diff --git a/ethereumj-core/build.gradle b/ethereumj-core/build.gradle
index ae5d1f17..728d73c2 100644
--- a/ethereumj-core/build.gradle
+++ b/ethereumj-core/build.gradle
@@ -120,6 +120,7 @@ dependencies {
     compile 'com.google.code.findbugs:jsr305:3.0.0'
     compile 'com.fasterxml.jackson.core:jackson-databind:2.2.0'
     compile 'org.apache.commons:commons-collections4:4.0'
+    compile "commons-codec:commons-codec:1.10"
     compile 'org.hsqldb:hsqldb:1.8.0.10' // best performance - do not upgrade!
 
     compile 'javax.persistence:persistence-api:1.0.2'
diff --git a/ethereumj-core/src/main/java/org/ethereum/vm/VMUtils.java b/ethereumj-core/src/main/java/org/ethereum/vm/VMUtils.java
index 0517bdb1..3d1bcb9a 100644
--- a/ethereumj-core/src/main/java/org/ethereum/vm/VMUtils.java
+++ b/ethereumj-core/src/main/java/org/ethereum/vm/VMUtils.java
@@ -15,7 +15,8 @@ import static java.lang.System.getProperty;
 //import static java.util.Base64.getDecoder;
 //import static java.util.Base64.getEncoder;
 //import static org.springframework.util.StringUtils.isEmpty;
-import static android.util.Base64.*;
+import static org.apache.commons.codec.binary.Base64.decodeBase64;
+import static org.apache.commons.codec.binary.Base64.encodeBase64String;
 
 public final class VMUtils {
 
@@ -120,7 +121,7 @@ public final class VMUtils {
 
     public static String zipAndEncode(String content) {
         try {
-            return encodeToString(compress(content), DEFAULT);//getEncoder().encodeToString(compress(content));
+            return encodeBase64String(compress(content));
         } catch (Exception e) {
             LOGGER.error("Cannot zip or encode: ", e);
             return content;
@@ -129,7 +130,7 @@ public final class VMUtils {
 
     public static String unzipAndDecode(String content) {
         try {
-            return decompress(decode(content, DEFAULT));//decompress(getDecoder().decode(content));
+            return decompress(decodeBase64(content));
         } catch (Exception e) {
             LOGGER.error("Cannot unzip or decode: ", e);
             return content;