diff --git a/src/server/qgsserverparameters.cpp b/src/server/qgsserverparameters.cpp
index 5bad7e0c3e2..68dd5ce1cc4 100644
--- a/src/server/qgsserverparameters.cpp
+++ b/src/server/qgsserverparameters.cpp
@@ -17,12 +17,12 @@
 
 #include "qgsserverparameters.h"
 #include "qgsserverexception.h"
-#include "qgsnetworkaccessmanager.h"
+#include "qgsnetworkcontentfetcher.h"
 #include "qgsmessagelog.h"
+#include <QObject>
 #include <QUrl>
 #include <QNetworkReply>
 #include <QNetworkRequest>
-#include <QTextCodec>
 
 //
 // QgsServerParameterDefinition
@@ -217,79 +217,25 @@ QString QgsServerParameterDefinition::loadUrl( bool &ok ) const
     return QString();
   }
 
-  // Do the request
-  QNetworkReply *reply = nullptr;
-  // The following code blocks until the file is downloaded...
-  // with max redirections fixed to 5
-  int countRedirections = 0;
-  QDateTime start = QDateTime::currentDateTime();
-  while ( 1 )
-  {
-    QgsMessageLog::logMessage( QStringLiteral( "Request started [url: %2]" ).arg( url.toString() ) );
-    QNetworkRequest request( url );
-    request.setAttribute( QNetworkRequest::CacheLoadControlAttribute, QNetworkRequest::PreferCache );
-    request.setAttribute( QNetworkRequest::CacheSaveControlAttribute, true );
+  // fetching content
+  QgsNetworkContentFetcher fetcher;
+  QEventLoop loop;
+  QObject::connect( &fetcher, &QgsNetworkContentFetcher::finished, &loop, &QEventLoop::quit );
 
-    reply = QgsNetworkAccessManager::instance()->get( request );
+  QgsMessageLog::logMessage( QStringLiteral( "Request started [url: %1]" ).arg( url.toString() ) );
+  QNetworkRequest request( url );
+  request.setAttribute( QNetworkRequest::CacheLoadControlAttribute, QNetworkRequest::PreferCache );
+  request.setAttribute( QNetworkRequest::CacheSaveControlAttribute, true );
+  fetcher.fetchContent( request );
 
-    // wait until the SLD download finished
-    while ( !reply->isFinished() )
-    {
-      if ( start.secsTo( QDateTime::currentDateTime() ) >= 5 * 60 )
-        break;
-      QCoreApplication::processEvents( QEventLoop::ExcludeUserInputEvents, 500 );
-    }
+  //wait until content fetched
+  loop.exec( QEventLoop::ExcludeUserInputEvents );
 
-    if ( !reply->isFinished() )
-    {
-      ok = false;
-      break;
-    }
-
-
-    if ( reply->error() != QNetworkReply::NoError )
-    {
-      ok = false;
-      QgsMessageLog::logMessage( QStringLiteral( "Request failed [error: %1 - url: %2]" ).arg( reply->errorString(), reply->url().toString() ) );
-      break;
-    }
-
-    QVariant redirect = reply->attribute( QNetworkRequest::RedirectionTargetAttribute );
-    if ( redirect.isNull() )
-    {
-      break;
-    }
-
-    // max redirections
-    countRedirections++;
-    if ( countRedirections >= 5 )
-    {
-      ok = false;
-      break;
-    }
-
-    // do a new request to the redirect url
-    url = redirect.toUrl();
-    reply->deleteLater();
-  }
-
-  if ( !reply->isFinished() )
+  QNetworkReply *reply = fetcher.reply();
+  if ( !reply )
   {
     ok = false;
-    QgsMessageLog::logMessage( QStringLiteral( "Request timeout [redirections: %1 - url: %2]" ).arg( countRedirections ).arg( mValue.toString() ) );
-
-    reply->abort();
-    reply->deleteLater();
-
-    return QString();
-  }
-
-  if ( countRedirections >= 5 )
-  {
-    ok = false;
-    QgsMessageLog::logMessage( QStringLiteral( "Request failed [max redirection raised - url: %1]" ).arg( mValue.toString() ) );
-
-    reply->deleteLater();
+    QgsMessageLog::logMessage( QStringLiteral( "Request failed [error: no reply - url: %1]" ).arg( url.toString() ) );
     return QString();
   }
 
@@ -297,60 +243,25 @@ QString QgsServerParameterDefinition::loadUrl( bool &ok ) const
   if ( !status.isNull() && status.toInt() >= 400 )
   {
     ok = false;
+    if ( reply->error() != QNetworkReply::NoError )
+    {
+      QgsMessageLog::logMessage( QStringLiteral( "Request failed [error: %1 - url: %2]" ).arg( reply->errorString(), reply->url().toString() ) );
+    }
     QVariant phrase = reply->attribute( QNetworkRequest::HttpReasonPhraseAttribute );
     QgsMessageLog::logMessage( QStringLiteral( "Request error [status: %1 - reason phrase: %2] for %3" ).arg( status.toInt() ).arg( phrase.toString(), reply->url().toString() ) );
-
-    reply->deleteLater();
     return QString();
   }
 
   if ( reply->error() != QNetworkReply::NoError )
   {
     ok = false;
-
-    reply->deleteLater();
+    QgsMessageLog::logMessage( QStringLiteral( "Request failed [error: %1 - url: %2]" ).arg( reply->errorString(), reply->url().toString() ) );
     return QString();
   }
 
-  // read content
-  QByteArray ba = reply->readAll();
-  reply->deleteLater();
-
-  ok = ( !ba.isEmpty() );
-
-  //QTextCodec::codecForHtml fails to detect "<meta charset="utf-8"/>" type tags
-  //see https://bugreports.qt.io/browse/QTBUG-41011
-  //so test for that ourselves
-
-  //basic check
-  QTextCodec *codec = QTextCodec::codecForUtfText( ba, nullptr );
-  if ( !codec )
-  {
-    //check for meta charset tag
-    QByteArray header = ba.left( 1024 ).toLower();
-    int pos = header.indexOf( "meta charset=" );
-    if ( pos != -1 )
-    {
-      pos += int( strlen( "meta charset=" ) ) + 1;
-      int pos2 = header.indexOf( '\"', pos );
-      QByteArray cs = header.mid( pos, pos2 - pos );
-      codec = QTextCodec::codecForName( cs );
-    }
-  }
-
-  if ( !codec )
-  {
-    //fallback to QTextCodec::codecForHtml
-    codec = QTextCodec::codecForHtml( ba, codec );
-  }
-
-  if ( !codec )
-  {
-    //no luck, default to utf-8
-    codec = QTextCodec::codecForName( "UTF-8" );
-  }
-
-  return codec->toUnicode( ba );
+  QString content = fetcher.contentAsString();
+  ok = ( !content.isEmpty() );
+  return content;
 }
 
 QUrl QgsServerParameterDefinition::toUrl( bool &ok ) const