diff --git a/include/mapnik/util/file_io.hpp b/include/mapnik/util/file_io.hpp
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..8664009bf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/include/mapnik/util/file_io.hpp
@@ -0,0 +1,92 @@
+/*****************************************************************************
+ *
+ * This file is part of Mapnik (c++ mapping toolkit)
+ *
+ * Copyright (C) 2014 Artem Pavlenko
+ *
+ * This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
+ * modify it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public
+ * License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either
+ * version 2.1 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
+ *
+ * This library is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+ * but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+ * MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU
+ * Lesser General Public License for more details.
+ *
+ * You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public
+ * License along with this library; if not, write to the Free Software
+ * Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin St, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA  02110-1301  USA
+ *
+ *****************************************************************************/
+
+#ifndef MAPNIK_FILE_IO_HPP
+#define MAPNIK_FILE_IO_HPP
+
+// mapnik
+#include <mapnik/utils.hpp>
+#include <mapnik/make_unique.hpp>
+#include <mapnik/noncopyable.hpp>
+//#include <mapnik/config.hpp>
+
+// stl
+#include <cstdio>
+#include <memory>
+#include <string>
+
+namespace mapnik { namespace util {
+
+class file : public noncopyable
+{
+public:
+    using file_ptr = std::unique_ptr<std::FILE, int (*)(std::FILE *)>;
+    using data_type = std::unique_ptr<char[]>;
+    
+    explicit file(std::string const& filename)
+#ifdef _WINDOWS
+     : file_(_wfopen(mapnik::utf8_to_utf16(filename).c_str(), L"rb"), std::fclose),
+#else
+     : file_(std::fopen(filename.c_str(),"rb"), std::fclose),
+#endif
+       size_(0)
+
+     {
+        if (file_)
+        {
+            std::fseek(file_.get(), 0, SEEK_END);
+            size_ = std::ftell(file_.get());
+        }
+     }
+
+    inline bool open() const
+    {
+        return file_ ? true : false;
+    }
+
+    inline std::FILE * get() const
+    {
+        return file_.get();;
+    }
+
+    inline std::size_t size() const
+    {
+        return size_;
+    }
+
+    inline data_type data() const
+    {
+        if (!size_) return nullptr;
+        std::fseek(file_.get(), 0, SEEK_SET);
+        data_type buffer(new char[size_]);
+        std::fread(buffer.get(), size_, 1, file_.get());
+        return std::move(buffer);
+    }
+private:
+    file_ptr file_;
+    std::size_t size_;
+};
+
+}}
+
+
+#endif // FILE_IO