diff --git a/spring-test/src/main/java/org/springframework/test/context/util/TestContextResourceUtils.java b/spring-test/src/main/java/org/springframework/test/context/util/TestContextResourceUtils.java
index 170d2ba2c87..7258bb2de6f 100644
--- a/spring-test/src/main/java/org/springframework/test/context/util/TestContextResourceUtils.java
+++ b/spring-test/src/main/java/org/springframework/test/context/util/TestContextResourceUtils.java
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * Copyright 2002-2018 the original author or authors.
+ * Copyright 2002-2019 the original author or authors.
  *
  * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
  * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
@@ -54,33 +54,41 @@ public abstract class TestContextResourceUtils {
 	 * <ul>
 	 * <li>A plain path &mdash; for example, {@code "context.xml"} &mdash; will
 	 * be treated as a classpath resource that is relative to the package in
-	 * which the specified class is defined.
+	 * which the specified class is defined. Such a path will be prepended with
+	 * the {@code classpath:} prefix and the path to the package for the class.
 	 * <li>A path starting with a slash will be treated as an absolute path
 	 * within the classpath, for example: {@code "/org/example/schema.sql"}.
-	 * <li>A path which is prefixed with a URL protocol (e.g.,
-	 * {@link ResourceUtils#CLASSPATH_URL_PREFIX classpath:},
-	 * {@link ResourceUtils#FILE_URL_PREFIX file:}, {@code http:}, etc.) will be
-	 * {@link StringUtils#cleanPath cleaned} but otherwise unmodified.
+	 * Such a path will be prepended with the {@code classpath:} prefix.
+	 * <li>A path which is already prefixed with a URL protocol (e.g.,
+	 * {@code classpath:}, {@code file:}, {@code http:}, etc.) will not have its
+	 * protocol modified.
 	 * </ul>
+	 * <p>Each path will then be {@linkplain StringUtils#cleanPath cleaned}.
 	 * @param clazz the class with which the paths are associated
 	 * @param paths the paths to be converted
 	 * @return a new array of converted resource paths
 	 * @see #convertToResources
+	 * @see ResourceUtils#CLASSPATH_URL_PREFIX
+	 * @see ResourceUtils#FILE_URL_PREFIX
 	 */
 	public static String[] convertToClasspathResourcePaths(Class<?> clazz, String... paths) {
 		String[] convertedPaths = new String[paths.length];
 		for (int i = 0; i < paths.length; i++) {
 			String path = paths[i];
+			// Absolute path
 			if (path.startsWith(SLASH)) {
 				convertedPaths[i] = ResourceUtils.CLASSPATH_URL_PREFIX + path;
 			}
+			// Relative path
 			else if (!ResourcePatternUtils.isUrl(path)) {
 				convertedPaths[i] = ResourceUtils.CLASSPATH_URL_PREFIX + SLASH +
-						StringUtils.cleanPath(ClassUtils.classPackageAsResourcePath(clazz) + SLASH + path);
+						ClassUtils.classPackageAsResourcePath(clazz) + SLASH + path;
 			}
+			// URL
 			else {
-				convertedPaths[i] = StringUtils.cleanPath(path);
+				convertedPaths[i] = path;
 			}
+			convertedPaths[i] = StringUtils.cleanPath(convertedPaths[i]);
 		}
 		return convertedPaths;
 	}
diff --git a/spring-test/src/test/java/org/springframework/test/context/support/BootstrapTestUtilsMergedConfigTests.java b/spring-test/src/test/java/org/springframework/test/context/support/BootstrapTestUtilsMergedConfigTests.java
index 04decf05954..21b2a8b3ba0 100644
--- a/spring-test/src/test/java/org/springframework/test/context/support/BootstrapTestUtilsMergedConfigTests.java
+++ b/spring-test/src/test/java/org/springframework/test/context/support/BootstrapTestUtilsMergedConfigTests.java
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@ import org.springframework.test.context.BootstrapTestUtils;
 import org.springframework.test.context.ContextConfiguration;
 import org.springframework.test.context.ContextLoader;
 import org.springframework.test.context.MergedContextConfiguration;
+import org.springframework.test.context.TestPropertySource;
 import org.springframework.test.context.web.WebDelegatingSmartContextLoader;
 import org.springframework.test.context.web.WebMergedContextConfiguration;
 
@@ -194,6 +195,29 @@ class BootstrapTestUtilsMergedConfigTests extends AbstractContextConfigurationUt
 			AnnotationConfigContextLoader.class);
 	}
 
+	@Test
+	void buildMergedConfigAndVerifyLocationPathsAreCleanedEquivalently() {
+		assertMergedConfigForLocationPaths(AbsoluteFooXmlLocationWithoutClasspathPrefix.class);
+		assertMergedConfigForLocationPaths(AbsoluteFooXmlLocationWithInnerRelativePathWithoutClasspathPrefix.class);
+		assertMergedConfigForLocationPaths(AbsoluteFooXmlLocationWithClasspathPrefix.class);
+		assertMergedConfigForLocationPaths(RelativeFooXmlLocation.class);
+	}
+
+	private void assertMergedConfigForLocationPaths(Class<?> testClass) {
+		MergedContextConfiguration mergedConfig = buildMergedContextConfiguration(testClass);
+
+		assertThat(mergedConfig).isNotNull();
+		assertThat(mergedConfig.getTestClass()).isEqualTo(testClass);
+		assertThat(mergedConfig.getContextLoader()).isInstanceOf(DelegatingSmartContextLoader.class);
+		assertThat(mergedConfig.getLocations()).containsExactly("classpath:/example/foo.xml");
+		assertThat(mergedConfig.getPropertySourceLocations()).containsExactly("classpath:/example/foo.properties");
+
+		assertThat(mergedConfig.getClasses()).isEmpty();
+		assertThat(mergedConfig.getActiveProfiles()).isEmpty();
+		assertThat(mergedConfig.getContextInitializerClasses()).isEmpty();
+		assertThat(mergedConfig.getPropertySourceProperties()).isEmpty();
+	}
+
 
 	@ContextConfiguration
 	@Retention(RetentionPolicy.RUNTIME)
@@ -217,4 +241,25 @@ class BootstrapTestUtilsMergedConfigTests extends AbstractContextConfigurationUt
 	static class MissingContextAttributesTestCase {
 	}
 
+	@ContextConfiguration(locations = "/example/foo.xml")
+	@TestPropertySource("/example/foo.properties")
+	static class AbsoluteFooXmlLocationWithoutClasspathPrefix {
+	}
+
+	@ContextConfiguration(locations = "/example/../org/../example/foo.xml")
+	@TestPropertySource("/example/../org/../example/foo.properties")
+	static class AbsoluteFooXmlLocationWithInnerRelativePathWithoutClasspathPrefix {
+	}
+
+	@ContextConfiguration(locations = "classpath:/example/foo.xml")
+	@TestPropertySource("classpath:/example/foo.properties")
+	static class AbsoluteFooXmlLocationWithClasspathPrefix {
+	}
+
+	// org.springframework.test.context.support --> 5 levels up to the root of the classpath
+	@ContextConfiguration(locations = "../../../../../example/foo.xml")
+	@TestPropertySource("../../../../../example/foo.properties")
+	static class RelativeFooXmlLocation {
+	}
+
 }