diff --git a/docs/changes.txt b/docs/changes.txt
index abb9a61a6b..4c5f58fe8e 100644
--- a/docs/changes.txt
+++ b/docs/changes.txt
@@ -128,6 +128,7 @@ wxOSX:
 - Implement wxDataViewChoiceByIndexRenderer (wanup).
 - Fix unnecessary indentation in list-like wxDataViewCtrl (Andreas Falkenhahn).
 - Recognize macOS 10.12 Sierra in wxGetOsDescription() (Tobias Taschner).
+- Don't try to open command line arguments as files (Jeff Hostetler).
 
 Unix:
 
diff --git a/src/osx/cocoa/utils.mm b/src/osx/cocoa/utils.mm
index 02c18c47f9..7636672002 100644
--- a/src/osx/cocoa/utils.mm
+++ b/src/osx/cocoa/utils.mm
@@ -421,6 +421,11 @@ bool wxApp::DoInitGui()
     }
     gNSLayoutManager = [[NSLayoutManager alloc] init];
     
+    // This call makes it so that appplication:openFile: doesn't get bogus calls
+    // from Cocoa doing its own parsing of the argument string. And yes, we need
+    // to use a string with a boolean value in it. That's just how it works.
+    [[NSUserDefaults standardUserDefaults] setObject:@"NO" forKey:@"NSTreatUnknownArgumentsAsOpen"];
+
     return true;
 }