diff --git a/java-client/src/main/java/co/elastic/clients/transport/endpoints/EndpointBase.java b/java-client/src/main/java/co/elastic/clients/transport/endpoints/EndpointBase.java
index 62d17b703..e845e0a35 100644
--- a/java-client/src/main/java/co/elastic/clients/transport/endpoints/EndpointBase.java
+++ b/java-client/src/main/java/co/elastic/clients/transport/endpoints/EndpointBase.java
@@ -22,9 +22,11 @@
 import co.elastic.clients.elasticsearch._types.ErrorResponse;
 import co.elastic.clients.json.JsonpDeserializer;
 import co.elastic.clients.transport.Endpoint;
-import org.apache.http.client.utils.URLEncodedUtils;
 
 import javax.annotation.Nullable;
+import java.nio.ByteBuffer;
+import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets;
+import java.util.BitSet;
 import java.util.Collections;
 import java.util.Map;
 import java.util.function.Function;
@@ -145,8 +147,54 @@ public static RuntimeException noPathTemplateFound(String what) {
             "Please check the API documentation, or raise an issue if this should be a valid request.");
     }
 
-    public static void pathEncode(String src, StringBuilder dest) {
-        // TODO: avoid dependency on HttpClient here (and use something more efficient)
-        dest.append(URLEncodedUtils.formatSegments(src).substring(1));
+    private static final BitSet PATH_SAFE;
+    private static final char[] HEX_CHARS;
+
+    static {
+        PATH_SAFE   = new BitSet(256);
+        // From RFC 3986
+        // unreserved = ALPHA / DIGIT / "-" / "." / "_" / "~"
+        PATH_SAFE.set('a', 'z'+1);
+        PATH_SAFE.set('A', 'Z'+1);
+        PATH_SAFE.set('0', '9'+1);
+        PATH_SAFE.set('-');
+        PATH_SAFE.set('.');
+        PATH_SAFE.set('_');
+        PATH_SAFE.set('~');
+
+        // sub-delims  = "!" / "$" / "&" / "'" / "(" / ")" / "*" / "+" / "," / ";" / "="
+        PATH_SAFE.set('!');
+        PATH_SAFE.set('$');
+        PATH_SAFE.set('&');
+        PATH_SAFE.set('\'');
+        PATH_SAFE.set('(');
+        PATH_SAFE.set(')');
+        PATH_SAFE.set('*');
+        PATH_SAFE.set('+');
+        PATH_SAFE.set(',');
+        PATH_SAFE.set(';');
+        PATH_SAFE.set('=');
+
+        // pchar = unreserved / pct-encoded / sub-delims / ":" / "@"
+        PATH_SAFE.set(':');
+        PATH_SAFE.set('@');
+
+        HEX_CHARS = "0123456789ABCDEF".toCharArray();
+    }
+
+    public static void pathEncode(final String src, StringBuilder dest) {
+        final ByteBuffer buf = StandardCharsets.UTF_8.encode(src);
+        // In UTF-8 multibyte encoding, all bytes have the high bit set. This means we can iterate
+        // on all bytes and percent-encode without having to care about code point context.
+        while (buf.hasRemaining()) {
+            int b = buf.get() & 0xff;
+            if (PATH_SAFE.get(b)) {
+                dest.append((char) b);
+            } else {
+                dest.append("%");
+                dest.append(HEX_CHARS[b >> 4 & 0xF]);
+                dest.append(HEX_CHARS[b & 0xF]);
+            }
+        }
     }
 }
diff --git a/java-client/src/main/java/co/elastic/clients/transport/endpoints/SimpleEndpoint.java b/java-client/src/main/java/co/elastic/clients/transport/endpoints/SimpleEndpoint.java
index 9e8041dcb..b5df37c90 100644
--- a/java-client/src/main/java/co/elastic/clients/transport/endpoints/SimpleEndpoint.java
+++ b/java-client/src/main/java/co/elastic/clients/transport/endpoints/SimpleEndpoint.java
@@ -22,7 +22,6 @@
 import co.elastic.clients.elasticsearch._types.ErrorResponse;
 import co.elastic.clients.json.JsonpDeserializer;
 import co.elastic.clients.transport.JsonEndpoint;
-import org.apache.http.client.utils.URLEncodedUtils;
 
 import java.util.Map;
 import java.util.function.Function;
@@ -88,14 +87,4 @@ public <NewResponseT> SimpleEndpoint<RequestT, NewResponseT> withResponseDeseria
             newResponseParser
         );
     }
-
-    public static RuntimeException noPathTemplateFound(String what) {
-        return new RuntimeException("Could not find a request " + what + " with this set of properties. " +
-            "Please check the API documentation, or raise an issue if this should be a valid request.");
-    }
-
-    public static void pathEncode(String src, StringBuilder dest) {
-        // TODO: avoid dependency on HttpClient here (and use something more efficient)
-        dest.append(URLEncodedUtils.formatSegments(src).substring(1));
-    }
 }
diff --git a/java-client/src/test/java/co/elastic/clients/transport/endpoints/EndpointBaseTest.java b/java-client/src/test/java/co/elastic/clients/transport/endpoints/EndpointBaseTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..e47c11093
--- /dev/null
+++ b/java-client/src/test/java/co/elastic/clients/transport/endpoints/EndpointBaseTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,42 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to Elasticsearch B.V. under one or more contributor
+ * license agreements. See the NOTICE file distributed with
+ * this work for additional information regarding copyright
+ * ownership. Elasticsearch B.V. licenses this file to you under
+ * the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); you may
+ * not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
+ * software distributed under the License is distributed on an
+ * "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
+ * KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
+ * specific language governing permissions and limitations
+ * under the License.
+ */
+
+package co.elastic.clients.transport.endpoints;
+
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions;
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
+
+public class EndpointBaseTest extends Assertions {
+
+    @Test
+    public void testPathEncoding() {
+        assertEquals("abCD12;-_*", pathEncode("abCD12;-_*"));
+        assertEquals("XYZ%5B", pathEncode("XYZ["));
+        assertEquals("xyz%7B", pathEncode("xyz{"));
+        assertEquals("foo%2Fbar", pathEncode("foo/bar"));
+        assertEquals("foo%20bar", pathEncode("foo bar"));
+        assertEquals("f%C3%AAl%C3%A9", pathEncode("fêlé"));
+    }
+
+    private String pathEncode(String s) {
+        StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
+        EndpointBase.pathEncode(s, sb);
+        return sb.toString();
+    }
+}