diff --git a/src/lune/builtins/process/mod.rs b/src/lune/builtins/process/mod.rs
index 1cceef7..13c6a33 100644
--- a/src/lune/builtins/process/mod.rs
+++ b/src/lune/builtins/process/mod.rs
@@ -203,7 +203,7 @@ async fn spawn_command(
     options: ProcessSpawnOptions,
 ) -> LuaResult<(ExitStatus, Vec<u8>, Vec<u8>)> {
     let inherit_stdio = options.inherit_stdio;
-    let stdin = options.stdin.clone();
+    let stdin = options.stdin;
 
     let mut child = options
         .into_command(program, args)
@@ -218,10 +218,7 @@ async fn spawn_command(
     // If the stdin option was provided, we write that to the child
     if let Some(stdin) = stdin {
         let mut child_stdin = child.stdin.take().unwrap();
-        child_stdin
-            .write_all(stdin.as_bytes())
-            .await
-            .into_lua_err()?;
+        child_stdin.write_all(stdin).await.into_lua_err()?;
     }
 
     if inherit_stdio {
diff --git a/src/lune/builtins/process/options.rs b/src/lune/builtins/process/options.rs
index 316f6c9..47f5b48 100644
--- a/src/lune/builtins/process/options.rs
+++ b/src/lune/builtins/process/options.rs
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ pub struct ProcessSpawnOptions {
     pub(crate) envs: HashMap<String, String>,
     pub(crate) shell: Option<String>,
     pub(crate) inherit_stdio: bool,
-    pub(crate) stdin: Option<String>,
+    pub(crate) stdin: Option<&'static [u8]>,
 }
 
 impl<'lua> FromLua<'lua> for ProcessSpawnOptions {
@@ -138,8 +138,8 @@ impl<'lua> FromLua<'lua> for ProcessSpawnOptions {
             If we have stdin contents, we need to pass those to the child process
         */
         match value.get("stdin")? {
-            LuaValue::Nil => {},
-            LuaValue::String(s) => this.stdin = Some(s.to_string_lossy().to_string()),
+            LuaValue::Nil => {}
+            LuaValue::String(s) => this.stdin = Some(&*(s.as_bytes().to_vec().leak())),
             value => {
                 return Err(LuaError::RuntimeError(format!(
                     "Invalid type for option 'stdin' - expected 'string', got '{}'",