diff --git a/spring-web/src/main/java/org/springframework/web/util/DefaultUriTemplateHandler.java b/spring-web/src/main/java/org/springframework/web/util/DefaultUriTemplateHandler.java
index 3eb27c3009a..3a1555d448c 100644
--- a/spring-web/src/main/java/org/springframework/web/util/DefaultUriTemplateHandler.java
+++ b/spring-web/src/main/java/org/springframework/web/util/DefaultUriTemplateHandler.java
@@ -26,9 +26,14 @@ import java.util.Map;
 import org.springframework.util.Assert;
 
 /**
- * Default implementation of {@link UriTemplateHandler} that uses
+ * Default implementation of {@link UriTemplateHandler} based on the use of
  * {@link UriComponentsBuilder} to expand and encode variables.
  *
+ * <p>There are also several properties to customize how URI template handling
+ * that include a {@link #setBaseUrl baseUrl} to be used as a prefix for all URI
+ * templates and a couple of encoding related options -- {@link #setParsePath
+ * parsePath} and {@link #setStrictEncoding strictEncoding} respectively.
+ *
  * @author Rossen Stoyanchev
  * @since 4.2
  */
@@ -36,6 +41,7 @@ public class DefaultUriTemplateHandler implements UriTemplateHandler {
 
 	private String baseUrl;
 
+
 	private boolean parsePath;
 
 	private boolean strictEncoding;
@@ -152,7 +158,7 @@ public class DefaultUriTemplateHandler implements UriTemplateHandler {
 		else {
 			Map<String, Object> encodedUriVars = new HashMap<String, Object>(uriVariables.size());
 			for (Map.Entry<String, ?> entry : uriVariables.entrySet()) {
-				encodedUriVars.put(entry.getKey(), encodeValue(entry.getValue()));
+				encodedUriVars.put(entry.getKey(), applyStrictEncoding(entry.getValue()));
 			}
 			return builder.build().expand(encodedUriVars);
 		}
@@ -165,13 +171,13 @@ public class DefaultUriTemplateHandler implements UriTemplateHandler {
 		else {
 			Object[] encodedUriVars = new Object[uriVariables.length];
 			for (int i = 0; i < uriVariables.length; i++) {
-				encodedUriVars[i] = encodeValue(uriVariables[i]);
+				encodedUriVars[i] = applyStrictEncoding(uriVariables[i]);
 			}
 			return builder.build().expand(encodedUriVars);
 		}
 	}
 
-	private String encodeValue(Object value) {
+	private String applyStrictEncoding(Object value) {
 		String stringValue = (value != null ? value.toString() : "");
 		try {
 			return UriUtils.encode(stringValue, "UTF-8");
@@ -183,8 +189,8 @@ public class DefaultUriTemplateHandler implements UriTemplateHandler {
 	}
 
 	/**
-	 * Invoked after the URI template has been expanded and encoded to prepend
-	 * the configured {@link #setBaseUrl(String) baseUrl} if any.
+	 * Invoked after the URI template has been expanded and encoded to prefix it
+	 * with the configured {@link #setBaseUrl(String) baseUrl}, if any.
 	 * @param uriComponents the expanded and encoded URI
 	 * @return the final URI
 	 */
diff --git a/spring-web/src/test/java/org/springframework/web/util/DefaultUriTemplateHandlerTests.java b/spring-web/src/test/java/org/springframework/web/util/DefaultUriTemplateHandlerTests.java
index 691d6da285f..f650bcd2959 100644
--- a/spring-web/src/test/java/org/springframework/web/util/DefaultUriTemplateHandlerTests.java
+++ b/spring-web/src/test/java/org/springframework/web/util/DefaultUriTemplateHandlerTests.java
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@ import static org.junit.Assert.assertEquals;
 
 /**
  * Unit tests for {@link DefaultUriTemplateHandler}.
+ *
  * @author Rossen Stoyanchev
  */
 public class DefaultUriTemplateHandlerTests {
@@ -33,35 +34,35 @@ public class DefaultUriTemplateHandlerTests {
 
 
 	@Test
-	public void baseUrl() throws Exception {
+	public void baseUrlWithoutPath() throws Exception {
 		this.handler.setBaseUrl("http://localhost:8080");
 		URI actual = this.handler.expand("/myapiresource");
-		URI expected = new URI("http://localhost:8080/myapiresource");
-		assertEquals(expected, actual);
+
+		assertEquals("http://localhost:8080/myapiresource", actual.toString());
 	}
 
 	@Test
-	public void baseUrlWithPartialPath() throws Exception {
+	public void baseUrlWithPath() throws Exception {
 		this.handler.setBaseUrl("http://localhost:8080/context");
 		URI actual = this.handler.expand("/myapiresource");
-		URI expected = new URI("http://localhost:8080/context/myapiresource");
-		assertEquals(expected, actual);
+
+		assertEquals("http://localhost:8080/context/myapiresource", actual.toString());
 	}
 
 	@Test
-	public void parsePathOff() throws Exception {
+	public void parsePathIsOff() throws Exception {
 		this.handler.setParsePath(false);
 		Map<String, String> vars = new HashMap<>(2);
 		vars.put("hotel", "1");
 		vars.put("publicpath", "pics/logo.png");
 		String template = "http://example.com/hotels/{hotel}/pic/{publicpath}";
 		URI actual = this.handler.expand(template, vars);
-		URI expected = new URI("http://example.com/hotels/1/pic/pics/logo.png");
-		assertEquals(expected, actual);
+
+		assertEquals("http://example.com/hotels/1/pic/pics/logo.png", actual.toString());
 	}
 
 	@Test
-	public void parsePathOn() throws Exception {
+	public void parsePathIsOn() throws Exception {
 		this.handler.setParsePath(true);
 		Map<String, String> vars = new HashMap<>(2);
 		vars.put("hotel", "1");
@@ -69,19 +70,28 @@ public class DefaultUriTemplateHandlerTests {
 		vars.put("scale", "150x150");
 		String template = "http://example.com/hotels/{hotel}/pic/{publicpath}/size/{scale}";
 		URI actual = this.handler.expand(template, vars);
-		URI expected = new URI("http://example.com/hotels/1/pic/pics%2Flogo.png/size/150x150");
-		assertEquals(expected, actual);
+
+		assertEquals("http://example.com/hotels/1/pic/pics%2Flogo.png/size/150x150", actual.toString());
 	}
 
 	@Test
-	public void strictEncodingOff() throws Exception {
+	public void strictEncodingIsOffWithMap() throws Exception {
 		this.handler.setStrictEncoding(false);
 		Map<String, String> vars = new HashMap<>(2);
 		vars.put("userId", "john;doe");
 		String template = "http://www.example.com/user/{userId}/dashboard";
 		URI actual = this.handler.expand(template, vars);
-		URI expected = new URI("http://www.example.com/user/john;doe/dashboard");
-		assertEquals(expected, actual);
+
+		assertEquals("http://www.example.com/user/john;doe/dashboard", actual.toString());
+	}
+
+	@Test
+	public void strictEncodingOffWithArray() throws Exception {
+		this.handler.setStrictEncoding(false);
+		String template = "http://www.example.com/user/{userId}/dashboard";
+		URI actual = this.handler.expand(template, "john;doe");
+
+		assertEquals("http://www.example.com/user/john;doe/dashboard", actual.toString());
 	}
 
 	@Test
@@ -91,8 +101,8 @@ public class DefaultUriTemplateHandlerTests {
 		vars.put("userId", "john;doe");
 		String template = "http://www.example.com/user/{userId}/dashboard";
 		URI actual = this.handler.expand(template, vars);
-		URI expected = new URI("http://www.example.com/user/john%3Bdoe/dashboard");
-		assertEquals(expected, actual);
+
+		assertEquals("http://www.example.com/user/john%3Bdoe/dashboard", actual.toString());
 	}
 
 	@Test
@@ -100,8 +110,8 @@ public class DefaultUriTemplateHandlerTests {
 		this.handler.setStrictEncoding(true);
 		String template = "http://www.example.com/user/{userId}/dashboard";
 		URI actual = this.handler.expand(template, "john;doe");
-		URI expected = new URI("http://www.example.com/user/john%3Bdoe/dashboard");
-		assertEquals(expected, actual);
+
+		assertEquals("http://www.example.com/user/john%3Bdoe/dashboard", actual.toString());
 	}
 
 }