diff --git a/src/pynorare/api.py b/src/pynorare/api.py
index d6b10cd..6a43cda 100644
--- a/src/pynorare/api.py
+++ b/src/pynorare/api.py
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@
 from clldutils.apilib import API
 import pybtex.database
 
-from pynorare.files import get_mappings, get_excel, download_file
+from pynorare import files
 from pynorare.util import read_wellformed_tsv_or_die
 
 __all__ = ['NoRaRe']
@@ -130,7 +130,7 @@ def _run_function(self, name, *args, **kw):
 
     def map(self, concepticon=None, mappings=None):
         if not mappings:
-            mappings, _ = get_mappings(concepticon)
+            mappings, _ = files.get_mappings(concepticon)
         self._run_function('map', concepticon, mappings)
 
     def download(self):
@@ -148,11 +148,7 @@ def download_file(self, url, target=None, overwrite=False):
         if not target:
             target = urllib.parse.urlparse(url).path.split('/')[-1]
         if (not self.raw_dir.joinpath(target).exists()) or overwrite:
-            try:
-                urllib.request.urlretrieve(url, str(self.raw_dir / target))
-            except urllib.error.HTTPError:  # pragma: no cover
-                # Try with requests:
-                download_file(url, self.raw_dir / target)
+            files.download_file(url, self.raw_dir / target)
             self.log.info('Downloaded {0} successfully.'.format(url))
         return self.raw_dir / target
 
@@ -161,7 +157,7 @@ def get_csv(self, path, delimiter="\t", dicts=True, coding="utf-8"):
         return list(reader(self.raw_dir / path, delimiter=delimiter, dicts=dicts, encoding=coding))
 
     def get_excel(self, path, sidx=0, dicts=True):
-        sheet = get_excel(self.raw_dir.joinpath(path), sidx, dicts)
+        sheet = files.get_excel(self.raw_dir.joinpath(path), sidx, dicts)
         self.log.info('load data from {0}'.format(path))
         return sheet
 
diff --git a/src/pynorare/files.py b/src/pynorare/files.py
index e450d89..6efa554 100644
--- a/src/pynorare/files.py
+++ b/src/pynorare/files.py
@@ -1,11 +1,12 @@
 import collections
+from urllib.request import Request, urlopen
 
-import requests
 from cldfcatalog import Config
 from pyconcepticon import Concepticon
 import xlrd
 import openpyxl
 
+import pynorare
 from pynorare.util import read_wellformed_tsv_or_die
 
 
@@ -39,9 +40,10 @@ def get_excel(path, sheet_index, dicts=False):
 
 
 def download_file(url, path):  # pragma: no cover
-    with requests.get(url, stream=True) as r:
-        r.raise_for_status()
-        with path.open('wb') as f:
-            for chunk in r.iter_content(chunk_size=8192):
-                f.write(chunk)
+    user_agent = f'norare/{pynorare.__version__}'
+    request = Request(url, headers={'User-Agent': user_agent})
+    with urlopen(request) as response:
+        with open(path, 'wb') as fp:
+            while (chunk := response.read(8192)):
+                fp.write(chunk)
     return path
diff --git a/tests/test_api.py b/tests/test_api.py
index cc25f31..a066e4a 100644
--- a/tests/test_api.py
+++ b/tests/test_api.py
@@ -16,8 +16,8 @@ def test_NoRaRe(api):
 
 def test_Dataset_download_zip(api, mocker):
     mocker.patch(
-        'pynorare.api.urllib.request',
-        mocker.Mock(urlretrieve=lambda u, t: 1))
+        'pynorare.api.files.download_file',
+        side_effect=lambda _url, path: path)
     ds = api.datasets['ds2']
     ds.download_zip('x', 'f.zip', 'norare.xlsx')
     assert len(ds.get_excel('norare.xlsx')) == 2
diff --git a/tests/test_cli.py b/tests/test_cli.py
index 23e5108..10463c2 100644
--- a/tests/test_cli.py
+++ b/tests/test_cli.py
@@ -27,18 +27,27 @@ def test_stats(_main, capsys):
     assert out.strip().startswith('No.')
 
 
+def make_pretend_data(_url, path):
+    with open(path, 'w', encoding='utf-8') as f:
+        f.write(
+            'gloss,float,int,POS\n'
+            'the gloss,1.2,3,noun\n'
+            'other gloss,1.2,3')
+    return path
+
+
 def test_workflow(_main, mocker):
-    mocker.patch(
-        'pynorare.api.urllib.request',
-        mocker.Mock(urlretrieve=lambda u, f: pathlib.Path(f).write_text(
-            'gloss,float,int,POS\nthe gloss,1.2,3,noun\nother gloss,1.2,3', encoding='utf8')))
+    mock_download = mocker.patch(
+        'pynorare.api.files.download_file',
+        side_effect=make_pretend_data)
     _main('download', 'dsid')
+    mock_download.assert_called_once()
     _main('map', 'dsid')
     _main('validate', 'dsid')
 
     mocker.patch(
-        'pynorare.api.urllib.request',
-        mocker.Mock(urlretrieve=lambda u, t: 1))
+        'pynorare.api.files.download_file',
+        side_effect=lambda _url, path: path)
     _main('download', 'ds2')
     _main('map', 'ds2')