- a/aegisub/libaegisub/common/charset.cpp
+++ b/aegisub/libaegisub/common/charset.cpp
@@ -48,24 +48,24 @@ public:
 	: nsUniversalDetector(NS_FILTER_ALL)
 	{
 		{
-			std::unique_ptr<std::ifstream> fp(agi::io::Open(file, true));
+			std::ifstream fp(agi::io::Open(file, true));
 
 			// If it's over 100 MB it's either binary or big enough that we won't
 			// be able to do anything useful with it anyway
-			fp->seekg(0, std::ios::end);
-			if (fp->tellg() > 100 * 1024 * 1024) {
+			fp.seekg(0, std::ios::end);
+			if (fp.tellg() > 100 * 1024 * 1024) {
 				list.emplace_back(1.f, "binary");
 				return;
 			}
-			fp->seekg(0, std::ios::beg);
+			fp.seekg(0, std::ios::beg);
 
 			std::streamsize binaryish = 0;
 			std::streamsize bytes = 0;
 
-			while (!mDone && *fp) {
+			while (!mDone && fp) {
 				char buf[4096];
-				fp->read(buf, sizeof(buf));
-				std::streamsize read = fp->gcount();
+				fp.read(buf, sizeof(buf));
+				std::streamsize read = fp.gcount();
 				HandleData(buf, (PRUint32)read);
 
 				// A dumb heuristic to detect binary files
diff --git a/aegisub/libaegisub/common/io.cpp b/aegisub/libaegisub/common/io.cpp
index 798b65923..80640cf2a 100644
--- a/aegisub/libaegisub/common/io.cpp
+++ b/aegisub/libaegisub/common/io.cpp
@@ -30,18 +30,16 @@
 namespace agi {
 	namespace io {
 
-std::ifstream* Open(fs::path const& file, bool binary) {
+std::ifstream Open(fs::path const& file, bool binary) {
 	LOG_D("agi/io/open/file") << file;
 	acs::CheckFileRead(file);
 
-	auto stream = new boost::filesystem::ifstream(file, (binary ? std::ios::binary : std::ios::in));
+	boost::filesystem::ifstream stream(file, (binary ? std::ios::binary : std::ios::in));
 
-	if (stream->fail()) {
-		delete stream;
+	if (stream.fail())
 		throw IOFatal("Unknown fatal error as occurred");
-	}
 
-	return stream;
+	return std::move(stream);
 }
 
 Save::Save(fs::path const& file, bool binary)
diff --git a/aegisub/libaegisub/common/json.cpp b/aegisub/libaegisub/common/json.cpp
index dfa40e7d5..de5aec94f 100644
--- a/aegisub/libaegisub/common/json.cpp
+++ b/aegisub/libaegisub/common/json.cpp
@@ -21,22 +21,18 @@
 #include "libaegisub/json.h"
 
 #include <fstream>
-#include <memory>
 #include <sstream>
 
 #include "libaegisub/fs.h"
 #include "libaegisub/io.h"
 #include "libaegisub/log.h"
 
-namespace agi {
-	namespace json_util {
+namespace agi { namespace json_util {
 
-json::UnknownElement parse(std::istream *stream) {
+json::UnknownElement parse(std::istream&& stream) {
 	try {
-		std::unique_ptr<std::istream> stream_deleter(stream);
-
 		json::UnknownElement root;
-		json::Reader::Read(root, *stream);
+		json::Reader::Read(root, stream);
 		return root;
 	} catch (json::Reader::ParseException& e) {
 		LOG_E("json/parse") << "json::ParseException: " << e.what() << ", Line/offset: " << e.m_locTokenBegin.m_nLine + 1 << '/' << e.m_locTokenBegin.m_nLineOffset + 1;
@@ -57,17 +53,16 @@ json::UnknownElement file(agi::fs::path const& file, const std::string &default_
 	}
 	catch (fs::FileNotFound const&) {
 		// Not an error
-		return parse(new std::istringstream(default_config));
+		return parse(std::istringstream(default_config));
 	}
 	catch (json::Exception&) {
 		// Already logged in parse
-		return parse(new std::istringstream(default_config));
+		return parse(std::istringstream(default_config));
 	}
 	catch (agi::Exception& e) {
 		LOG_E("json/file") << "Unexpected error when reading config file " << file << ": " << e.GetMessage();
-		return parse(new std::istringstream(default_config));
+		return parse(std::istringstream(default_config));
 	}
 }
 
-	} // namespace json_util
-} // namespace agi
+} }
diff --git a/aegisub/libaegisub/common/keyframe.cpp b/aegisub/libaegisub/common/keyframe.cpp
index fa98c41ca..c6bccc8e3 100644
--- a/aegisub/libaegisub/common/keyframe.cpp
+++ b/aegisub/libaegisub/common/keyframe.cpp
@@ -85,8 +85,7 @@ void Save(agi::fs::path const& filename, std::vector<int> const& keyframes) {
 }
 
 std::vector<int> Load(agi::fs::path const& filename) {
-	std::unique_ptr<std::ifstream> file(io::Open(filename));
-	std::istream &is(*file);
+	std::ifstream is(io::Open(filename));
 
 	std::string header;
 	getline(is, header);
diff --git a/aegisub/libaegisub/common/option.cpp b/aegisub/libaegisub/common/option.cpp
index f57bd6a91..d2393f72f 100644
--- a/aegisub/libaegisub/common/option.cpp
+++ b/aegisub/libaegisub/common/option.cpp
@@ -89,8 +89,8 @@ void Options::ConfigNext(std::istream& stream) {
 
 void Options::ConfigUser() {
 	try {
-		std::unique_ptr<std::istream> stream(io::Open(config_file));
-		LoadConfig(*stream, true);
+		std::ifstream stream(io::Open(config_file));
+		LoadConfig(stream, true);
 	}
 	catch (fs::FileNotFound const&) {
 		return;
diff --git a/aegisub/libaegisub/common/thesaurus.cpp b/aegisub/libaegisub/common/thesaurus.cpp
index 0c66368c5..56806ff46 100644
--- a/aegisub/libaegisub/common/thesaurus.cpp
+++ b/aegisub/libaegisub/common/thesaurus.cpp
@@ -35,15 +35,15 @@ namespace agi {
 Thesaurus::Thesaurus(agi::fs::path const& dat_path, agi::fs::path const& idx_path)
 : dat(io::Open(dat_path))
 {
-	std::unique_ptr<std::ifstream> idx(io::Open(idx_path));
+	std::ifstream idx(io::Open(idx_path));
 
 	std::string encoding_name;
-	getline(*idx, encoding_name);
+	getline(idx, encoding_name);
 	std::string unused_entry_count;
-	getline(*idx, unused_entry_count);
+	getline(idx, unused_entry_count);
 
 	// Read the list of words and file offsets for those words
-	for (line_iterator<std::string> iter(*idx, encoding_name), end; iter != end; ++iter) {
+	for (line_iterator<std::string> iter(idx, encoding_name), end; iter != end; ++iter) {
 		std::vector<std::string> chunks;
 		boost::split(chunks, *iter, _1 == '|');
 		if (chunks.size() == 2)
@@ -57,17 +57,17 @@ Thesaurus::~Thesaurus() { }
 
 void Thesaurus::Lookup(std::string const& word, std::vector<Entry> *out) {
 	out->clear();
-	if (!dat.get()) return;
+	if (!dat) return;
 
 	std::map<std::string, int>::const_iterator it = offsets.find(word);
 	if (it == offsets.end()) return;
 
-	dat->seekg(it->second, std::ios::beg);
-	if (!dat->good()) return;
+	dat.seekg(it->second, std::ios::beg);
+	if (!dat.good()) return;
 
 	// First line is the word and meaning count
 	std::string temp;
-	getline(*dat, temp);
+	getline(dat, temp);
 	std::vector<std::string> header;
 	std::string converted(conv->Convert(temp));
 	boost::split(header, converted, _1 == '|');
@@ -77,7 +77,7 @@ void Thesaurus::Lookup(std::string const& word, std::vector<Entry> *out) {
 	out->resize(meanings);
 	for (int i = 0; i < meanings; ++i) {
 		std::vector<std::string> line;
-		getline(*dat, temp);
+		getline(dat, temp);
 		std::string converted(conv->Convert(temp));
 		boost::split(line, converted, _1 == '|');
 
diff --git a/aegisub/libaegisub/common/vfr.cpp b/aegisub/libaegisub/common/vfr.cpp
index 39288741f..0e7bc9471 100644
--- a/aegisub/libaegisub/common/vfr.cpp
+++ b/aegisub/libaegisub/common/vfr.cpp
@@ -206,18 +206,18 @@ Framerate::Framerate(fs::path const& filename)
 : denominator(default_denominator)
 , numerator(0)
 {
-	scoped_ptr<std::ifstream> file(agi::io::Open(filename));
+	std::ifstream file(agi::io::Open(filename));
 	std::string encoding = agi::charset::Detect(filename);
-	std::string line = *line_iterator<std::string>(*file, encoding);
+	std::string line = *line_iterator<std::string>(file, encoding);
 	if (line == "# timecode format v2") {
-		copy(line_iterator<int>(*file, encoding), line_iterator<int>(), back_inserter(timecodes));
+		copy(line_iterator<int>(file, encoding), line_iterator<int>(), back_inserter(timecodes));
 		SetFromTimecodes();
 		return;
 	}
 	if (line == "# timecode format v1" || line.substr(0, 7) == "Assume ") {
 		if (line[0] == '#')
-			line = *line_iterator<std::string>(*file, encoding);
-		numerator = v1_parse(line_iterator<std::string>(*file, encoding), line, timecodes, last);
+			line = *line_iterator<std::string>(file, encoding);
+		numerator = v1_parse(line_iterator<std::string>(file, encoding), line, timecodes, last);
 		return;
 	}
 
diff --git a/aegisub/libaegisub/include/libaegisub/io.h b/aegisub/libaegisub/include/libaegisub/io.h
index b23d73a29..684d0a1f3 100644
--- a/aegisub/libaegisub/include/libaegisub/io.h
+++ b/aegisub/libaegisub/include/libaegisub/io.h
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ namespace agi {
 DEFINE_BASE_EXCEPTION_NOINNER(IOError, Exception)
 DEFINE_SIMPLE_EXCEPTION_NOINNER(IOFatal, IOError, "io/fatal")
 
-std::ifstream* Open(fs::path const& file, bool binary = false);
+std::ifstream Open(fs::path const& file, bool binary = false);
 
 class Save {
 	std::ofstream *fp;
diff --git a/aegisub/libaegisub/include/libaegisub/json.h b/aegisub/libaegisub/include/libaegisub/json.h
index e132120fb..95303a5e7 100644
--- a/aegisub/libaegisub/include/libaegisub/json.h
+++ b/aegisub/libaegisub/include/libaegisub/json.h
@@ -24,9 +24,8 @@ namespace agi {
 	namespace json_util {
 
 /// Parse a JSON stream.
-/// @param stream JSON stream, this is deleted internally.
 /// @return json::UnknownElement
-json::UnknownElement parse(std::istream *stream);
+json::UnknownElement parse(std::istream&& stream);
 
 /// Parse a JSON file.
 /// @param file Path JSON to file
diff --git a/aegisub/libaegisub/include/libaegisub/thesaurus.h b/aegisub/libaegisub/include/libaegisub/thesaurus.h
index 88b2c4360..290c72209 100644
--- a/aegisub/libaegisub/include/libaegisub/thesaurus.h
+++ b/aegisub/libaegisub/include/libaegisub/thesaurus.h
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@
 
 #include "fs_fwd.h"
 
-#include <iosfwd>
+#include <fstream>
 #include <map>
 #include <memory>
 #include <string>
@@ -32,13 +32,13 @@ class Thesaurus {
 	/// Map of word -> byte position in the data file
 	std::map<std::string, int> offsets;
 	/// Read handle to the data file
-	std::unique_ptr<std::istream> dat;
+	std::ifstream dat;
 	/// Converter from the data file's charset to UTF-8
 	std::unique_ptr<charset::IconvWrapper> conv;
 
 public:
 	/// A pair of a word and synonyms for that word
-	typedef std::pair<std::string, std::vector<std::string> > Entry;
+	typedef std::pair<std::string, std::vector<std::string>> Entry;
 
 	/// Constructor
 	/// @param dat_path Path to data file
diff --git a/aegisub/src/ass_attachment.cpp b/aegisub/src/ass_attachment.cpp
index 6217c7c61..87e53ac3b 100644
--- a/aegisub/src/ass_attachment.cpp
+++ b/aegisub/src/ass_attachment.cpp
@@ -40,11 +40,11 @@ AssAttachment::AssAttachment(agi::fs::path const& name, AssEntryGroup group)
 		filename = filename.get().substr(0, filename.get().size() - 4) + "_0" + filename.get().substr(filename.get().size() - 4);
 
 	std::vector<char> data;
-	std::unique_ptr<std::istream> file(agi::io::Open(name, true));
-	file->seekg(0, std::ios::end);
-	data.resize(file->tellg());
-	file->seekg(0, std::ios::beg);
-	file->read(&data[0], data.size());
+	std::ifstream file(agi::io::Open(name, true));
+	file.seekg(0, std::ios::end);
+	data.resize(file.tellg());
+	file.seekg(0, std::ios::beg);
+	file.read(&data[0], data.size());
 
 	entry_data = (group == ENTRY_FONT ? "fontname: " : "filename: ") + filename.get() + "\r\n";
 	entry_data = entry_data.get() + agi::ass::UUEncode(data);
diff --git a/aegisub/src/ass_style_storage.cpp b/aegisub/src/ass_style_storage.cpp
index aeae259d8..a3998f39c 100644
--- a/aegisub/src/ass_style_storage.cpp
+++ b/aegisub/src/ass_style_storage.cpp
@@ -66,8 +66,8 @@ void AssStyleStorage::Load(agi::fs::path const& filename) {
 	Clear();
 
 	try {
-		std::unique_ptr<std::ifstream> in(agi::io::Open(file));
-		for (auto const& line : agi::line_iterator<std::string>(*in)) {
+		std::ifstream in(agi::io::Open(file));
+		for (auto const& line : agi::line_iterator<std::string>(in)) {
 			try {
 				style.push_back(new AssStyle(line));
 			} catch(...) {
diff --git a/aegisub/src/auto4_lua_scriptreader.cpp b/aegisub/src/auto4_lua_scriptreader.cpp
index 3e7f09028..4c79722ce 100644
--- a/aegisub/src/auto4_lua_scriptreader.cpp
+++ b/aegisub/src/auto4_lua_scriptreader.cpp
@@ -28,8 +28,6 @@
 #include <libaegisub/io.h>
 #include <libaegisub/charset_conv.h>
 
-#include <fstream>
-
 namespace Automation4 {
 	LuaScriptReader::LuaScriptReader(agi::fs::path const& filename)
 	: conv(new agi::charset::IconvWrapper(CharSetDetect::GetEncoding(filename).c_str(), "utf-8", false))
@@ -41,11 +39,11 @@ namespace Automation4 {
 
 	const char *LuaScriptReader::Read(size_t *bytes_read) {
 		char in_buf[512];
-		file->read(in_buf, sizeof(in_buf));
+		file.read(in_buf, sizeof(in_buf));
 
 		const char *in = in_buf;
 		char *out = buf;
-		size_t in_bytes = file->gcount();
+		size_t in_bytes = file.gcount();
 		size_t out_bytes = sizeof(buf);
 
 		conv->Convert(&in, &in_bytes, &out, &out_bytes);
diff --git a/aegisub/src/auto4_lua_scriptreader.h b/aegisub/src/auto4_lua_scriptreader.h
index 5e8d1291e..065433695 100644
--- a/aegisub/src/auto4_lua_scriptreader.h
+++ b/aegisub/src/auto4_lua_scriptreader.h
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@
 
 #include <libaegisub/fs_fwd.h>
 
-#include <iosfwd>
+#include <fstream>
 #include <memory>
 #include <string>
 
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ namespace agi { namespace charset { class IconvWrapper; } }
 namespace Automation4 {
 	class LuaScriptReader {
 		std::unique_ptr<agi::charset::IconvWrapper> conv;
-		std::unique_ptr<std::istream> file;
+		std::ifstream file;
 		char buf[512];
 
 		const char *Read(size_t *bytes_read);
diff --git a/aegisub/src/dialog_shift_times.cpp b/aegisub/src/dialog_shift_times.cpp
index 72974ec6d..e043bb104 100644
--- a/aegisub/src/dialog_shift_times.cpp
+++ b/aegisub/src/dialog_shift_times.cpp
@@ -302,9 +302,9 @@ void DialogShiftTimes::LoadHistory() {
 	history_box->Freeze();
 
 	try {
-		std::unique_ptr<std::istream> file(agi::io::Open(history_filename));
+		std::ifstream file(agi::io::Open(history_filename));
 		json::UnknownElement root;
-		json::Reader::Read(root, *file);
+		json::Reader::Read(root, file);
 		*history = root;
 
 		for (auto& history_entry : *history)
diff --git a/aegisub/src/dialog_version_check.cpp b/aegisub/src/dialog_version_check.cpp
index 1437190c7..c0c2bfc51 100644
--- a/aegisub/src/dialog_version_check.cpp
+++ b/aegisub/src/dialog_version_check.cpp
@@ -304,7 +304,7 @@ void DoCheck(bool interactive) {
 		throw VersionCheckError(from_wx(_("Could not connect to updates server.")));
 
 	stream << boost::format(
-		"GET %s?rev=%d&rel=%d&os=%s&lang=%s&aegilang=%s HTTP/1.0\r\n"
+		"GET %s.json?rev=%d&rel=%d&os=%s&lang=%s&aegilang=%s HTTP/1.0\r\n"
 		"User-Agent: Aegisub %s\r\n"
 		"Host: %s\r\n"
 		"Accept: */*\r\n"
diff --git a/aegisub/src/main.cpp b/aegisub/src/main.cpp
index cb588c1de..5cdd27d2d 100644
--- a/aegisub/src/main.cpp
+++ b/aegisub/src/main.cpp
@@ -140,7 +140,7 @@ bool AegisubApp::OnInit() {
 	// Try loading configuration from the install dir if one exists there
 	try {
 		auto conf_local(config::path->Decode("?data/config.json"));
-		std::unique_ptr<std::istream> localConfig(agi::io::Open(conf_local));
+		std::ifstream localConfig(agi::io::Open(conf_local));
 		config::opt = new agi::Options(conf_local, GET_DEFAULT_CONFIG(default_config));
 
 		// Local config, make ?user mean ?data so all user settings are placed in install dir
diff --git a/aegisub/src/spellchecker_hunspell.cpp b/aegisub/src/spellchecker_hunspell.cpp
index 794c69f92..1eb6119b6 100644
--- a/aegisub/src/spellchecker_hunspell.cpp
+++ b/aegisub/src/spellchecker_hunspell.cpp
@@ -91,9 +91,9 @@ void HunspellSpellChecker::ReadUserDictionary() {
 
 	// Read the old contents of the user's dictionary
 	try {
-		std::unique_ptr<std::istream> stream(agi::io::Open(userDicPath));
+		std::ifstream stream(agi::io::Open(userDicPath));
 		copy_if(
-			++agi::line_iterator<std::string>(*stream), agi::line_iterator<std::string>(),
+			++agi::line_iterator<std::string>(stream), agi::line_iterator<std::string>(),
 			inserter(customWords, customWords.end()),
 			[](std::string const& str) { return !str.empty(); });
 	}
diff --git a/aegisub/src/text_file_reader.cpp b/aegisub/src/text_file_reader.cpp
index 5b5d61e5c..edc01e41f 100644
--- a/aegisub/src/text_file_reader.cpp
+++ b/aegisub/src/text_file_reader.cpp
@@ -36,8 +36,8 @@ TextFileReader::TextFileReader(agi::fs::path const& filename, std::string encodi
 {
 	if (encoding.empty())
 		encoding = CharSetDetect::GetEncoding(filename);
-	file.reset(agi::io::Open(filename, true));
-	iter = agi::line_iterator<std::string>(*file, encoding);
+	file = agi::io::Open(filename, true);
+	iter = agi::line_iterator<std::string>(file, encoding);
 }
 
 TextFileReader::~TextFileReader() {
diff --git a/aegisub/src/text_file_reader.h b/aegisub/src/text_file_reader.h
index 9b54cf3cf..df3f930b3 100644
--- a/aegisub/src/text_file_reader.h
+++ b/aegisub/src/text_file_reader.h
@@ -22,7 +22,6 @@
 #pragma once
 
 #include <fstream>
-#include <memory>
 #include <string>
 
 #include <libaegisub/fs_fwd.h>
@@ -31,7 +30,7 @@
 /// @class TextFileReader
 /// @brief A line-based text file reader
 class TextFileReader {
-	std::unique_ptr<std::ifstream> file;
+	std::ifstream file;
 	bool trim;
 	agi::line_iterator<std::string> iter;
 
diff --git a/aegisub/src/toolbar.cpp b/aegisub/src/toolbar.cpp
index 40b772888..5ecf8debf 100644
--- a/aegisub/src/toolbar.cpp
+++ b/aegisub/src/toolbar.cpp
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ namespace {
 	json::Object const& get_root() {
 		static json::Object root;
 		if (root.empty())
-			root = agi::json_util::parse(new std::istringstream(GET_DEFAULT_CONFIG(default_toolbar)));
+			root = agi::json_util::parse(std::istringstream(GET_DEFAULT_CONFIG(default_toolbar)));
 		return root;
 	}