diff --git a/tests/conftest.py b/tests/conftest.py
index 071e268..ad8648c 100644
--- a/tests/conftest.py
+++ b/tests/conftest.py
@@ -33,8 +33,8 @@ def download_mdto_xsd(target_dir):
     response = requests.get(xsd_url)
     response.raise_for_status()  # raise error if download failed
 
-    with open(target_dir / xsd_filename, "w") as f:
-        f.write(response.text)
+    with open(target_dir / xsd_filename, "wb") as f:
+        f.write(response.content)
 
 
 @pytest.fixture
diff --git a/tests/test_mdto_xsd.py b/tests/test_mdto_xsd.py
index 986fcc4..8af7ba5 100644
--- a/tests/test_mdto_xsd.py
+++ b/tests/test_mdto_xsd.py
@@ -8,16 +8,7 @@
 def test_informatieobject_xml_validity(mdto_xsd):
     """Test if running to_xml() on a informatieobject procudes valid MDTO XML"""
     # create a schema object from the MDTO XSD
-    with open(mdto_xsd, 'rb') as f:
-        mdto_xsd_str = f.read()
-
-    with open(mdto_xsd, "r", encoding="utf-8") as f:
-        xsd_content = f.read()
-
-    print(xsd_content.encode("utf-8"))  # Ensure all characters can be re-encoded to UTF-8
-        
-    utf8 = b'<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>\n'+mdto_xsd_str
-    mdto_schema = ET.XMLSchema(ET.fromstring(utf8))
+    mdto_schema = ET.XMLSchema(ET.parse(mdto_xsd))
     # create informatieobject
     informatieobject = Informatieobject(
         naam="Verlenen kapvergunning",