diff --git a/icu4j/main/translit/src/main/java/com/ibm/icu/text/Transliterator.java b/icu4j/main/translit/src/main/java/com/ibm/icu/text/Transliterator.java
index 48d47e3ad4f..9989224336c 100644
--- a/icu4j/main/translit/src/main/java/com/ibm/icu/text/Transliterator.java
+++ b/icu4j/main/translit/src/main/java/com/ibm/icu/text/Transliterator.java
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ import java.util.Locale;
 import java.util.Map;
 import java.util.MissingResourceException;
 import java.util.Objects;
+import java.util.function.Supplier;
 
 import com.ibm.icu.impl.ICUData;
 import com.ibm.icu.impl.ICUResourceBundle;
@@ -2185,7 +2186,16 @@ public abstract class Transliterator implements StringTransform  {
             if (type.equals("file") || type.equals("internal")) {
                 // Rest of line is <resource>:<encoding>:<direction>
                 //                pos       colon      c2
-                String resString = res.getString("resource");
+                int rowIndex = row;
+                Supplier<String> resSupplier = () -> {
+                    // Capture the row Id instead of the UResourceBundle object
+                    // due to the memory cost.
+                    UResourceBundle rootBund = UResourceBundle.getBundleInstance(
+                            ICUData.ICU_TRANSLIT_BASE_NAME, ROOT);
+                    UResourceBundle transIDsBund = rootBund.get(RB_RULE_BASED_IDS);
+                    UResourceBundle thisBund = transIDsBund.get(rowIndex).get(0);
+                    return thisBund.getString("resource");
+                };
                 int dir;
                 String direction = res.getString("direction");
                 switch (direction.charAt(0)) {
@@ -2199,7 +2209,7 @@ public abstract class Transliterator implements StringTransform  {
                     throw new RuntimeException("Can't parse direction: " + direction);
                 }
                 registry.put(ID,
-                             resString, // resource
+                             resSupplier, // resource
                              dir,
                              !type.equals("internal"));
             } else if (type.equals("alias")) {
diff --git a/icu4j/main/translit/src/main/java/com/ibm/icu/text/TransliteratorRegistry.java b/icu4j/main/translit/src/main/java/com/ibm/icu/text/TransliteratorRegistry.java
index be6bda49630..aa6b9761ffd 100644
--- a/icu4j/main/translit/src/main/java/com/ibm/icu/text/TransliteratorRegistry.java
+++ b/icu4j/main/translit/src/main/java/com/ibm/icu/text/TransliteratorRegistry.java
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ import java.util.Map;
 import java.util.MissingResourceException;
 import java.util.ResourceBundle;
 import java.util.Set;
+import java.util.function.Supplier;
 
 import com.ibm.icu.impl.ICUData;
 import com.ibm.icu.impl.ICUResourceBundle;
@@ -222,11 +223,34 @@ class TransliteratorRegistry {
     //----------------------------------------------------------------------
 
     static class ResourceEntry {
-        public String resource;
-        public int direction;
+        private final Supplier<String> resourceSupplier;
+        public final int direction;
+        private String resource;
         public ResourceEntry(String n, int d) {
             resource = n;
             direction = d;
+            resourceSupplier = null;
+        }
+
+        public ResourceEntry(Supplier<String> resourceSupplier, int dir) {
+            this.resourceSupplier = resourceSupplier;
+            direction = dir;
+        }
+
+        public String getResource() {
+            if (resourceSupplier == null) {
+                return resource;
+            }
+
+            synchronized (this) {
+                if (resource != null) {
+                    return resource;
+                }
+
+                String str = resourceSupplier.get();
+                resource = str;
+                return str;
+            }
         }
     }
 
@@ -349,6 +373,13 @@ class TransliteratorRegistry {
         registerEntry(ID, new ResourceEntry(resourceName, dir), visible);
     }
 
+    void put(String ID,
+            Supplier<String> resourceSupplier,
+            int dir,
+            boolean visible) {
+        registerEntry(ID, new ResourceEntry(resourceSupplier, dir), visible);
+    }
+
     /**
      * Register an ID and an alias ID.  This adds an entry to the
      * dynamic store, or replaces an existing entry.  Any entry in the
@@ -876,7 +907,7 @@ class TransliteratorRegistry {
             try {
 
                 ResourceEntry re = (ResourceEntry) entry;
-                parser.parse(re.resource, re.direction);
+                parser.parse(re.getResource(), re.direction);
 
             } catch (ClassCastException e) {
                 // If we pull a rule from a locale resource bundle it will