diff --git a/openapi3/loader.go b/openapi3/loader.go
index 0b8d0e1cc..8af733c3b 100644
--- a/openapi3/loader.go
+++ b/openapi3/loader.go
@@ -5,8 +5,6 @@ import (
 	"encoding/json"
 	"errors"
 	"fmt"
-	"io/ioutil"
-	"net/http"
 	"net/url"
 	"path"
 	"path/filepath"
@@ -31,7 +29,7 @@ type Loader struct {
 	IsExternalRefsAllowed bool
 
 	// ReadFromURIFunc allows overriding the any file/URL reading func
-	ReadFromURIFunc func(loader *Loader, url *url.URL) ([]byte, error)
+	ReadFromURIFunc ReadFromURIFunc
 
 	Context context.Context
 
@@ -121,22 +119,7 @@ func (loader *Loader) readURL(location *url.URL) ([]byte, error) {
 	if f := loader.ReadFromURIFunc; f != nil {
 		return f(loader, location)
 	}
-
-	if location.Scheme != "" && location.Host != "" {
-		resp, err := http.Get(location.String())
-		if err != nil {
-			return nil, err
-		}
-		defer resp.Body.Close()
-		if resp.StatusCode > 399 {
-			return nil, fmt.Errorf("error loading %q: request returned status code %d", location.String(), resp.StatusCode)
-		}
-		return ioutil.ReadAll(resp.Body)
-	}
-	if location.Scheme != "" || location.Host != "" || location.RawQuery != "" {
-		return nil, fmt.Errorf("unsupported URI: %q", location.String())
-	}
-	return ioutil.ReadFile(location.Path)
+	return DefaultReadFromURI(loader, location)
 }
 
 // LoadFromData loads a spec from a byte array
diff --git a/openapi3/loader_uri_reader.go b/openapi3/loader_uri_reader.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..8357a980d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/openapi3/loader_uri_reader.go
@@ -0,0 +1,104 @@
+package openapi3
+
+import (
+	"errors"
+	"fmt"
+	"io/ioutil"
+	"net/http"
+	"net/url"
+	"path/filepath"
+)
+
+// ReadFromURIFunc defines a function which reads the contents of a resource
+// located at a URI.
+type ReadFromURIFunc func(loader *Loader, url *url.URL) ([]byte, error)
+
+// ErrURINotSupported indicates the ReadFromURIFunc does not know how to handle a
+// given URI.
+var ErrURINotSupported = errors.New("unsupported URI")
+
+// ReadFromURIs returns a ReadFromURIFunc which tries to read a URI using the
+// given reader functions, in the same order. If a reader function does not
+// support the URI and returns ErrURINotSupported, the next function is checked
+// until a match is found, or the URI is not supported by any.
+func ReadFromURIs(readers ...ReadFromURIFunc) ReadFromURIFunc {
+	return func(loader *Loader, url *url.URL) ([]byte, error) {
+		for i := range readers {
+			buf, err := readers[i](loader, url)
+			if err == ErrURINotSupported {
+				continue
+			} else if err != nil {
+				return nil, err
+			}
+			return buf, nil
+		}
+		return nil, ErrURINotSupported
+	}
+}
+
+// DefaultReadFromURI returns a caching ReadFromURIFunc which can read remote
+// HTTP URIs and local file URIs.
+var DefaultReadFromURI = URIMapCache(ReadFromURIs(ReadFromHTTP(http.DefaultClient), ReadFromFile))
+
+// ReadFromHTTP returns a ReadFromURIFunc which uses the given http.Client to
+// read the contents from a remote HTTP URI. This client may be customized to
+// implement timeouts, RFC 7234 caching, etc.
+func ReadFromHTTP(cl *http.Client) ReadFromURIFunc {
+	return func(loader *Loader, location *url.URL) ([]byte, error) {
+		if location.Scheme == "" || location.Host == "" {
+			return nil, ErrURINotSupported
+		}
+		req, err := http.NewRequest("GET", location.String(), nil)
+		if err != nil {
+			return nil, err
+		}
+		resp, err := cl.Do(req)
+		if err != nil {
+			return nil, err
+		}
+		defer resp.Body.Close()
+		if resp.StatusCode > 399 {
+			return nil, fmt.Errorf("error loading %q: request returned status code %d", location.String(), resp.StatusCode)
+		}
+		return ioutil.ReadAll(resp.Body)
+	}
+}
+
+// ReadFromFile is a ReadFromURIFunc which reads local file URIs.
+func ReadFromFile(loader *Loader, location *url.URL) ([]byte, error) {
+	if location.Host != "" {
+		return nil, ErrURINotSupported
+	}
+	if location.Scheme != "" && location.Scheme != "file" {
+		return nil, ErrURINotSupported
+	}
+	return ioutil.ReadFile(location.Path)
+}
+
+// URIMapCache returns a ReadFromURIFunc that caches the contents read from URI
+// locations in a simple map. This cache implementation is suitable for
+// short-lived processes such as command-line tools which process OpenAPI
+// documents.
+func URIMapCache(reader ReadFromURIFunc) ReadFromURIFunc {
+	cache := map[string][]byte{}
+	return func(loader *Loader, location *url.URL) (buf []byte, err error) {
+		if location.Scheme == "" || location.Scheme == "file" {
+			if !filepath.IsAbs(location.Path) {
+				// Do not cache relative file paths; this can cause trouble if
+				// the current working directory changes when processing
+				// multiple top-level documents.
+				return reader(loader, location)
+			}
+		}
+		uri := location.String()
+		var ok bool
+		if buf, ok = cache[uri]; ok {
+			return
+		}
+		if buf, err = reader(loader, location); err != nil {
+			return
+		}
+		cache[uri] = buf
+		return
+	}
+}