diff --git a/src/Symfony/Component/HttpFoundation/CHANGELOG.md b/src/Symfony/Component/HttpFoundation/CHANGELOG.md
index f806ee6993..a3aaa04d6f 100644
--- a/src/Symfony/Component/HttpFoundation/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/src/Symfony/Component/HttpFoundation/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ CHANGELOG
 -----
 
  * added `HeaderUtils::parseQuery()`: it does the same as `parse_str()` but preserves dots in variable names
+ * added `File::getContent()`
 
 5.1.0
 -----
diff --git a/src/Symfony/Component/HttpFoundation/File/File.php b/src/Symfony/Component/HttpFoundation/File/File.php
index e8762459dd..99e33c56c3 100644
--- a/src/Symfony/Component/HttpFoundation/File/File.php
+++ b/src/Symfony/Component/HttpFoundation/File/File.php
@@ -104,6 +104,17 @@ class File extends \SplFileInfo
         return $target;
     }
 
+    public function getContent(): string
+    {
+        $content = file_get_contents($this->getPathname());
+
+        if (false === $content) {
+            throw new FileException(sprintf('Could not get the content of the file "%s".', $this->getPathname()));
+        }
+
+        return $content;
+    }
+
     /**
      * @return self
      */
diff --git a/src/Symfony/Component/HttpFoundation/Tests/File/FileTest.php b/src/Symfony/Component/HttpFoundation/Tests/File/FileTest.php
index 2ef259ed1b..ddc9c1a844 100644
--- a/src/Symfony/Component/HttpFoundation/Tests/File/FileTest.php
+++ b/src/Symfony/Component/HttpFoundation/Tests/File/FileTest.php
@@ -85,6 +85,13 @@ class FileTest extends TestCase
         @unlink($targetPath);
     }
 
+    public function testGetContent()
+    {
+        $file = new File(__FILE__);
+
+        $this->assertStringEqualsFile(__FILE__, $file->getContent());
+    }
+
     public function getFilenameFixtures()
     {
         return [