diff --git a/lib/fs.js b/lib/fs.js
index da718f3f334413..6853bc4b1625a5 100644
--- a/lib/fs.js
+++ b/lib/fs.js
@@ -427,14 +427,10 @@ fs.exists = function(path, callback) {
   }
 
   try {
-    path = getPathFromURL(path);
-    validatePath(path);
+    fs.access(path, fs.FS_OK, suppressedCallback);
   } catch (err) {
     return callback(false);
   }
-  var req = new FSReqWrap();
-  req.oncomplete = suppressedCallback;
-  binding.stat(pathModule.toNamespacedPath(path), req);
 };
 
 Object.defineProperty(fs.exists, internalUtil.promisify.custom, {
@@ -453,13 +449,7 @@ Object.defineProperty(fs.exists, internalUtil.promisify.custom, {
 // TODO(joyeecheung): deprecate the never-throw-on-invalid-arguments behavior
 fs.existsSync = function(path) {
   try {
-    path = getPathFromURL(path);
-    validatePath(path);
-    const ctx = { path };
-    binding.stat(pathModule.toNamespacedPath(path), undefined, ctx);
-    if (ctx.errno !== undefined) {
-      return false;
-    }
+    fs.accessSync(path, fs.FS_OK);
     return true;
   } catch (e) {
     return false;