diff --git a/dom/html/HTMLMediaElement.cpp b/dom/html/HTMLMediaElement.cpp
index 182183fc7e8..33d13c38b1f 100644
--- a/dom/html/HTMLMediaElement.cpp
+++ b/dom/html/HTMLMediaElement.cpp
@@ -540,7 +540,7 @@ void
 HTMLMediaElement::SetMozSrcObject(DOMMediaStream* aValue)
 {
   mSrcAttrStream = aValue;
-  Load();
+  DoLoad();
 }
 
 /* readonly attribute nsIDOMHTMLMediaElement mozAutoplayEnabled; */
@@ -784,8 +784,21 @@ void HTMLMediaElement::QueueSelectResourceTask()
 /* void load (); */
 NS_IMETHODIMP HTMLMediaElement::Load()
 {
-  if (mIsRunningLoadMethod)
+  if (mIsRunningLoadMethod) {
     return NS_OK;
+  }
+
+  mIsDoingExplicitLoad = true;
+  DoLoad();
+
+  return NS_OK;
+}
+
+void HTMLMediaElement::DoLoad()
+{
+  if (mIsRunningLoadMethod) {
+    return;
+  }
 
   SetPlayedOrSeeked(false);
   mIsRunningLoadMethod = true;
@@ -794,8 +807,6 @@ NS_IMETHODIMP HTMLMediaElement::Load()
   QueueSelectResourceTask();
   ResetState();
   mIsRunningLoadMethod = false;
-
-  return NS_OK;
 }
 
 void HTMLMediaElement::ResetState()
@@ -828,6 +839,7 @@ void HTMLMediaElement::SelectResourceWrapper()
   SelectResource();
   mIsRunningSelectResource = false;
   mHaveQueuedSelectResource = false;
+  mIsDoingExplicitLoad = false;
 }
 
 void HTMLMediaElement::SelectResource()
@@ -1108,7 +1120,12 @@ void HTMLMediaElement::UpdatePreloadAction()
     }
   }
 
+  if (nextAction == HTMLMediaElement::PRELOAD_NONE && mIsDoingExplicitLoad) {
+    nextAction = HTMLMediaElement::PRELOAD_METADATA;
+  }
+
   mPreloadAction = nextAction;
+
   if (nextAction == HTMLMediaElement::PRELOAD_ENOUGH) {
     if (mSuspendedForPreloadNone) {
       // Our load was previouly suspended due to the media having preload
@@ -1649,10 +1666,7 @@ HTMLMediaElement::Pause(ErrorResult& aRv)
 {
   if (mNetworkState == nsIDOMHTMLMediaElement::NETWORK_EMPTY) {
     LOG(LogLevel::Debug, ("Loading due to Pause()"));
-    aRv = Load();
-    if (aRv.Failed()) {
-      return;
-    }
+    DoLoad();
   } else if (mDecoder) {
     mDecoder->Pause();
   }
@@ -2054,6 +2068,7 @@ HTMLMediaElement::HTMLMediaElement(already_AddRefed<mozilla::dom::NodeInfo>& aNo
     mEventDeliveryPaused(false),
     mWaitingFired(false),
     mIsRunningLoadMethod(false),
+    mIsDoingExplicitLoad(false),
     mIsLoadingFromSourceChildren(false),
     mDelayingLoadEvent(false),
     mIsRunningSelectResource(false),
@@ -2191,10 +2206,7 @@ HTMLMediaElement::Play(ErrorResult& aRv)
   SetPlayedOrSeeked(true);
 
   if (mNetworkState == nsIDOMHTMLMediaElement::NETWORK_EMPTY) {
-    aRv = Load();
-    if (aRv.Failed()) {
-      return;
-    }
+    DoLoad();
   }
   if (mSuspendedForPreloadNone) {
     ResumeLoad(PRELOAD_ENOUGH);
@@ -2476,7 +2488,7 @@ nsresult HTMLMediaElement::SetAttr(int32_t aNameSpaceID, nsIAtom* aName,
   if (NS_FAILED(rv))
     return rv;
   if (aNameSpaceID == kNameSpaceID_None && aName == nsGkAtoms::src) {
-    Load();
+    DoLoad();
   }
   if (aNotify && aNameSpaceID == kNameSpaceID_None) {
     if (aName == nsGkAtoms::autoplay) {
diff --git a/dom/html/HTMLMediaElement.h b/dom/html/HTMLMediaElement.h
index 397afb8bbdd..c873334d30d 100644
--- a/dom/html/HTMLMediaElement.h
+++ b/dom/html/HTMLMediaElement.h
@@ -893,6 +893,13 @@ protected:
                            // playback
   };
 
+  /**
+   * The guts of Load(). Load() acts as a wrapper around this which sets
+   * mIsDoingExplicitLoad to true so that when script calls 'load()'
+   * preload-none will be automatically upgraded to preload-metadata.
+   */
+  void DoLoad();
+
   /**
    * Suspends the load of mLoadingSrc, so that it can be resumed later
    * by ResumeLoad(). This is called when we have a media with a 'preload'
@@ -1283,6 +1290,10 @@ protected:
   // True if we're running the "load()" method.
   bool mIsRunningLoadMethod;
 
+  // True if we're running or waiting to run queued tasks due to an explicit
+  // call to "load()".
+  bool mIsDoingExplicitLoad;
+
   // True if we're loading the resource from the child source elements.
   bool mIsLoadingFromSourceChildren;
 
diff --git a/dom/media/test/test_load.html b/dom/media/test/test_load.html
index 16df4b3100f..f300ea57b1b 100644
--- a/dom/media/test/test_load.html
+++ b/dom/media/test/test_load.html
@@ -161,6 +161,18 @@ var gTests = [
         document.body.appendChild(gMedia);
       },
     expectedEvents: ['loadstart', 'source_error', 'source_error']
+  }, {
+    // Test 6: (Bug 1165203) preload="none" then followed by an explicit
+    // call to load() should load metadata
+    create:
+      function(src, type) {
+        gMedia.preload = "none";
+        gMedia.src = src;
+        document.body.appendChild(gMedia);
+        addSource(src, type);
+        gMedia.load();
+      },
+    expectedEvents: ['emptied', 'ratechange',  'loadstart', 'durationchange', 'loadedmetadata', 'loadeddata']
   }
 ];