diff --git a/src/Avalonia.Base/Utilities/AvaloniaResourcesIndex.cs b/src/Avalonia.Base/Utilities/AvaloniaResourcesIndex.cs
index 22e5c952bf..66024236da 100644
--- a/src/Avalonia.Base/Utilities/AvaloniaResourcesIndex.cs
+++ b/src/Avalonia.Base/Utilities/AvaloniaResourcesIndex.cs
@@ -4,6 +4,8 @@ using System.IO;
 using System.Runtime.CompilerServices;
 using System.Runtime.Serialization;
 using System.Runtime.Serialization.Json;
+using System.Xml.Linq;
+using System.Linq;
 
 // ReSharper disable AssignNullToNotNullAttribute
 
@@ -19,10 +21,20 @@ namespace Avalonia.Utilities
         {
             var ver = new BinaryReader(stream).ReadInt32();
             if (ver > LastKnownVersion)
-                throw new Exception("Resources index format version is not known");            
-            var index = (AvaloniaResourcesIndex)
-                new DataContractSerializer(typeof(AvaloniaResourcesIndex)).ReadObject(stream);
-            return index.Entries;
+                throw new Exception("Resources index format version is not known");
+
+            var assetDoc = XDocument.Load(stream);
+            XNamespace assetNs = assetDoc.Root.Attribute("xmlns").Value;
+            List<AvaloniaResourcesIndexEntry> entries=         
+                (from entry in assetDoc.Root.Element(assetNs + "Entries").Elements(assetNs + "AvaloniaResourcesIndexEntry")
+                    select new AvaloniaResourcesIndexEntry
+                    {
+                        Path = entry.Element(assetNs + "Path").Value,
+                        Offset = int.Parse(entry.Element(assetNs + "Offset").Value),
+                        Size = int.Parse(entry.Element(assetNs + "Size").Value)                     
+                    }).ToList();
+
+            return entries;
         }
 
         public static void Write(Stream stream, List<AvaloniaResourcesIndexEntry> entries)
diff --git a/src/Markup/Avalonia.Markup.Xaml/AvaloniaXamlLoader.cs b/src/Markup/Avalonia.Markup.Xaml/AvaloniaXamlLoader.cs
index a825deeae3..255357e027 100644
--- a/src/Markup/Avalonia.Markup.Xaml/AvaloniaXamlLoader.cs
+++ b/src/Markup/Avalonia.Markup.Xaml/AvaloniaXamlLoader.cs
@@ -13,6 +13,8 @@ using System.Reflection;
 using System.Runtime.Serialization;
 using System.Runtime.Serialization.Json;
 using System.Text;
+using System.Xml.Linq;
+using System.Linq;
 
 namespace Avalonia.Markup.Xaml
 {
@@ -240,15 +242,21 @@ namespace Avalonia.Markup.Xaml
             {
                 using (var xamlInfoStream = assetLocator.Open(xamlInfoUri))
                 {
-                    var xamlInfo = (AvaloniaResourceXamlInfo)s_xamlInfoSerializer.ReadObject(xamlInfoStream);
-                    if (xamlInfo.ClassToResourcePathIndex.TryGetValue(typeName, out var rv) == true)
+                    var assetDoc = XDocument.Load(xamlInfoStream);
+                    XNamespace assetNs = assetDoc.Root.Attribute("xmlns").Value;
+                    XNamespace arrayNs = "http://schemas.microsoft.com/2003/10/Serialization/Arrays";
+                    Dictionary<string,string> xamlInfo =
+                        assetDoc.Root.Element(assetNs + "ClassToResourcePathIndex").Elements(arrayNs + "KeyValueOfstringstring")
+                         .ToDictionary(entry =>entry.Element(arrayNs + "Key").Value,
+                                entry => entry.Element(arrayNs + "Value").Value);
+                    
+                    if (xamlInfo.TryGetValue(typeName, out var rv) == true)
                     {
                         yield return new Uri($"avares://{asm}{rv}");
                         yield break;
                     }
                 }
-            }
-            
+            }           
             
             yield return new Uri("resm:" + typeName + ".xaml?assembly=" + asm);
             yield return new Uri("resm:" + typeName + ".paml?assembly=" + asm);