diff --git a/lib/core/index.js b/lib/core/index.js
index 920e55b9..58f14443 100644
--- a/lib/core/index.js
+++ b/lib/core/index.js
@@ -5,7 +5,6 @@
 const path = require('path');
 const fs = require('fs');
 const url = require('url');
-const { Readable } = require('stream');
 const buffer = require('buffer');
 const mime = require('mime');
 const urlJoin = require('url-join');
@@ -235,7 +234,6 @@ module.exports = function createMiddleware(_dir, _options) {
       const lastModified = (new Date(stat.mtime)).toUTCString();
       const etag = generateEtag(stat, weakEtags);
       let cacheControl = cache;
-      let stream = null;
       if (contentType && isTextFile(contentType)) {
         if (stat.size < buffer.constants.MAX_LENGTH) {
           const bytes = fs.readFileSync(file);
@@ -243,7 +241,6 @@ module.exports = function createMiddleware(_dir, _options) {
             defaultEncoding: 'UTF-8'
           });
           contentType += `; charset=${sniffedEncoding}`;
-          stream = Readable.from(bytes)
         } else {
           // Assume text types are utf8
           contentType += '; charset=UTF-8';
@@ -329,10 +326,8 @@ module.exports = function createMiddleware(_dir, _options) {
         return;
       }
 
-      // stream may already have been assigned during encoding sniffing.
-      if (stream === null) {
-        stream = fs.createReadStream(file);
-      }
+      // create a clean stream using 'createReadStream'
+      const stream = fs.createReadStream(file);
 
       stream.pipe(res);
       stream.on('error', (err) => {