diff --git a/web/app.js b/web/app.js
index 9d3ad5538..b02cf0c3a 100644
--- a/web/app.js
+++ b/web/app.js
@@ -1568,12 +1568,12 @@ function webViewerInitialized() {
   if (typeof PDFJSDev === 'undefined' || PDFJSDev.test('GENERIC')) {
     let queryString = document.location.search.substring(1);
     let params = parseQueryString(queryString);
-    file = 'file' in params ? params.file : appConfig.defaultUrl;
+    file = 'file' in params ? params.file : AppOptions.get('defaultUrl');
     validateFileURL(file);
   } else if (PDFJSDev.test('FIREFOX || MOZCENTRAL')) {
     file = window.location.href.split('#')[0];
   } else if (PDFJSDev.test('CHROME')) {
-    file = appConfig.defaultUrl;
+    file = AppOptions.get('defaultUrl');
   }
 
   if (typeof PDFJSDev === 'undefined' || PDFJSDev.test('GENERIC')) {
diff --git a/web/app_options.js b/web/app_options.js
index 27f80d93c..49a214850 100644
--- a/web/app_options.js
+++ b/web/app_options.js
@@ -27,6 +27,11 @@ const OptionKind = {
  *              compare with the format of `default_preferences.json`.
  */
 const defaultOptions = {
+  defaultUrl: {
+    /** @type {string} */
+    value: 'compressed.tracemonkey-pldi-09.pdf',
+    kind: OptionKind.VIEWER,
+  },
   defaultZoomValue: {
     /** @type {string} */
     value: '',
diff --git a/web/viewer.js b/web/viewer.js
index ecd7bc6cf..1c3fbb240 100644
--- a/web/viewer.js
+++ b/web/viewer.js
@@ -16,18 +16,18 @@
 
 'use strict';
 
-let DEFAULT_URL = 'compressed.tracemonkey-pldi-09.pdf';
-
 if (typeof PDFJSDev !== 'undefined' && PDFJSDev.test('CHROME')) {
+  var defaultUrl; // eslint-disable-line no-var
+
   (function rewriteUrlClosure() {
     // Run this code outside DOMContentLoaded to make sure that the URL
     // is rewritten as soon as possible.
     let queryString = document.location.search.slice(1);
     let m = /(^|&)file=([^&]*)/.exec(queryString);
-    DEFAULT_URL = m ? decodeURIComponent(m[2]) : '';
+    defaultUrl = m ? decodeURIComponent(m[2]) : '';
 
     // Example: chrome-extension://.../http://example.com/file.pdf
-    let humanReadableUrl = '/' + DEFAULT_URL + location.hash;
+    let humanReadableUrl = '/' + defaultUrl + location.hash;
     history.replaceState(history.state, '', humanReadableUrl);
     if (top === window) {
       chrome.runtime.sendMessage('showPageAction');
@@ -172,7 +172,6 @@ function getViewerConfiguration() {
     printContainer: document.getElementById('printContainer'),
     openFileInputName: 'fileInput',
     debuggerScriptPath: './debugger.js',
-    defaultUrl: DEFAULT_URL,
   };
 }
 
@@ -190,6 +189,10 @@ function webViewerLoad() {
       app.PDFViewerApplication.run(config);
     });
   } else {
+    if (typeof PDFJSDev !== 'undefined' && PDFJSDev.test('CHROME')) {
+      pdfjsWebAppOptions.AppOptions.set('defaultUrl', defaultUrl);
+    }
+
     window.PDFViewerApplication = pdfjsWebApp.PDFViewerApplication;
     window.PDFViewerApplicationOptions = pdfjsWebAppOptions.AppOptions;
     pdfjsWebApp.PDFViewerApplication.run(config);