diff --git a/validator/src/main/java/org/mustangproject/validator/PDFValidator.java b/validator/src/main/java/org/mustangproject/validator/PDFValidator.java
index 3ef9d09c..e0d3ac00 100644
--- a/validator/src/main/java/org/mustangproject/validator/PDFValidator.java
+++ b/validator/src/main/java/org/mustangproject/validator/PDFValidator.java
@@ -63,6 +63,7 @@ public class PDFValidator extends Validator {
 	private String Signature;
 
 	private String zfXML = null;
+	protected boolean autoload=true;
 
 	protected static boolean stringArrayContains(String[] arr, String targetValue) {
 		return Arrays.asList(arr).contains(targetValue);
@@ -311,10 +312,12 @@ public class PDFValidator extends Validator {
 	@Override
 	public void setFilename(String filename) throws IrrecoverableValidationError {
 		this.pdfFilename = filename;
-		try {
-			fileContents=Files.readAllBytes(Paths.get(pdfFilename));
-		} catch (IOException ex) {
-			throw new IrrecoverableValidationError("Could not read file");
+		if(autoload) {
+			try {
+				fileContents=Files.readAllBytes(Paths.get(pdfFilename));
+			} catch (IOException ex) {
+				throw new IrrecoverableValidationError("Could not read file");
+			}
 		}
 	}
 
diff --git a/validator/src/main/java/org/mustangproject/validator/Validator.java b/validator/src/main/java/org/mustangproject/validator/Validator.java
index 14f16787..545ee574 100644
--- a/validator/src/main/java/org/mustangproject/validator/Validator.java
+++ b/validator/src/main/java/org/mustangproject/validator/Validator.java
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ public abstract class Validator {
 	private static final Logger LOGGER = LoggerFactory.getLogger(Validator.class.getCanonicalName()); // log output
 	
 	protected ValidationContext context;
+	protected boolean autoload=true;
 	
 	public Validator(ValidationContext ctx){
 		this.context=ctx;
@@ -77,6 +78,10 @@ public abstract class Validator {
 		return context;
 	}
 
+	public void setAutoload(boolean autoload) {
+		this.autoload = autoload;
+	}
+
 
 
 }
diff --git a/validator/src/main/java/org/mustangproject/validator/XMLValidator.java b/validator/src/main/java/org/mustangproject/validator/XMLValidator.java
index a85a77c4..f4caab88 100644
--- a/validator/src/main/java/org/mustangproject/validator/XMLValidator.java
+++ b/validator/src/main/java/org/mustangproject/validator/XMLValidator.java
@@ -42,7 +42,6 @@ public class XMLValidator extends Validator {
 
 	protected String zfXML = "";
 	protected String filename = "";
-	protected boolean autoload=true;
 	int firedRules = 0;
 	int failedRules = 0;
 	boolean disableNotices = false;
@@ -85,11 +84,6 @@ public class XMLValidator extends Validator {
 
 	}
 
-	public void disableAutoload() {
-		// for streaming, which sets a fake filename
-		autoload=false;
-	}
-
 	/***
 	 * manually set the xml content
 	 * @param xml the xml to be checked