diff --git a/mwparserfromhell/compat.py b/mwparserfromhell/compat.py
index 34870e6..bb81513 100755
--- a/mwparserfromhell/compat.py
+++ b/mwparserfromhell/compat.py
@@ -16,21 +16,14 @@ if py3k:
     bytes = bytes
     str = str
     basestring = str
-    range = range
     maxsize = sys.maxsize
     import html.entities as htmlentities
-    from io import StringIO
-    from urllib.parse import urlencode
-    from urllib.request import urlopen
 
 else:
     bytes = str
     str = unicode
     basestring = basestring
-    range = xrange
     maxsize = sys.maxint
     import htmlentitydefs as htmlentities
-    from StringIO import StringIO
-    from urllib import urlencode, urlopen
 
 del sys
diff --git a/tests/compat.py b/tests/compat.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8bed40e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/compat.py
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
+
+"""
+Serves the same purpose as mwparserfromhell.compat, but only for objects
+required by unit tests. This avoids unnecessary imports (like urllib) within
+the main library.
+"""
+
+from mwparserfromhell.compat import py3k
+
+if py3k:
+    range = range
+    from io import StringIO
+    from urllib.parse import urlencode
+    from urllib.request import urlopen
+
+else:
+    range = xrange
+    from StringIO import StringIO
+    from urllib import urlencode, urlopen
diff --git a/tests/test_docs.py b/tests/test_docs.py
index 3b23bb7..8d95c47 100644
--- a/tests/test_docs.py
+++ b/tests/test_docs.py
@@ -25,7 +25,9 @@ import json
 import unittest
 
 import mwparserfromhell
-from mwparserfromhell.compat import py3k, str, StringIO, urlencode, urlopen
+from mwparserfromhell.compat import py3k, str
+
+from .compat import StringIO, urlencode, urlopen
 
 class TestDocs(unittest.TestCase):
     """Integration test cases for mwparserfromhell's documentation."""
diff --git a/tests/test_parser.py b/tests/test_parser.py
index 4f718c8..1c37a85 100644
--- a/tests/test_parser.py
+++ b/tests/test_parser.py
@@ -24,12 +24,13 @@ from __future__ import unicode_literals
 import unittest
 
 from mwparserfromhell import parser
-from mwparserfromhell.compat import range
 from mwparserfromhell.nodes import Template, Text, Wikilink
 from mwparserfromhell.nodes.extras import Parameter
 from mwparserfromhell.smart_list import SmartList
 from mwparserfromhell.wikicode import Wikicode
 
+from .compat import range
+
 class TestParser(unittest.TestCase):
     """Tests for the Parser class itself, which tokenizes and builds nodes."""
 
diff --git a/tests/test_smart_list.py b/tests/test_smart_list.py
index 3423bb7..25df555 100644
--- a/tests/test_smart_list.py
+++ b/tests/test_smart_list.py
@@ -23,9 +23,11 @@
 from __future__ import unicode_literals
 import unittest
 
-from mwparserfromhell.compat import py3k, range
+from mwparserfromhell.compat import py3k
 from mwparserfromhell.smart_list import SmartList, _ListProxy
 
+from .compat import range
+
 class TestSmartList(unittest.TestCase):
     """Test cases for the SmartList class and its child, _ListProxy."""
 
diff --git a/tests/test_string_mixin.py b/tests/test_string_mixin.py
index 6d10609..306f2fd 100644
--- a/tests/test_string_mixin.py
+++ b/tests/test_string_mixin.py
@@ -25,9 +25,11 @@ from sys import getdefaultencoding
 from types import GeneratorType
 import unittest
 
-from mwparserfromhell.compat import bytes, py3k, range, str
+from mwparserfromhell.compat import bytes, py3k, str
 from mwparserfromhell.string_mixin import StringMixIn
 
+from .compat import range
+
 class _FakeString(StringMixIn):
     def __init__(self, data):
         self._data = data