diff --git a/tools/cldr-code/src/main/java/org/unicode/cldr/util/XMLFileReader.java b/tools/cldr-code/src/main/java/org/unicode/cldr/util/XMLFileReader.java
index f52f0c5551b..8ac2b6e0510 100644
--- a/tools/cldr-code/src/main/java/org/unicode/cldr/util/XMLFileReader.java
+++ b/tools/cldr-code/src/main/java/org/unicode/cldr/util/XMLFileReader.java
@@ -191,7 +191,7 @@ public static void read(
         }
     }
 
-    private static final XMLReader createXMLReader(
+    public static final XMLReader createXMLReader(
             int handlers, boolean validating, AllHandler allHandler)
             throws SAXNotRecognizedException, SAXNotSupportedException {
         XMLReader xmlReader = createXMLReader(validating);
diff --git a/tools/cldr-code/src/test/java/org/unicode/cldr/util/TestDTDInsertingReaderFactory.java b/tools/cldr-code/src/test/java/org/unicode/cldr/util/TestDTDInsertingReaderFactory.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..f906cfa9dbc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/cldr-code/src/test/java/org/unicode/cldr/util/TestDTDInsertingReaderFactory.java
@@ -0,0 +1,106 @@
+package org.unicode.cldr.util;
+
+import java.io.FileInputStream;
+import java.io.FileNotFoundException;
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.io.InputStream;
+import java.io.InputStreamReader;
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
+import org.junit.jupiter.params.ParameterizedTest;
+import org.junit.jupiter.params.provider.ValueSource;
+import org.unicode.cldr.util.XMLFileReader.LoggingHandler;
+import org.unicode.cldr.util.XMLFileReader.SimpleHandler;
+import org.xml.sax.InputSource;
+import org.xml.sax.SAXException;
+
+public class TestDTDInsertingReaderFactory {
+    private static final int COUNT = 10; // increase this for perf testing
+    private static final String COMMON_MT = "common/main/mt.xml";
+    private static final String KEYBOARDS_MT = "keyboards/3.0/mt.xml";
+
+    @Test
+    void TestProcessPathValues() {
+        for (int i = 0; i < COUNT; i++) {
+            XMLFileReader.processPathValues(COMMON_MT, true, new SimpleHandler());
+        }
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    void TestReadJar() throws IOException {
+        for (int i = 0; i < COUNT; i++) {
+            new XMLFileReader()
+                    .setHandler(new XMLFileReader.SimpleHandler())
+                    .readCLDRResource("dl_iso_table_a1.xml", -1, false);
+        }
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    void TestReadCommon() throws FileNotFoundException, IOException {
+        for (int i = 0; i < COUNT; i++) {
+            new XMLFileReader()
+                    .setHandler(new XMLFileReader.SimpleHandler())
+                    .read(COMMON_MT, -1, true);
+        }
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    void TestReadKeyboard() throws FileNotFoundException, IOException {
+        for (int i = 0; i < COUNT; i++) {
+            new XMLFileReader()
+                    .setHandler(new XMLFileReader.SimpleHandler())
+                    .read(KEYBOARDS_MT, -1, true);
+        }
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    void TestReadKeyboardByte() throws IOException, SAXException {
+        // verify that reading via InputStream (byte) works as well
+        try (InputStream fis = new FileInputStream(KEYBOARDS_MT); ) {
+            InputSource is = new InputSource(fis);
+            is.setSystemId(KEYBOARDS_MT);
+            is = DTDInsertingReaderFactory.wrap(is);
+            XMLFileReader.createXMLReader(-1, true, new LoggingHandler()).parse(is);
+        }
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    void TestReadKeyboardChar() throws IOException, SAXException {
+        // verify that reading via Reader (char) works as well
+        try (InputStream fis = new FileInputStream(KEYBOARDS_MT);
+                InputStreamReader isr = new InputStreamReader(fis); ) {
+            InputSource is = new InputSource(isr);
+            is.setSystemId(KEYBOARDS_MT);
+            is = DTDInsertingReaderFactory.wrap(is);
+            XMLFileReader.createXMLReader(-1, true, new LoggingHandler()).parse(is);
+        }
+    }
+
+    @ParameterizedTest
+    @ValueSource(booleans = {false, true})
+    public void TestBytePerf(boolean wrapped) throws IOException, SAXException {
+        for (int i = 0; i < COUNT; i++) {
+            // mimic XMLFileHandler.read() here, but with wrapping enabled/disabled
+            try (InputStream fis = new FileInputStream(COMMON_MT); ) {
+                InputSource is = new InputSource(fis);
+                is.setSystemId(COMMON_MT);
+                if (wrapped) is = DTDInsertingReaderFactory.wrap(is);
+                XMLFileReader.createXMLReader(-1, true, new LoggingHandler()).parse(is);
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
+    @ParameterizedTest
+    @ValueSource(booleans = {false, true})
+    public void TestCharPerf(boolean wrapped) throws IOException, SAXException {
+        for (int i = 0; i < COUNT; i++) {
+            // mimic XMLFileHandler.read() here, but with wrapping enabled/disabled
+            try (InputStream fis = new FileInputStream(COMMON_MT);
+                    InputStreamReader isr = new InputStreamReader(fis); ) {
+                InputSource is = new InputSource(isr);
+                is.setSystemId(COMMON_MT);
+                if (wrapped) is = DTDInsertingReaderFactory.wrap(is);
+                XMLFileReader.createXMLReader(-1, true, new LoggingHandler()).parse(is);
+            }
+        }
+    }
+}