diff --git a/spring-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/core/io/FileUrlResource.java b/spring-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/core/io/FileUrlResource.java
index 9277bb39e2..99f0d95874 100644
--- a/spring-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/core/io/FileUrlResource.java
+++ b/spring-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/core/io/FileUrlResource.java
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * Copyright 2002-2018 the original author or authors.
+ * Copyright 2002-2019 the original author or authors.
  *
  * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
  * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
@@ -116,10 +116,7 @@ public class FileUrlResource extends UrlResource implements WritableResource {
 
 	@Override
 	public Resource createRelative(String relativePath) throws MalformedURLException {
-		if (relativePath.startsWith("/")) {
-			relativePath = relativePath.substring(1);
-		}
-		return new FileUrlResource(new URL(getURL(), relativePath));
+		return new FileUrlResource(createRelativeURL(relativePath));
 	}
 
 }
diff --git a/spring-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/core/io/UrlResource.java b/spring-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/core/io/UrlResource.java
index 1d19bff59f..b989384a01 100644
--- a/spring-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/core/io/UrlResource.java
+++ b/spring-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/core/io/UrlResource.java
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * Copyright 2002-2018 the original author or authors.
+ * Copyright 2002-2019 the original author or authors.
  *
  * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
  * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
@@ -229,16 +229,31 @@ public class UrlResource extends AbstractFileResolvingResource {
 	}
 
 	/**
-	 * This implementation creates a {@code UrlResource}, applying the given path
-	 * relative to the path of the underlying URL of this resource descriptor.
-	 * @see java.net.URL#URL(java.net.URL, String)
+	 * This implementation creates a {@code UrlResource}, delegating to
+	 * {@link #createRelativeURL(String)} for adapting the relative path.
+	 * @see #createRelativeURL(String)
 	 */
 	@Override
 	public Resource createRelative(String relativePath) throws MalformedURLException {
+		return new UrlResource(createRelativeURL(relativePath));
+	}
+
+	/**
+	 * This delegate creates a {@code java.net.URL}, applying the given path
+	 * relative to the path of the underlying URL of this resource descriptor.
+	 * A leading slash will get dropped; a "#" symbol will get encoded.
+	 * @since 5.2
+	 * @see #createRelative(String)
+	 * @see java.net.URL#URL(java.net.URL, String)
+	 */
+	protected URL createRelativeURL(String relativePath) throws MalformedURLException {
 		if (relativePath.startsWith("/")) {
 			relativePath = relativePath.substring(1);
 		}
-		return new UrlResource(new URL(this.url, relativePath));
+		// # can appear in filenames, java.net.URL should not treat it as a fragment
+		relativePath = StringUtils.replace(relativePath, "#", "%23");
+		// Use the URL constructor for applying the relative path as a URL spec
+		return new URL(this.url, relativePath);
 	}
 
 	/**