diff --git a/xml/src/main/java/org/springframework/xml/sax/SaxUtils.java b/xml/src/main/java/org/springframework/xml/sax/SaxUtils.java
index 5d69878b..2bbecd6c 100644
--- a/xml/src/main/java/org/springframework/xml/sax/SaxUtils.java
+++ b/xml/src/main/java/org/springframework/xml/sax/SaxUtils.java
@@ -18,9 +18,10 @@ package org.springframework.xml.sax;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
 
-import org.springframework.core.io.Resource;
 import org.xml.sax.InputSource;
 
+import org.springframework.core.io.Resource;
+
 /**
  * Convenient utility methods for dealing with SAX.
  *
@@ -48,7 +49,7 @@ public abstract class SaxUtils {
     /** Retrieves the URL from the given resource as System ID. Returns <code>null</code> if it cannot be openened. */
     public static String getSystemId(Resource resource) {
         try {
-            return resource.getURL().toString();
+            return resource.getURI().toString();
         }
         catch (IOException e) {
             return null;
diff --git a/xml/src/test/java/org/springframework/xml/sax/SaxUtilsTest.java b/xml/src/test/java/org/springframework/xml/sax/SaxUtilsTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..00f5032f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/xml/src/test/java/org/springframework/xml/sax/SaxUtilsTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright ${YEAR} the original author or authors.
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package org.springframework.xml.sax;
+
+import junit.framework.TestCase;
+
+import org.springframework.core.io.FileSystemResource;
+import org.springframework.core.io.Resource;
+
+public class SaxUtilsTest extends TestCase {
+
+    public void testGetSystemId() throws Exception {
+        Resource resource = new FileSystemResource("/path with spaces/file with spaces.txt");
+        String systemId = SaxUtils.getSystemId(resource);
+        assertNotNull("No systemId returned", systemId);
+        assertEquals("Invalid system id", "file:/path%20with%20spaces/file%20with%20spaces.txt", systemId);
+    }
+}
\ No newline at end of file