diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index 1f69f863..79f4bef1 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -218,6 +218,36 @@ limitations under the License.
         </pluginManagement>
       </build>
     </profile>
+    <profile>
+        <id>jdk11+</id>
+        <activation>
+          <jdk>[11,)</jdk>
+        </activation>
+        <build>
+          <pluginManagement>
+            <plugins>
+              <plugin>
+                <artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId>
+                <executions>
+                  <execution>
+                    <id>compile-java-11</id>
+                    <goals>
+                      <goal>compile</goal>
+                    </goals>
+                    <configuration>
+                      <release>11</release>
+                      <compileSourceRoots>
+                        <compileSourceRoot>${project.basedir}/src/main/java11</compileSourceRoot>
+                    </compileSourceRoots>
+                    <multiReleaseOutput>true</multiReleaseOutput>
+                    </configuration>
+                  </execution>
+                </executions>
+              </plugin>
+            </plugins>
+          </pluginManagement>
+        </build>
+      </profile>
     <profile>
       <id>plexus-release</id>
       <build>
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/codehaus/plexus/util/BaseFileUtils.java b/src/main/java/org/codehaus/plexus/util/BaseFileUtils.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..f7c7fa52
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/main/java/org/codehaus/plexus/util/BaseFileUtils.java
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+package org.codehaus.plexus.util;
+
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.nio.file.Files;
+import java.nio.file.Path;
+
+/**
+ * Implementation specific to Java SE 8 version.
+ */
+abstract class BaseFileUtils
+{
+    static String fileRead( Path path, String encoding ) throws IOException
+    {
+        byte[] bytes = Files.readAllBytes( path );
+        return encoding != null ? new String( bytes, encoding ) : new String( bytes );
+    }
+
+    static void fileWrite( Path path, String encoding, String data ) throws IOException
+    {
+        byte[] bytes = encoding != null ? data.getBytes( encoding ) : data.getBytes();
+        Files.write( path, bytes );
+    }
+}
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/codehaus/plexus/util/FileUtils.java b/src/main/java/org/codehaus/plexus/util/FileUtils.java
index d7e61f83..42999307 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/codehaus/plexus/util/FileUtils.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/codehaus/plexus/util/FileUtils.java
@@ -114,7 +114,7 @@
  * @author <a href="mailto:jefft@codehaus.org">Jeff Turner</a>
  *
  */
-public class FileUtils
+public class FileUtils extends BaseFileUtils
 {
     /**
      * The number of bytes in a kilobyte.
@@ -330,7 +330,7 @@ public static String fileRead( String file )
     public static String fileRead( String file, String encoding )
         throws IOException
     {
-        return fileRead( new File( file ), encoding );
+        return fileRead( Paths.get( file ), encoding );
     }
 
     /**
@@ -358,13 +358,6 @@ public static String fileRead( File file, String encoding )
         return fileRead( file.toPath(), encoding );
     }
 
-    private static String fileRead( Path path, String encoding )
-        throws IOException
-    {
-        byte[] bytes = Files.readAllBytes( path );
-        return encoding != null ? new String( bytes, encoding ) : new String( bytes );
-    }
-
     /**
      * Appends data to a file. The file will be created if it does not exist. Note: the data is written with platform
      * encoding
@@ -433,7 +426,7 @@ public static void fileWrite( String fileName, String data )
     public static void fileWrite( String fileName, String encoding, String data )
         throws IOException
     {
-        File file = ( fileName == null ) ? null : new File( fileName );
+        Path file = ( fileName == null ) ? null : Paths.get( fileName );
         fileWrite( file, encoding, data );
     }
 
@@ -467,13 +460,6 @@ public static void fileWrite( File file, String encoding, String data )
         fileWrite( file.toPath(), encoding, data );
     }
 
-    private static void fileWrite( Path path, String encoding, String data )
-        throws IOException
-    {
-        byte[] bytes = encoding != null ? data.getBytes( encoding ) : data.getBytes();
-        Files.write( path, bytes );
-    }
-
     /**
      * Deletes a file.
      *
diff --git a/src/main/java11/org/codehaus/plexus/util/BaseFileUtils.java b/src/main/java11/org/codehaus/plexus/util/BaseFileUtils.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..50e46a9e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/main/java11/org/codehaus/plexus/util/BaseFileUtils.java
@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
+package org.codehaus.plexus.util;
+
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.nio.charset.Charset;
+import java.nio.file.Files;
+import java.nio.file.Path;
+
+/**
+ * Implementation specific to Java SE 11 version.
+ */
+abstract class BaseFileUtils
+{
+    static String fileRead( Path path, String encoding ) throws IOException
+    {
+        return encoding != null ? Files.readString( path, Charset.forName( encoding ) ) : Files.readString( path );
+    }
+
+    static void fileWrite( Path path, String encoding, String data ) throws IOException
+    {
+        if ( encoding != null )
+        {
+            Files.writeString( path, data, Charset.forName( encoding ) );
+        }
+        else
+        {
+            Files.writeString( path, data );
+        }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/src/test/java/org/codehaus/plexus/util/FileUtilsTest.java b/src/test/java/org/codehaus/plexus/util/FileUtilsTest.java
index 4e9093d0..4d63957c 100644
--- a/src/test/java/org/codehaus/plexus/util/FileUtilsTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/org/codehaus/plexus/util/FileUtilsTest.java
@@ -33,6 +33,7 @@
 import java.io.Writer;
 import java.net.URL;
 import java.nio.file.Files;
+import java.nio.file.Paths;
 import java.util.Properties;
 
 import org.junit.Before;
@@ -191,7 +192,7 @@ public void testToURLs()
 
         for ( int i = 0; i < urls.length; i++ )
         {
-            assertEquals( files[i].toURL(), urls[i] );
+            assertEquals( files[i].toURI().toURL(), urls[i] );
         }
     }
 
@@ -885,14 +886,12 @@ public void testFileUtils()
         final URL url = this.getClass().getResource( path );
         assertNotNull( path + " was not found.", url );
 
-        String filename = url.getFile();
-        // The following line applies a fix for spaces in a path
-        filename = replaceAll( filename, "%20", " " );
+        final String filename = Paths.get(url.toURI()).toString();
         final String filename2 = "test2.txt";
 
         assertTrue( "test.txt extension == \"txt\"", FileUtils.getExtension( filename ).equals( "txt" ) );
 
-        assertTrue( "Test file does not exist: " + filename, FileUtils.fileExists( filename ) );
+        assertTrue( "Test file does exist: " + filename, FileUtils.fileExists( filename ) );
 
         assertTrue( "Second test file does not exist", !FileUtils.fileExists( filename2 ) );