diff --git a/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/utils/filestorage/FileStorage.java b/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/utils/filestorage/FileStorage.java
index 67a3228a6..482cb9293 100644
--- a/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/utils/filestorage/FileStorage.java
+++ b/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/utils/filestorage/FileStorage.java
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ public interface FileStorage {
 	 * {@link ConfigurationProperties} for the file storage base directory.
 	 */
 	String PROPERTY_FILE_STORAGE_BASE_DIR = "upload.directory";
-	
+
 	/**
 	 * The default implementation will use this key to ask
 	 * {@link ConfigurationProperties} for the default URI namespace.
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ public interface FileStorage {
 	 * How often to we insert path separator characters?
 	 */
 	int SHORTY_LENGTH = 3;
-	
+
 	/**
 	 * Store the bytes from this stream as a file with the specified ID and
 	 * filename. If the file already exists, it is over-written.
@@ -50,13 +50,15 @@ public interface FileStorage {
 	String getFilename(String id) throws IOException;
 
 	/**
-	 * Get the contents of the file with this ID and this filename.
+	 * Get a stream that will provide the contents of the file that was stored
+	 * with this ID and this filename. Close the stream when you're finished
+	 * with it.
 	 * 
 	 * @throws FileNotFoundException
 	 *             if there is no file that matches this ID and filename.
 	 */
-	byte[] getFile(String id, String filename) throws FileNotFoundException,
-			IOException;
+	InputStream getInputStream(String id, String filename)
+			throws FileNotFoundException, IOException;
 
 	/**
 	 * If a file exists with this ID, it will be deleted, regardless of the file
diff --git a/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/utils/filestorage/FileStorageImpl.java b/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/utils/filestorage/FileStorageImpl.java
index b9fda48da..a9aec2cdf 100644
--- a/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/utils/filestorage/FileStorageImpl.java
+++ b/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/utils/filestorage/FileStorageImpl.java
@@ -4,7 +4,6 @@ package edu.cornell.mannlib.vitro.webapp.utils.filestorage;
 
 import java.io.BufferedInputStream;
 import java.io.BufferedOutputStream;
-import java.io.ByteArrayOutputStream;
 import java.io.File;
 import java.io.FileFilter;
 import java.io.FileInputStream;
@@ -64,7 +63,8 @@ public class FileStorageImpl implements FileStorage {
 	 *             if the configuration property doesn't point to an existing,
 	 *             writeable directory.
 	 */
-	FileStorageImpl(File baseDir, Collection<String> namespaces) throws IOException {
+	FileStorageImpl(File baseDir, Collection<String> namespaces)
+			throws IOException {
 		checkBaseDirValid(baseDir);
 		checkNamespacesValid(namespaces);
 
@@ -347,12 +347,10 @@ public class FileStorageImpl implements FileStorage {
 
 	/**
 	 * {@inheritDoc}
-	 * 
-	 * @throws IOException
-	 *             if the file is larger than the maximum allowable size.
 	 */
 	@Override
-	public byte[] getFile(String id, String filename) throws IOException {
+	public InputStream getInputStream(String id, String filename)
+			throws IOException {
 
 		File file = FileStorageHelper.getFullPath(this.rootDir, id, filename,
 				this.namespacesMap);
@@ -362,25 +360,6 @@ public class FileStorageImpl implements FileStorage {
 					+ "', file location '" + file + "'");
 		}
 
-		InputStream in = null;
-		try {
-			in = new BufferedInputStream(new FileInputStream(file));
-			ByteArrayOutputStream bytes = new ByteArrayOutputStream();
-			byte[] buffer = new byte[4096];
-			int howMany;
-			while (-1 != (howMany = in.read(buffer))) {
-				bytes.write(buffer, 0, howMany);
-			}
-			bytes.close();
-			return bytes.toByteArray();
-		} finally {
-			if (in != null) {
-				try {
-					in.close();
-				} catch (IOException e) {
-					e.printStackTrace();
-				}
-			}
-		}
+		return new FileInputStream(file);
 	}
 }
diff --git a/webapp/test/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/utils/filestorage/FileStorageFactoryTest.java b/webapp/test/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/utils/filestorage/FileStorageFactoryTest.java
index 4a9ed54fe..d198779d6 100644
--- a/webapp/test/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/utils/filestorage/FileStorageFactoryTest.java
+++ b/webapp/test/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/utils/filestorage/FileStorageFactoryTest.java
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ import static edu.cornell.mannlib.vitro.webapp.utils.filestorage.FileStorageFact
 import static org.junit.Assert.assertEquals;
 import static org.junit.Assert.fail;
 
+import java.io.ByteArrayInputStream;
 import java.io.File;
 import java.io.FileNotFoundException;
 import java.io.IOException;
@@ -148,10 +149,11 @@ public class FileStorageFactoryTest extends AbstractTestClass {
 			return "filename";
 		}
 
-		public byte[] getFile(String id, String filename)
+		public InputStream getInputStream(String id, String filename)
 				throws FileNotFoundException, IOException {
-			return new byte[0];
+			return new ByteArrayInputStream(new byte[0]);
 		}
+
 	}
 
 	/** This class has no zero-argument constructor. */
@@ -172,10 +174,11 @@ public class FileStorageFactoryTest extends AbstractTestClass {
 			return "filename";
 		}
 
-		public byte[] getFile(String id, String filename)
+		public InputStream getInputStream(String id, String filename)
 				throws FileNotFoundException, IOException {
-			return new byte[0];
+			return new ByteArrayInputStream(new byte[0]);
 		}
+
 	}
 
 	/** This class does not implement the FileStorage interface. */