diff --git a/src/Helper/Xml.php b/src/Helper/Xml.php
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..e3b91876
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/Helper/Xml.php
@@ -0,0 +1,85 @@
+<?php
+
+namespace PHPCensor\Helper;
+
+class XmlUtf8CleanFilter extends \php_user_filter
+{
+    const PATTERN = '/[^\x{0009}\x{000a}\x{000d}\x{0020}-\x{D7FF}\x{E000}-\x{FFFD}]+/u';
+
+    /**
+     * @param resource $in
+     * @param resource $out
+     * @param int      $consumed
+     * @param bool     $closing
+     *
+     * @return int
+     */
+    function filter($in, $out, &$consumed, $closing)
+    {
+        while ($bucket = stream_bucket_make_writeable($in)) {
+            $bucket->data = preg_replace(self::PATTERN, '', $bucket->data);
+            $consumed     += $bucket->datalen;
+
+            stream_bucket_append($out, $bucket);
+        }
+
+        return PSFS_PASS_ON;
+    }
+}
+
+class Xml
+{
+    /**
+     * @param $filePath
+     *
+     * @return null|\SimpleXMLElement
+     */
+    public static function loadFromFile($filePath)
+    {
+        stream_filter_register('xml_utf8_clean', 'PHPCensor\Helper\XmlUtf8CleanFilter');
+
+        try {
+            $xml = simplexml_load_file('php://filter/read=xml_utf8_clean/resource=' . $filePath);
+        } catch (\Exception $ex) {
+            $xml = null;
+        } catch (\Throwable $ex) { // since php7
+            $xml = null;
+        }
+
+        if (!$xml) {
+            // from https://stackoverflow.com/questions/7766455/how-to-handle-invalid-unicode-with-simplexml/8092672#8092672
+            $oldUse = libxml_use_internal_errors(true);
+
+            libxml_clear_errors();
+
+            $dom = new \DOMDocument("1.0", "UTF-8");
+
+            $dom->strictErrorChecking = false;
+            $dom->validateOnParse     = false;
+            $dom->recover             = true;
+
+            $dom->loadXML(strtr(
+                file_get_contents($filePath),
+                ['&quot;' => "'"] // &quot; in attribute names may mislead the parser
+            ));
+
+            /** @var \LibXMLError $xmlError */
+            $xmlError = libxml_get_last_error();
+            if ($xmlError) {
+                $warning = sprintf('L%s C%s: %s', $xmlError->line, $xmlError->column, $xmlError->message);
+                print 'WARNING: ignored errors while reading phpunit result, '.$warning."\n";
+            }
+
+            if (!$dom->hasChildNodes()) {
+                new \SimpleXMLElement('<empty/>');
+            }
+
+            $xml = simplexml_import_dom($dom);
+
+            libxml_clear_errors();
+            libxml_use_internal_errors($oldUse);
+        }
+
+        return $xml;
+    }
+}
diff --git a/src/Plugin/Codeception.php b/src/Plugin/Codeception.php
index d5e8e1d4..585aea4e 100644
--- a/src/Plugin/Codeception.php
+++ b/src/Plugin/Codeception.php
@@ -145,8 +145,7 @@ class Codeception extends Plugin implements ZeroConfigPluginInterface
             }
         }
 
-        $xml    = file_get_contents($outputPath . 'report.xml', false);
-        $parser = new Parser($this->builder, $xml);
+        $parser = new Parser($this->builder, ($outputPath . 'report.xml'));
         $output = $parser->parse();
 
         $meta = [
diff --git a/src/Plugin/Util/PhpUnitResultJunit.php b/src/Plugin/Util/PhpUnitResultJunit.php
index 3e149105..14ec1c7f 100644
--- a/src/Plugin/Util/PhpUnitResultJunit.php
+++ b/src/Plugin/Util/PhpUnitResultJunit.php
@@ -2,6 +2,8 @@
 
 namespace PHPCensor\Plugin\Util;
 
+use PHPCensor\Helper\Xml;
+
 /**
  * Class PhpUnitResultJunit parses the results for the PhpUnitV2 plugin
  *
@@ -24,11 +26,11 @@ class PhpUnitResultJunit extends PhpUnitResult
 
         $suites = $this->loadResultFile();
 
-        foreach ($suites->xpath('//testcase') as $testCase) {
-            $this->parseTestcase($testCase);
+        if ($suites) {
+            foreach ($suites->xpath('//testcase') as $testCase) {
+                $this->parseTestcase($testCase);
+            }
         }
-        $suites['failures'];
-        $suites['errors'];
 
         return $this;
     }
@@ -139,44 +141,7 @@ class PhpUnitResultJunit extends PhpUnitResult
             return new \SimpleXMLElement('<empty/>'); // new empty element
         }
 
-        try {
-            $suites = simplexml_load_file($this->outputFile);
-        } catch (\Exception $ex) {
-            $suites = null;
-        } catch (\Throwable $ex) { // since php7
-            $suites = null;
-        }
-        if (!$suites) {
-            // from https://stackoverflow.com/questions/7766455/how-to-handle-invalid-unicode-with-simplexml/8092672#8092672
-            $oldUse = libxml_use_internal_errors(true);
-            libxml_clear_errors();
-            $dom = new \DOMDocument("1.0", "UTF-8");
-            $dom->strictErrorChecking = false;
-            $dom->validateOnParse = false;
-            $dom->recover = true;
-            $dom->loadXML(strtr(
-                file_get_contents($this->outputFile),
-                array('&quot;' => "'") // &quot; in attribute names may mislead the parser
-            ));
-
-            /**
-             * @var \LibXMLError
-             */
-            $xmlError = libxml_get_last_error();
-            if ($xmlError) {
-                $warning = sprintf('L%s C%s: %s', $xmlError->line, $xmlError->column, $xmlError->message);
-                print 'WARNING: ignored errors while reading phpunit result, '.$warning."\n";
-            }
-            if (!$dom->hasChildNodes()) {
-                $this->internalProblem('xml file with no content');
-            }
-            $suites = simplexml_import_dom($dom);
-
-            libxml_clear_errors();
-            libxml_use_internal_errors($oldUse);
-        }
-
-        return $suites;
+        return Xml::loadFromFile($this->outputFile);
     }
 
     /**
@@ -185,7 +150,5 @@ class PhpUnitResultJunit extends PhpUnitResult
     private function internalProblem($description)
     {
         throw new \RuntimeException($description);
-
-        // alternative to error throwing: append to $this->errors
     }
 }
diff --git a/src/Plugin/Util/TestResultParsers/Codeception.php b/src/Plugin/Util/TestResultParsers/Codeception.php
index dfd97cae..90fcbb2e 100644
--- a/src/Plugin/Util/TestResultParsers/Codeception.php
+++ b/src/Plugin/Util/TestResultParsers/Codeception.php
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 namespace PHPCensor\Plugin\Util\TestResultParsers;
 
 use PHPCensor\Builder;
+use PHPCensor\Helper\Xml;
 
 /**
  * Class Codeception
@@ -11,23 +12,49 @@ use PHPCensor\Builder;
  */
 class Codeception implements ParserInterface
 {
+    /**
+     * @var Builder
+     */
     protected $builder;
-    protected $resultsXml;
+
+    /**
+     * @var string
+     */
+    protected $xmlPath;
+
+    /**
+     * @var array
+     */
     protected $results;
-    protected $totalTests;
-    protected $totalTimeTaken;
-    protected $totalFailures;
-    protected $totalErrors;
+
+    /**
+     * @var int
+     */
+    protected $totalTests = 0;
+
+    /**
+     * @var int
+     */
+    protected $totalTimeTaken = 0;
+
+    /**
+     * @var int
+     */
+    protected $totalFailures = 0;
+
+    /**
+     * @var int
+     */
+    protected $totalErrors = 0;
 
     /**
      * @param Builder $builder
-     * @param $resultsXml
+     * @param string  $xmlPath
      */
-    public function __construct(Builder $builder, $resultsXml)
+    public function __construct(Builder $builder, $xmlPath)
     {
-        $this->builder    = $builder;
-        $this->resultsXml = $resultsXml;
-        $this->totalTests = 0;
+        $this->builder = $builder;
+        $this->xmlPath = $xmlPath;
     }
 
     /**
@@ -36,42 +63,43 @@ class Codeception implements ParserInterface
     public function parse()
     {
         $rtn           = [];
-        $this->results = new \SimpleXMLElement($this->resultsXml);
+        $this->results = Xml::loadFromFile($this->xmlPath);
 
-        // calculate total results
-        foreach ($this->results->testsuite as $testSuite) {
-            $this->totalTests     += (int)$testSuite['tests'];
-            $this->totalTimeTaken += (float)$testSuite['time'];
-            $this->totalFailures  += (int)$testSuite['failures'];
-            $this->totalErrors    += (int)$testSuite['errors'];
+        if ($this->results) {
+            foreach ($this->results->testsuite as $testSuite) {
+                $this->totalTests     += (int)$testSuite['tests'];
+                $this->totalTimeTaken += (float)$testSuite['time'];
+                $this->totalFailures  += (int)$testSuite['failures'];
+                $this->totalErrors    += (int)$testSuite['errors'];
 
-            foreach ($testSuite->testcase as $testCase) {
-                $testResult = [
-                    'suite'      => (string)$testSuite['name'],
-                    'file'       => str_replace($this->builder->buildPath, '/', (string) $testCase['file']),
-                    'name'       => (string)$testCase['name'],
-                    'feature'    => (string)$testCase['feature'],
-                    'assertions' => (int)$testCase['assertions'],
-                    'time'       => (float)$testCase['time']
-                ];
+                foreach ($testSuite->testcase as $testCase) {
+                    $testResult = [
+                        'suite'      => (string)$testSuite['name'],
+                        'file'       => str_replace($this->builder->buildPath, '/', (string) $testCase['file']),
+                        'name'       => (string)$testCase['name'],
+                        'feature'    => (string)$testCase['feature'],
+                        'assertions' => (int)$testCase['assertions'],
+                        'time'       => (float)$testCase['time']
+                    ];
 
-                if (isset($testCase['class'])) {
-                    $testResult['class'] = (string) $testCase['class'];
+                    if (isset($testCase['class'])) {
+                        $testResult['class'] = (string) $testCase['class'];
+                    }
+
+                    // PHPUnit testcases does not have feature field. Use class::method instead
+                    if (!$testResult['feature']) {
+                        $testResult['feature'] = sprintf('%s::%s', $testResult['class'], $testResult['name']);
+                    }
+
+                    if (isset($testCase->failure) || isset($testCase->error)) {
+                        $testResult['pass']    = false;
+                        $testResult['message'] = isset($testCase->failure) ? (string)$testCase->failure : (string)$testCase->error;
+                    } else {
+                        $testResult['pass'] = true;
+                    }
+
+                    $rtn[] = $testResult;
                 }
-
-                // PHPUnit testcases does not have feature field. Use class::method instead
-                if (!$testResult['feature']) {
-                    $testResult['feature'] = sprintf('%s::%s', $testResult['class'], $testResult['name']);
-                }
-
-                if (isset($testCase->failure) || isset($testCase->error)) {
-                    $testResult['pass']    = false;
-                    $testResult['message'] = isset($testCase->failure) ? (string)$testCase->failure : (string)$testCase->error;
-                } else {
-                    $testResult['pass'] = true;
-                }
-
-                $rtn[] = $testResult;
             }
         }