diff --git a/core/http/client/src/test/java/org/eclipse/rdf4j/http/client/SPARQLProtocolSessionTest.java b/core/http/client/src/test/java/org/eclipse/rdf4j/http/client/SPARQLProtocolSessionTest.java
index 5d4468c2b64..552658d15a2 100644
--- a/core/http/client/src/test/java/org/eclipse/rdf4j/http/client/SPARQLProtocolSessionTest.java
+++ b/core/http/client/src/test/java/org/eclipse/rdf4j/http/client/SPARQLProtocolSessionTest.java
@@ -22,10 +22,12 @@
 import java.io.ByteArrayOutputStream;
 import java.io.File;
 import java.io.IOException;
+import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets;
 import java.util.Locale;
 import java.util.Objects;
 
 import org.apache.commons.io.FileUtils;
+import org.apache.commons.io.IOUtils;
 import org.apache.http.Header;
 import org.apache.http.HeaderElement;
 import org.apache.http.HeaderIterator;
@@ -470,13 +472,7 @@ public void setLocale(Locale loc) {
 		};
 	}
 
-	protected String readFileToString(String fileName) {
-		try {
-			ClassLoader classLoader = getClass().getClassLoader();
-			File file = new File(Objects.requireNonNull(classLoader.getResource("__files/" + fileName)).getFile());
-			return FileUtils.readFileToString(file, "UTF-8");
-		} catch (IOException e) {
-			throw new RuntimeException(e);
-		}
+	protected String readFileToString(String fileName) throws IOException {
+		return IOUtils.resourceToString("__files/" + fileName, StandardCharsets.UTF_8, getClass().getClassLoader());
 	}
 }
diff --git a/core/repository/manager/src/test/java/org/eclipse/rdf4j/repository/manager/RemoteRepositoryManagerTest.java b/core/repository/manager/src/test/java/org/eclipse/rdf4j/repository/manager/RemoteRepositoryManagerTest.java
index 3627f84c2e3..759e743a2bc 100644
--- a/core/repository/manager/src/test/java/org/eclipse/rdf4j/repository/manager/RemoteRepositoryManagerTest.java
+++ b/core/repository/manager/src/test/java/org/eclipse/rdf4j/repository/manager/RemoteRepositoryManagerTest.java
@@ -16,9 +16,11 @@
 
 import java.io.File;
 import java.io.IOException;
+import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets;
 import java.util.Objects;
 
 import org.apache.commons.io.FileUtils;
+import org.apache.commons.io.IOUtils;
 import org.eclipse.rdf4j.http.protocol.Protocol;
 import org.eclipse.rdf4j.query.resultio.TupleQueryResultFormat;
 import org.eclipse.rdf4j.repository.RepositoryException;
@@ -47,7 +49,7 @@ public void setUp(MockServerClient client) {
 	}
 
 	@Test
-	public void testAddRepositoryConfig(MockServerClient client) {
+	public void testAddRepositoryConfig(MockServerClient client) throws Exception {
 		client.when(
 				request()
 						.withMethod("GET")
@@ -176,7 +178,7 @@ public void testGetRepositoryConfig(MockServerClient client) throws Exception {
 	}
 
 	@Test
-	public void testAddRepositoryConfigLegacy(MockServerClient client) {
+	public void testAddRepositoryConfigLegacy(MockServerClient client) throws Exception {
 		client.when(
 				request()
 						.withMethod("GET")
@@ -214,13 +216,7 @@ public void testAddRepositoryConfigLegacy(MockServerClient client) {
 		assertThrows(RepositoryException.class, () -> subject.addRepositoryConfig(config));
 	}
 
-	private String readFileToString(String fileName) {
-		try {
-			ClassLoader classLoader = getClass().getClassLoader();
-			File file = new File(Objects.requireNonNull(classLoader.getResource("__files/" + fileName)).getFile());
-			return FileUtils.readFileToString(file, "UTF-8");
-		} catch (IOException e) {
-			throw new RuntimeException(e);
-		}
+	private String readFileToString(String fileName) throws IOException {
+		return IOUtils.resourceToString("__files/" + fileName, StandardCharsets.UTF_8, getClass().getClassLoader());
 	}
 }
diff --git a/spring-components/rdf4j-spring/src/test/java/org/eclipse/rdf4j/spring/repository/remote/RemoteRepositoryConfigTest.java b/spring-components/rdf4j-spring/src/test/java/org/eclipse/rdf4j/spring/repository/remote/RemoteRepositoryConfigTest.java
index 583ceaf98a8..57e813df142 100644
--- a/spring-components/rdf4j-spring/src/test/java/org/eclipse/rdf4j/spring/repository/remote/RemoteRepositoryConfigTest.java
+++ b/spring-components/rdf4j-spring/src/test/java/org/eclipse/rdf4j/spring/repository/remote/RemoteRepositoryConfigTest.java
@@ -17,9 +17,11 @@
 
 import java.io.File;
 import java.io.IOException;
+import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets;
 import java.util.Objects;
 
 import org.apache.commons.io.FileUtils;
+import org.apache.commons.io.IOUtils;
 import org.eclipse.rdf4j.repository.Repository;
 import org.eclipse.rdf4j.spring.support.ConfigurationException;
 import org.junit.jupiter.api.BeforeEach;
@@ -38,7 +40,7 @@ class RemoteRepositoryConfigTest {
 	private final RemoteRepositoryConfig remoteRepositoryConfig = new RemoteRepositoryConfig();
 
 	@BeforeEach
-	void setUp(MockServerClient client) {
+	void setUp(MockServerClient client) throws Exception {
 		client.when(
 				request()
 						.withMethod("GET")
@@ -108,13 +110,7 @@ void getRemoteRepository_error() {
 				.isThrownBy(() -> remoteRepositoryConfig.getRemoteRepository(properties));
 	}
 
-	private String readFileToString(String fileName) {
-		try {
-			ClassLoader classLoader = getClass().getClassLoader();
-			File file = new File(Objects.requireNonNull(classLoader.getResource("__files/" + fileName)).getFile());
-			return FileUtils.readFileToString(file, "UTF-8");
-		} catch (IOException e) {
-			throw new RuntimeException(e);
-		}
+	private String readFileToString(String fileName) throws IOException {
+		return IOUtils.resourceToString("__files/" + fileName, StandardCharsets.UTF_8, getClass().getClassLoader());
 	}
 }