diff --git a/bin/offline.cpp b/bin/offline.cpp
index 502561d0a..ec2fb0909 100644
--- a/bin/offline.cpp
+++ b/bin/offline.cpp
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 #include <mbgl/util/default_styles.hpp>
 #include <mbgl/util/run_loop.hpp>
 #include <mbgl/util/string.hpp>
-#include <mbgl/util/io.hpp>
 
 #include <mbgl/storage/default_file_source.hpp>
 
diff --git a/bin/render.cpp b/bin/render.cpp
index d4090cfa9..0af933475 100644
--- a/bin/render.cpp
+++ b/bin/render.cpp
@@ -1,14 +1,12 @@
 #include <mbgl/map/map.hpp>
 #include <mbgl/map/backend_scope.hpp>
 #include <mbgl/util/image.hpp>
-#include <mbgl/util/io.hpp>
 #include <mbgl/util/run_loop.hpp>
 
 #include <mbgl/gl/headless_backend.hpp>
 #include <mbgl/gl/offscreen_view.hpp>
 #include <mbgl/util/default_thread_pool.hpp>
 #include <mbgl/storage/default_file_source.hpp>
-#include <mbgl/util/url.hpp>
 
 #pragma GCC diagnostic push
 #pragma GCC diagnostic ignored "-Wunknown-pragmas"
@@ -21,6 +19,7 @@ namespace po = boost::program_options;
 
 #include <cstdlib>
 #include <iostream>
+#include <fstream>
 
 int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
     std::string style_path;
@@ -91,12 +90,12 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
     ThreadPool threadPool(4);
     Map map(backend, mbgl::Size { width, height }, pixelRatio, fileSource, threadPool, MapMode::Still);
 
-    if (util::isURL(style_path)) {
-        map.setStyleURL(style_path);
-    } else {
-        map.setStyleJSON(mbgl::util::read_file(style_path));
+    if (style_path.find("://") == std::string::npos) {
+        style_path = std::string("file://") + style_path;
     }
 
+    map.setStyleURL(style_path);
+
     map.setClasses(classes);
 
     map.setLatLngZoom({ lat, lon }, zoom);
@@ -117,7 +116,9 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
             exit(1);
         }
 
-        util::write_file(output, encodePNG(view.readStillImage()));
+        std::ofstream out(output, std::ios::binary);
+        out << encodePNG(view.readStillImage());
+        out.close();
         loop.stop();
     });
 
diff --git a/cmake/offline.cmake b/cmake/offline.cmake
index 23824e6bd..d0124e661 100644
--- a/cmake/offline.cmake
+++ b/cmake/offline.cmake
@@ -12,8 +12,6 @@ target_compile_options(mbgl-offline
 )
 
 target_include_directories(mbgl-offline
-    PRIVATE include
-    PRIVATE src # TODO: eliminate
     PRIVATE platform/default
 )
 
diff --git a/cmake/render.cmake b/cmake/render.cmake
index 395a10664..023b3c21e 100644
--- a/cmake/render.cmake
+++ b/cmake/render.cmake
@@ -7,8 +7,6 @@ target_compile_options(mbgl-render
 )
 
 target_include_directories(mbgl-render
-    PRIVATE include
-    PRIVATE src # TODO: eliminate
     PRIVATE platform/default
 )
 
diff --git a/src/mbgl/util/url.cpp b/src/mbgl/util/url.cpp
index 3f36bc676..1f6dab963 100644
--- a/src/mbgl/util/url.cpp
+++ b/src/mbgl/util/url.cpp
@@ -66,19 +66,6 @@ std::string percentDecode(const std::string& input) {
     return decoded;
 }
 
-// Checks whether the input string contains ://, and the part before it is all alphanumeric ASCII.
-bool isURL(const std::string& input) {
-    auto it = input.begin();
-    // First character has to be alphabetic
-    if (it == input.end() || !isAlphaCharacter(*it++)) return false;
-    // The remaining characters of the scheme can be alphanumeric, or be one of +.-
-    while (it != input.end() && isSchemeCharacter(*it)) ++it;
-    // Check that :// follows
-    return (it != input.end() && *it++ == ':') &&
-           (it != input.end() && *it++ == '/') &&
-           (it != input.end() && *it++ == '/');
-}
-
 URL::URL(const std::string& str)
     : query([&]() -> Segment {
           const auto hashPos = str.find('#');
diff --git a/src/mbgl/util/url.hpp b/src/mbgl/util/url.hpp
index e361b07a7..70fdfd8a3 100644
--- a/src/mbgl/util/url.hpp
+++ b/src/mbgl/util/url.hpp
@@ -8,7 +8,6 @@ namespace util {
 
 std::string percentEncode(const std::string&);
 std::string percentDecode(const std::string&);
-bool isURL(const std::string&);
 
 // Class that holds position + lenth pairs for scheme, domain, path + query string of a URL.
 class URL {
diff --git a/test/util/url.test.cpp b/test/util/url.test.cpp
index ca24a5949..55d8af281 100644
--- a/test/util/url.test.cpp
+++ b/test/util/url.test.cpp
@@ -6,24 +6,6 @@
 
 using namespace mbgl::util;
 
-TEST(URL, isURL) {
-    EXPECT_TRUE(isURL("mapbox://foo"));
-    EXPECT_TRUE(isURL("mapbox://"));
-    EXPECT_TRUE(isURL("mapbox-test-scheme://foo"));
-    EXPECT_TRUE(isURL("mapbox+style://foo"));
-    EXPECT_TRUE(isURL("mapbox-2.0://foo"));
-    EXPECT_TRUE(isURL("mapbox99://foo"));
-
-    EXPECT_FALSE(isURL("mapbox:/"));
-    EXPECT_FALSE(isURL(" mapbox://"));
-    EXPECT_FALSE(isURL("://"));
-    EXPECT_FALSE(isURL("mapbox"));
-    EXPECT_FALSE(isURL("mapbox:foo"));
-    EXPECT_FALSE(isURL("mapbox:/foo"));
-    EXPECT_FALSE(isURL("test/mapbox://foo"));
-    EXPECT_FALSE(isURL("123://foo"));
-}
-
 TEST(URL, Scheme) {
     EXPECT_EQ(URL::Segment({ 0, 4 }), URL("http://example.com/test?query=foo").scheme);
     EXPECT_EQ(URL::Segment({ 0, 4 }), URL("http://127.0.0.1:8080/test?query=foo").scheme);