diff --git a/React/Base/RCTUtils.m b/React/Base/RCTUtils.m
index 44e1e7fe5c1730..37fff6a2a530e0 100644
--- a/React/Base/RCTUtils.m
+++ b/React/Base/RCTUtils.m
@@ -708,13 +708,11 @@ BOOL RCTIsLocalAssetURL(NSURL *__nullable imageURL)
 
   if (!image) {
     // Attempt to load from the file system
-    NSData *fileData;
-    if (imageURL.pathExtension.length == 0) {
-      fileData = [NSData dataWithContentsOfURL:[imageURL URLByAppendingPathExtension:@"png"]];
-    } else {
-      fileData = [NSData dataWithContentsOfURL:imageURL];
+    NSString *filePath = [NSString stringWithUTF8String:[imageURL fileSystemRepresentation]];
+    if (filePath.pathExtension.length == 0) {
+      filePath = [filePath stringByAppendingPathExtension:@"png"];
     }
-    image = [UIImage imageWithData:fileData];
+    image = [UIImage imageWithContentsOfFile:filePath];
   }
 
   if (!image && !bundle) {