diff --git a/java-format/google-java-format-diff.py b/java-format/google-java-format-diff.py
index ebb3558db..0752822f5 100755
--- a/java-format/google-java-format-diff.py
+++ b/java-format/google-java-format-diff.py
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ import re
 import subprocess
 import io
 import sys
-from distutils.spawn import find_executable
+from shutil import which
 
 def main():
   parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(description=
@@ -93,7 +93,7 @@ def main():
   elif args.google_java_format_jar:
     base_command = [args.java_binary, '-jar', args.google_java_format_jar]
   else:
-    binary = find_executable('google-java-format') or '/usr/bin/google-java-format'
+    binary = which('google-java-format') or '/usr/bin/google-java-format'
     base_command = [binary]
 
   # Reformat files containing changes in place.