diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/DFSUtil.java b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/DFSUtil.java
index 0848521283a..da7d26a2b96 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/DFSUtil.java
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/DFSUtil.java
@@ -320,6 +320,15 @@ public class DFSUtil {
         : path.toString();
   }
 
+  /**
+   * Convert a UTF8 string to an array of byte arrays.
+   */
+  public static byte[][] getPathComponents(String path) {
+    // avoid intermediate split to String[]
+    final byte[] bytes = string2Bytes(path);
+    return bytes2byteArray(bytes, bytes.length, (byte)Path.SEPARATOR_CHAR);
+  }
+
   /**
    * Splits the array of bytes into array of arrays of bytes
    * on byte separator
diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/INode.java b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/INode.java
index c8f36e137cf..eb910d4b1f2 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/INode.java
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/INode.java
@@ -727,18 +727,8 @@ public abstract class INode implements INodeAttributes, Diff.Element<byte[]> {
    */
   @VisibleForTesting
   public static byte[][] getPathComponents(String path) {
-    return getPathComponents(getPathNames(path));
-  }
-
-  /** Convert strings to byte arrays for path components. */
-  static byte[][] getPathComponents(String[] strings) {
-    if (strings.length == 0) {
-      return new byte[][]{null};
-    }
-    byte[][] bytes = new byte[strings.length][];
-    for (int i = 0; i < strings.length; i++)
-      bytes[i] = DFSUtil.string2Bytes(strings[i]);
-    return bytes;
+    checkAbsolutePath(path);
+    return DFSUtil.getPathComponents(path);
   }
 
   /**
@@ -747,11 +737,15 @@ public abstract class INode implements INodeAttributes, Diff.Element<byte[]> {
    * @return array of path components.
    */
   public static String[] getPathNames(String path) {
+    checkAbsolutePath(path);
+    return StringUtils.split(path, Path.SEPARATOR_CHAR);
+  }
+
+  private static void checkAbsolutePath(final String path) {
     if (path == null || !path.startsWith(Path.SEPARATOR)) {
       throw new AssertionError("Absolute path required, but got '"
           + path + "'");
     }
-    return StringUtils.split(path, Path.SEPARATOR_CHAR);
   }
 
   @Override
diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/TestSnapshotPathINodes.java b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/TestSnapshotPathINodes.java
index e416e00e1da..45c65ef8ce9 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/TestSnapshotPathINodes.java
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/TestSnapshotPathINodes.java
@@ -138,8 +138,7 @@ public class TestSnapshotPathINodes {
   @Test (timeout=15000)
   public void testNonSnapshotPathINodes() throws Exception {
     // Get the inodes by resolving the path of a normal file
-    String[] names = INode.getPathNames(file1.toString());
-    byte[][] components = INode.getPathComponents(names);
+    byte[][] components = INode.getPathComponents(file1.toString());
     INodesInPath nodesInPath = INodesInPath.resolve(fsdir.rootDir,
         components, false);
     // The number of inodes should be equal to components.length
@@ -175,8 +174,7 @@ public class TestSnapshotPathINodes {
     // The path when accessing the snapshot file of file1 is
     // /TestSnapshot/sub1/.snapshot/s1/file1
     String snapshotPath = sub1.toString() + "/.snapshot/s1/file1";
-    String[] names = INode.getPathNames(snapshotPath);
-    byte[][] components = INode.getPathComponents(names);
+    byte[][] components = INode.getPathComponents(snapshotPath);
     INodesInPath nodesInPath = INodesInPath.resolve(fsdir.rootDir,
         components, false);
     // Length of inodes should be (components.length - 1), since we will ignore
@@ -199,8 +197,7 @@ public class TestSnapshotPathINodes {
 
     // Resolve the path "/TestSnapshot/sub1/.snapshot"  
     String dotSnapshotPath = sub1.toString() + "/.snapshot";
-    names = INode.getPathNames(dotSnapshotPath);
-    components = INode.getPathComponents(names);
+    components = INode.getPathComponents(dotSnapshotPath);
     nodesInPath = INodesInPath.resolve(fsdir.rootDir, components, false);
     // The number of INodes returned should still be components.length
     // since we put a null in the inode array for ".snapshot"
@@ -246,8 +243,7 @@ public class TestSnapshotPathINodes {
       // Resolve the path for the snapshot file
       // /TestSnapshot/sub1/.snapshot/s2/file1
       String snapshotPath = sub1.toString() + "/.snapshot/s2/file1";
-      String[] names = INode.getPathNames(snapshotPath);
-      byte[][] components = INode.getPathComponents(names);
+      byte[][] components = INode.getPathComponents(snapshotPath);
       INodesInPath nodesInPath = INodesInPath.resolve(fsdir.rootDir,
           components, false);
       // Length of inodes should be (components.length - 1), since we will ignore
@@ -264,8 +260,7 @@ public class TestSnapshotPathINodes {
     }
 
     // Check the INodes for path /TestSnapshot/sub1/file1
-    String[] names = INode.getPathNames(file1.toString());
-    byte[][] components = INode.getPathComponents(names);
+    byte[][] components = INode.getPathComponents(file1.toString());
     INodesInPath nodesInPath = INodesInPath.resolve(fsdir.rootDir,
         components, false);
     // The length of inodes should be equal to components.length
@@ -314,8 +309,7 @@ public class TestSnapshotPathINodes {
     {
       // Check the inodes for /TestSnapshot/sub1/.snapshot/s4/file3
       String snapshotPath = sub1.toString() + "/.snapshot/s4/file3";
-      String[] names = INode.getPathNames(snapshotPath);
-      byte[][] components = INode.getPathComponents(names);
+      byte[][] components = INode.getPathComponents(snapshotPath);
       INodesInPath nodesInPath = INodesInPath.resolve(fsdir.rootDir,
           components, false);
       // Length of inodes should be (components.length - 1), since we will ignore
@@ -334,8 +328,7 @@ public class TestSnapshotPathINodes {
     }
 
     // Check the inodes for /TestSnapshot/sub1/file3
-    String[] names = INode.getPathNames(file3.toString());
-    byte[][] components = INode.getPathComponents(names);
+    byte[][] components = INode.getPathComponents(file3.toString());
     INodesInPath nodesInPath = INodesInPath.resolve(fsdir.rootDir,
         components, false);
     // The number of inodes should be equal to components.length
@@ -361,8 +354,7 @@ public class TestSnapshotPathINodes {
   @Test (timeout=15000)
   public void testSnapshotPathINodesAfterModification() throws Exception {
     // First check the INode for /TestSnapshot/sub1/file1
-    String[] names = INode.getPathNames(file1.toString());
-    byte[][] components = INode.getPathComponents(names);
+    byte[][] components = INode.getPathComponents(file1.toString());
     INodesInPath nodesInPath = INodesInPath.resolve(fsdir.rootDir,
         components, false);
     // The number of inodes should be equal to components.length
@@ -385,8 +377,7 @@ public class TestSnapshotPathINodes {
 
     // Check the INodes for snapshot of file1
     String snapshotPath = sub1.toString() + "/.snapshot/s3/file1";
-    names = INode.getPathNames(snapshotPath);
-    components = INode.getPathComponents(names);
+    components = INode.getPathComponents(snapshotPath);
     INodesInPath ssNodesInPath = INodesInPath.resolve(fsdir.rootDir,
         components, false);
     // Length of ssInodes should be (components.length - 1), since we will
@@ -404,8 +395,7 @@ public class TestSnapshotPathINodes {
         snapshotFileNode.getModificationTime(ssNodesInPath.getPathSnapshotId()));
 
     // Check the INode for /TestSnapshot/sub1/file1 again
-    names = INode.getPathNames(file1.toString());
-    components = INode.getPathComponents(names);
+    components = INode.getPathComponents(file1.toString());
     INodesInPath newNodesInPath = INodesInPath.resolve(fsdir.rootDir,
         components, false);
     assertSnapshot(newNodesInPath, false, s3, -1);