diff --git a/examples/js/loaders/MTLLoader.js b/examples/js/loaders/MTLLoader.js
index 97d7f13907a66c073bd5571eb0c7fe914bcca741..53027a48df58cb148f058049c1c1b842719b2586 100644
--- a/examples/js/loaders/MTLLoader.js
+++ b/examples/js/loaders/MTLLoader.js
@@ -401,7 +401,7 @@ THREE.MTLLoader.MaterialCreator.prototype = {
 
 THREE.MTLLoader.loadTexture = function ( url, mapping, onLoad, onError ) {
 
-	var isCompressed = url.toLowerCase().endsWith( ".dds" );
+	var isCompressed = /\.dds$/i.test( url );
 
 	if ( isCompressed ) {
 
diff --git a/examples/js/loaders/OBJLoader.js b/examples/js/loaders/OBJLoader.js
index 536a1e5b25a847b42968f99e92b487b1de931e9a..a28f6ec51edbba38ebf8c9735da19bdb0cfaa78a 100644
--- a/examples/js/loaders/OBJLoader.js
+++ b/examples/js/loaders/OBJLoader.js
@@ -382,7 +382,7 @@ THREE.OBJLoader.prototype = {
 
 				}
 
-			} else if ( line.startsWith( "o " ) ) {
+			} else if ( /^o /.test( line ) ) {
 
 				// object
 
@@ -390,23 +390,23 @@ THREE.OBJLoader.prototype = {
 				object.name = line.substring( 2 ).trim();
 				group.add( object );
 
-			} else if ( line.startsWith( "g " ) ) {
+			} else if ( /^g /.test( line ) ) {
 
 				// group
 
 				meshN( line.substring( 2 ).trim(), undefined );
 
-			} else if ( line.startsWith( "usemtl " ) ) {
+			} else if ( /^usemtl /.test( line ) ) {
 
 				// material
 
 				meshN( undefined, line.substring( 7 ).trim() );
 
-			} else if ( line.startsWith( "mtllib ") ) {
+			} else if ( /^mtllib /.test( line ) ) {
 
 				// mtl file
 
-			} else if ( line.startsWith( "s ") ) {
+			} else if ( /^s /.test( line ) ) {
 
 				// smooth shading
 
diff --git a/examples/js/loaders/OBJMTLLoader.js b/examples/js/loaders/OBJMTLLoader.js
index 1d6bffdb109647d147aa4618ef1281aed1f65aac..f30864dd30352697944103f42a484ca14121705a 100644
--- a/examples/js/loaders/OBJMTLLoader.js
+++ b/examples/js/loaders/OBJMTLLoader.js
@@ -518,7 +518,7 @@ THREE.OBJMTLLoader.prototype = {
 
 				}
 
-			} else if ( line.startsWith( "o " ) ) {
+			} else if ( /^o /.test( line ) ) {
 
 				// object
 
@@ -526,19 +526,19 @@ THREE.OBJMTLLoader.prototype = {
 				object.name = line.substring( 2 ).trim();
 				group.add( object );
 
-			} else if ( line.startsWith( "g " ) ) {
+			} else if ( /^g /.test( line ) ) {
 
 				// group
 
 				meshN( line.substring( 2 ).trim(), undefined );
 
-			} else if ( line.startsWith( "usemtl " ) ) {
+			} else if ( /^usemtl /.test( line ) ) {
 
 				// material
 
 				meshN( undefined, line.substring( 7 ).trim() );
 
-			} else if ( line.startsWith( "mtllib ") ) {
+			} else if ( /^mtllib /.test( line ) ) {
 
 				// mtl file
 
@@ -550,7 +550,7 @@ THREE.OBJMTLLoader.prototype = {
 
 				}
 
-			} else if ( line.startsWith( "s ") ) {
+			} else if ( /^s /.test( line ) ) {
 
 				// Smooth shading
 
diff --git a/src/Three.js b/src/Three.js
index cf7a515e8f3c8c2ec64ad6ba31fec5dd6b731195..6714339fdd34e5a703ebcc119d5aae02b00db7b1 100644
--- a/src/Three.js
+++ b/src/Three.js
@@ -18,27 +18,6 @@ self.console = self.console || {
 self.Int32Array = self.Int32Array || Array;
 self.Float32Array = self.Float32Array || Array;
 
-// Shims for "startsWith", "endsWith", and "trim" for browsers where this is not yet implemented
-// not sure we should have this, or at least not have it here
-
-// http://stackoverflow.com/questions/646628/javascript-startswith
-// http://stackoverflow.com/questions/498970/how-do-i-trim-a-string-in-javascript
-// http://wiki.ecmascript.org/doku.php?id=harmony%3astring_extras
-
-String.prototype.startsWith = String.prototype.startsWith || function ( str ) {
-
-	return this.slice( 0, str.length ) === str;
-
-};
-
-String.prototype.endsWith = String.prototype.endsWith || function ( str ) {
-
-	var t = String( str );
-	var index = this.lastIndexOf( t );
-	return ( -1 < index && index ) === (this.length - t.length);
-
-};
-
 String.prototype.trim = String.prototype.trim || function () {
 
 	return this.replace( /^\s+|\s+$/g, '' );
diff --git a/src/loaders/Loader.js b/src/loaders/Loader.js
index 5e7334127c317d552c0c9b804dd0dfeed872b404..dd22b0715a3b758c048a65b98a9407c09533d6d2 100644
--- a/src/loaders/Loader.js
+++ b/src/loaders/Loader.js
@@ -145,7 +145,7 @@ THREE.Loader.prototype = {
 
 		function create_texture( where, name, sourceFile, repeat, offset, wrap, anisotropy ) {
 
-			var isCompressed = sourceFile.toLowerCase().endsWith( ".dds" );
+			var isCompressed = /\.dds$/i.test( sourceFile );
 			var fullPath = texturePath + "/" + sourceFile;
 
 			if ( isCompressed ) {
diff --git a/src/loaders/SceneLoader.js b/src/loaders/SceneLoader.js
index a6243f800f4b5ab0a4aeba785083e830a2afb40b..3179aee550ca9abbac4ea01cc7248d0e555d2b89 100644
--- a/src/loaders/SceneLoader.js
+++ b/src/loaders/SceneLoader.js
@@ -903,7 +903,7 @@ THREE.SceneLoader.prototype.parse = function ( json, callbackFinished, url ) {
 
 			}
 
-			var isCompressed = url_array[ 0 ].endsWith( ".dds" );
+			var isCompressed = /\.dds$/i.test( url_array[ 0 ] );
 
 			if ( isCompressed ) {
 
@@ -917,7 +917,7 @@ THREE.SceneLoader.prototype.parse = function ( json, callbackFinished, url ) {
 
 		} else {
 
-			var isCompressed = textureJSON.url.toLowerCase().endsWith( ".dds" );
+			var isCompressed = /\.dds$/i.test( textureJSON.url );
 			var fullUrl = get_url( textureJSON.url, data.urlBaseType );
 			var textureCallback = generateTextureCallback( 1 );