diff --git a/build.sbt b/build.sbt
index 4ecf29d24..5757d2c10 100644
--- a/build.sbt
+++ b/build.sbt
@@ -41,6 +41,7 @@ lazy val xml = crossProject.in(file("."))
 
     libraryDependencies += "junit" % "junit" % "4.11" % "test",
     libraryDependencies += "com.novocode" % "junit-interface" % "0.10" % "test",
+    libraryDependencies += "org.apache.commons" % "commons-lang3" % "3.6" % "test",
     libraryDependencies += ("org.scala-lang" % "scala-compiler" % scalaVersion.value % "test").exclude("org.scala-lang.modules", s"scala-xml_${scalaVersion.value}")
   )
   .jsSettings(
diff --git a/jvm/src/test/scala/scala/xml/JavaByteSerialization.scala b/jvm/src/test/scala/scala/xml/JavaByteSerialization.scala
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..2d9f286d0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/jvm/src/test/scala/scala/xml/JavaByteSerialization.scala
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+package scala.xml
+
+import java.io.Serializable
+import java.util.Base64
+import org.apache.commons.lang3.SerializationUtils
+
+object JavaByteSerialization {
+  def roundTrip[T <: Serializable](obj: T): T = {
+    SerializationUtils.roundtrip(obj)
+  }
+
+  def serialize[T <: Serializable](in: T): Array[Byte] = {
+    SerializationUtils.serialize(in)
+  }
+
+  def deserialize[T <: Serializable](in: Array[Byte]): T = {
+    SerializationUtils.deserialize(in)
+  }
+
+  def base64Encode[T <: Serializable](in: T): String = {
+    Base64.getEncoder.encodeToString(serialize[T](in))
+  }
+
+  def base64Decode[T <: Serializable](in: String): T = {
+    deserialize[T](Base64.getDecoder.decode(in))
+  }
+}
diff --git a/jvm/src/test/scala/scala/xml/SerializationTest.scala b/jvm/src/test/scala/scala/xml/SerializationTest.scala
index 6a63eae84..eb8f716ea 100644
--- a/jvm/src/test/scala/scala/xml/SerializationTest.scala
+++ b/jvm/src/test/scala/scala/xml/SerializationTest.scala
@@ -1,38 +1,23 @@
 package scala.xml
 
-import java.io._
-
 import org.junit.Assert.assertEquals
 import org.junit.Test
 
 class SerializationTest {
-  def roundTrip[T](obj: T): T = {
-    def serialize(in: T): Array[Byte] = {
-      val bos = new ByteArrayOutputStream()
-      val oos = new ObjectOutputStream(bos)
-      oos.writeObject(in)
-      oos.flush()
-      bos.toByteArray()
-    }
-
-    def deserialize(in: Array[Byte]): T = {
-      val bis = new ByteArrayInputStream(in)
-      val ois = new ObjectInputStream(bis)
-      ois.readObject.asInstanceOf[T]
-    }
-
-    deserialize(serialize(obj))
-  }
-
   @Test
   def xmlLiteral: Unit = {
     val n = <node/>
-    assertEquals(n, roundTrip(n))
+    assertEquals(n, JavaByteSerialization.roundTrip(n))
   }
 
   @Test
   def empty: Unit = {
-    assertEquals(NodeSeq.Empty, roundTrip(NodeSeq.Empty))
+    assertEquals(NodeSeq.Empty, JavaByteSerialization.roundTrip(NodeSeq.Empty))
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  def unmatched: Unit = {
+    assertEquals(NodeSeq.Empty, JavaByteSerialization.roundTrip(<xml/> \ "HTML"))
   }
 
   @Test
@@ -40,6 +25,13 @@ class SerializationTest {
     val parent = <parent><child></child><child/></parent>
     val children: Seq[Node] = parent.child
     val asNodeSeq: NodeSeq = children
-    assertEquals(asNodeSeq, roundTrip(asNodeSeq))
+    assertEquals(asNodeSeq, JavaByteSerialization.roundTrip(asNodeSeq))
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  def base64Encode: Unit = {
+    val str = JavaByteSerialization.base64Encode(NodeSeq.Empty)
+    assertEquals("rO0ABXNy", str.take(8))
+    assertEquals("AHhweA==", str.takeRight(8))
   }
 }