diff --git a/docker-java-core/src/main/java/com/github/dockerjava/core/dockerfile/Dockerfile.java b/docker-java-core/src/main/java/com/github/dockerjava/core/dockerfile/Dockerfile.java
index 752935e19..dba924f7b 100644
--- a/docker-java-core/src/main/java/com/github/dockerjava/core/dockerfile/Dockerfile.java
+++ b/docker-java-core/src/main/java/com/github/dockerjava/core/dockerfile/Dockerfile.java
@@ -4,10 +4,14 @@
 import java.io.FileInputStream;
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.io.InputStream;
+import java.nio.file.Files;
+import java.nio.file.Path;
 import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.Collection;
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.UUID;
+import java.util.stream.Collectors;
+import java.util.stream.Stream;
 
 import org.apache.commons.io.FileUtils;
 import org.apache.commons.io.FilenameUtils;
@@ -17,7 +21,6 @@
 import com.github.dockerjava.core.GoLangFileMatch;
 import com.github.dockerjava.core.exception.GoLangFileMatchException;
 import com.github.dockerjava.core.util.CompressArchiveUtil;
-import com.github.dockerjava.core.util.FilePathUtil;
 import com.google.common.base.Function;
 import com.google.common.base.MoreObjects;
 import com.google.common.base.Optional;
@@ -201,23 +204,42 @@ private void addFilesInDirectory(File directory) {
                 throw new DockerClientException("Failed to read build context directory: " + baseDirectory.getAbsolutePath());
             }
 
-            if (files.length != 0) {
-                for (File f : files) {
-                    if (f.isDirectory()) {
-                        addFilesInDirectory(f);
-                    } else if (effectiveMatchingIgnorePattern(f) == null) {
-                        filesToAdd.add(f);
-                    }
+            try (final Stream<File> pathStream = Files.walk(directory.toPath())
+                .parallel()
+                .filter(this::isNotIgnored)
+                .map(Path::toFile)
+            ) {
+                filesToAdd.addAll(pathStream.collect(Collectors.toList()));
+            } catch (IOException e) {
+                throw new DockerClientException("Failed to walk directory", e);
+            }
+
+        }
+
+        private boolean isNotIgnored(Path path) {
+            if (Files.isRegularFile(path)) {
+                return isEffectivelyNotIgnored(path);
+            }
+            if (Files.isDirectory(path)) {
+                try {
+                    return isEmptyDirectory(path) && !isBaseDirectory(path) && isEffectivelyNotIgnored(path);
+                } catch (IOException e) {
+                    throw new DockerClientException("Failed to list directory", e);
                 }
-                // base directory should at least contains Dockerfile, but better check
-            } else if (!isBaseDirectory(directory)) {
-                // add empty directory
-                filesToAdd.add(directory);
             }
+            return false;
         }
 
-        private boolean isBaseDirectory(File directory) {
-            return directory.compareTo(baseDirectory) == 0;
+        private boolean isEmptyDirectory(Path path) throws IOException {
+            return Files.list(path).count() == 0;
+        }
+
+        private boolean isEffectivelyNotIgnored(Path path) {
+            return effectiveMatchingIgnorePattern(path.toFile()) == null;
+        }
+
+        private boolean isBaseDirectory(Path directory) {
+            return directory.equals(baseDirectory.toPath());
         }
 
         /**
@@ -249,7 +271,7 @@ private List<String> matchingIgnorePatterns(String fileName) {
          */
         private String effectiveMatchingIgnorePattern(File file) {
             // normalize path to replace '/' to '\' on Windows
-            String relativeFilename = FilenameUtils.normalize(FilePathUtil.relativize(baseDirectory, file));
+            final String relativeFilename = FilenameUtils.normalize(relativizeToBaseDirectory(file));
 
             List<String> matchingPattern = matchingIgnorePatterns(relativeFilename);
 
@@ -260,6 +282,10 @@ private String effectiveMatchingIgnorePattern(File file) {
             String lastMatchingPattern = matchingPattern.get(matchingPattern.size() - 1);
 
             return !lastMatchingPattern.startsWith("!") ? lastMatchingPattern : null;
-         }
+        }
+
+        private String relativizeToBaseDirectory(File file) {
+            return baseDirectory.toPath().toUri().relativize(file.toPath().toUri()).getPath();
+        }
     }
 }