diff --git a/src/main/java/org/gbif/dwca/io/ArchiveFactory.java b/src/main/java/org/gbif/dwca/io/ArchiveFactory.java
index aaecccbf6..f710ab05e 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/gbif/dwca/io/ArchiveFactory.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/gbif/dwca/io/ArchiveFactory.java
@@ -14,11 +14,9 @@
 
 import org.gbif.dwc.DwcFiles;
 import org.gbif.dwc.meta.DwcMetaFiles;
-import org.gbif.util.DownloadUtil;
 
 import java.io.File;
 import java.io.IOException;
-import java.net.URL;
 
 import com.google.common.io.Files;
 import org.apache.commons.lang3.StringUtils;
@@ -35,19 +33,6 @@ public class ArchiveFactory {
 
   private static final Logger LOG = LoggerFactory.getLogger(ArchiveFactory.class);
 
-  /**
-   * Opens an archive from a URL, downloading and decompressing it.
-   *
-   * @param archiveUrl the location of a compressed archive or single data file
-   * @param workingDir writable directory to download to and decompress archive
-   */
-  public static Archive openArchive(URL archiveUrl, File workingDir) throws IOException, UnsupportedArchiveException {
-    File downloadTo = new File(workingDir, "dwca-download");
-    File dwca = new File(workingDir, "dwca");
-    DownloadUtil.download(archiveUrl, downloadTo);
-    return openArchive(downloadTo, dwca);
-  }
-
   /**
    * Opens an archive from a local file and decompresses or copies it into the given archive directory.
    * Make sure the archive directory does not contain files already, any existing files will be removed!
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/gbif/util/DownloadUtil.java b/src/main/java/org/gbif/util/DownloadUtil.java
deleted file mode 100644
index d935f32f3..000000000
--- a/src/main/java/org/gbif/util/DownloadUtil.java
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,48 +0,0 @@
-package org.gbif.util;
-
-import java.io.File;
-import java.io.FileOutputStream;
-import java.io.IOException;
-import java.net.URL;
-import java.nio.channels.Channels;
-import java.nio.channels.ReadableByteChannel;
-
-/**
- * A simple download utils that uses the native http capabilities of the URL class and NIO.
- * It does not handle redirects and other advanced http options - please use the gbif-httputil HttpUtils class for
- * those cases which makes use of the heavier but more robust HttpClient.
- */
-public class DownloadUtil {
-
-  /**
-   * A private Utils class.
-   */
-  private DownloadUtil() {
-  }
-
-  /**
-   * Copies the content of a URL to a local file.
-   *
-   * @param url source url
-   * @param out file to write content to
-   */
-  public static void download(URL url, File out) throws IOException {
-    ReadableByteChannel rbc = Channels.newChannel(url.openStream());
-    FileOutputStream fos = new FileOutputStream(out);
-    fos.getChannel().transferFrom(rbc, 0, 1 << 24);
-    fos.close();
-    rbc.close();
-  }
-
-  /**
-   * Copies the content of a URL to a local file.
-   *
-   * @param url source url
-   * @param out file to write content to
-   */
-  public static void download(String url, File out) throws IOException {
-    URL u = new URL(url);
-    download(u, out);
-  }
-
-}
diff --git a/src/test/java/org/gbif/io/DownloadUtilTest.java b/src/test/java/org/gbif/io/DownloadUtilTest.java
deleted file mode 100644
index 0b01dcd38..000000000
--- a/src/test/java/org/gbif/io/DownloadUtilTest.java
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,17 +0,0 @@
-package org.gbif.io;
-
-import org.gbif.util.DownloadUtil;
-
-import java.io.File;
-
-import org.junit.Test;
-
-public class DownloadUtilTest {
-
-  @Test
-  public void testDownload() throws Exception {
-    File t = File.createTempFile("google", "");
-    t.deleteOnExit();
-    DownloadUtil.download("http://www.google.com", t);
-  }
-}