diff --git a/test/Metadata.cpp b/test/Metadata.cpp
index c130d3462..41e98b486 100644
--- a/test/Metadata.cpp
+++ b/test/Metadata.cpp
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@
 #include <string>
 #include <iostream>
 #include <libdevcore/JSON.h>
+#include <test/Metadata.h>
 
 using namespace std;
 
@@ -30,21 +31,24 @@ namespace dev
 namespace test
 {
 
+bytes bytecodeSansMetadata(bytes const& _bytecode)
+{
+	unsigned size = _bytecode.size();
+	if (size < 5)
+		return bytes{};
+	size_t metadataSize = (_bytecode[size - 2] << 8) + _bytecode[size - 1];
+	if (size < (metadataSize + 2))
+		return bytes{};
+	// Sanity check: assume the first byte is a fixed-size CBOR array with either 1 or 2 entries
+	unsigned char firstByte = _bytecode[size - metadataSize - 2];
+	if (firstByte != 0xa1 && firstByte != 0xa2)
+		return bytes{};
+	return bytes(_bytecode.begin(), _bytecode.end() - metadataSize - 2);
+}
+
 string bytecodeSansMetadata(string const& _bytecode)
 {
-	/// The metadata hash takes up 43 bytes (or 86 characters in hex)
-	/// /a165627a7a72305820([0-9a-f]{64})0029$/
-
-	if (_bytecode.size() < 88)
-		return _bytecode;
-
-	if (_bytecode.substr(_bytecode.size() - 4, 4) != "0029")
-		return _bytecode;
-
-	if (_bytecode.substr(_bytecode.size() - 86, 18) != "a165627a7a72305820")
-		return _bytecode;
-
-	return _bytecode.substr(0, _bytecode.size() - 86);
+	return toHex(bytecodeSansMetadata(fromHex(_bytecode, WhenError::Throw)));
 }
 
 bool isValidMetadata(string const& _metadata)
diff --git a/test/Metadata.h b/test/Metadata.h
index cd92ecd80..113a54bee 100644
--- a/test/Metadata.h
+++ b/test/Metadata.h
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@
  * Metadata processing helpers.
  */
 
+#include <libdevcore/CommonData.h>
 #include <string>
 
 namespace dev
@@ -27,6 +28,10 @@ namespace test
 {
 
 /// Returns the bytecode with the metadata hash stripped out.
+bytes bytecodeSansMetadata(bytes const& _bytecode);
+
+/// Returns the bytecode with the metadata hash stripped out.
+/// Throws exception on invalid hex string.
 std::string bytecodeSansMetadata(std::string const& _bytecode);
 
 /// Expects a serialised metadata JSON and returns true if the
diff --git a/test/libsolidity/LibSolc.cpp b/test/libsolidity/LibSolc.cpp
index 89a502100..b94486ac8 100644
--- a/test/libsolidity/LibSolc.cpp
+++ b/test/libsolidity/LibSolc.cpp
@@ -25,9 +25,6 @@
 #include <libsolidity/interface/Version.h>
 #include <libsolc/libsolc.h>
 
-#include <test/Metadata.h>
-#include <test/Options.h>
-
 using namespace std;
 
 namespace dev
diff --git a/test/libsolidity/SolidityOptimizer.cpp b/test/libsolidity/SolidityOptimizer.cpp
index 9c6f8f65e..22ca9182f 100644
--- a/test/libsolidity/SolidityOptimizer.cpp
+++ b/test/libsolidity/SolidityOptimizer.cpp
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@
  * Tests for the Solidity optimizer.
  */
 
+#include <test/Metadata.h>
 #include <test/libsolidity/SolidityExecutionFramework.h>
 
 #include <libevmasm/Instruction.h>
@@ -105,11 +106,8 @@ public:
 	/// into account.
 	size_t numInstructions(bytes const& _bytecode, boost::optional<Instruction> _which = boost::optional<Instruction>{})
 	{
-		BOOST_REQUIRE(_bytecode.size() > 5);
-		size_t metadataSize = (_bytecode[_bytecode.size() - 2] << 8) + _bytecode[_bytecode.size() - 1];
-		BOOST_REQUIRE_MESSAGE(metadataSize == 0x29, "Invalid metadata size");
-		BOOST_REQUIRE(_bytecode.size() >= metadataSize + 2);
-		bytes realCode = bytes(_bytecode.begin(), _bytecode.end() - metadataSize - 2);
+		bytes realCode = bytecodeSansMetadata(_bytecode);
+		BOOST_REQUIRE_MESSAGE(!realCode.empty(), "Invalid or missing metadata in bytecode.");
 		size_t instructions = 0;
 		solidity::eachInstruction(realCode, [&](Instruction _instr, u256 const&) {
 			if (!_which || *_which == _instr)
diff --git a/test/libsolidity/StandardCompiler.cpp b/test/libsolidity/StandardCompiler.cpp
index 118d8210c..0cd395860 100644
--- a/test/libsolidity/StandardCompiler.cpp
+++ b/test/libsolidity/StandardCompiler.cpp
@@ -23,8 +23,7 @@
 #include <boost/test/unit_test.hpp>
 #include <libsolidity/interface/StandardCompiler.h>
 #include <libdevcore/JSON.h>
-
-#include "../Metadata.h"
+#include <test/Metadata.h>
 
 using namespace std;
 using namespace dev::eth;