diff --git a/src/lune/builtins/net/mod.rs b/src/lune/builtins/net/mod.rs
index 6253dec..1972dc8 100644
--- a/src/lune/builtins/net/mod.rs
+++ b/src/lune/builtins/net/mod.rs
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 #![allow(unused_variables)]
 
+use bstr::BString;
 use mlua::prelude::*;
 use mlua_luau_scheduler::LuaSpawnExt;
 
@@ -39,13 +40,13 @@ pub fn create(lua: &Lua) -> LuaResult<LuaTable> {
 
 fn net_json_encode<'lua>(
     lua: &'lua Lua,
-    (val, pretty): (LuaValue<'lua>, Option<bool>),
+    (val, pretty): (BString, Option<bool>),
 ) -> LuaResult<LuaString<'lua>> {
     EncodeDecodeConfig::from((EncodeDecodeFormat::Json, pretty.unwrap_or_default()))
         .serialize_to_string(lua, val)
 }
 
-fn net_json_decode<'lua>(lua: &'lua Lua, json: LuaString<'lua>) -> LuaResult<LuaValue<'lua>> {
+fn net_json_decode<'lua>(lua: &'lua Lua, json: BString) -> LuaResult<LuaValue<'lua>> {
     EncodeDecodeConfig::from(EncodeDecodeFormat::Json).deserialize_from_string(lua, json)
 }
 
diff --git a/src/lune/builtins/serde/encode_decode.rs b/src/lune/builtins/serde/encode_decode.rs
index 1f83ce4..68a7f18 100644
--- a/src/lune/builtins/serde/encode_decode.rs
+++ b/src/lune/builtins/serde/encode_decode.rs
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+use bstr::{BString, ByteSlice};
 use mlua::prelude::*;
 
 use serde_json::Value as JsonValue;
@@ -56,11 +57,14 @@ impl EncodeDecodeConfig {
     pub fn serialize_to_string<'lua>(
         self,
         lua: &'lua Lua,
-        value: LuaValue<'lua>,
+        value: BString,
     ) -> LuaResult<LuaString<'lua>> {
         let bytes = match self.format {
             EncodeDecodeFormat::Json => {
-                let serialized: JsonValue = lua.from_value_with(value, LUA_DESERIALIZE_OPTIONS)?;
+                let serialized: JsonValue = lua.from_value_with(
+                    LuaValue::String(lua.create_string(value)?),
+                    LUA_DESERIALIZE_OPTIONS,
+                )?;
                 if self.pretty {
                     serde_json::to_vec_pretty(&serialized).into_lua_err()?
                 } else {
@@ -68,13 +72,19 @@ impl EncodeDecodeConfig {
                 }
             }
             EncodeDecodeFormat::Yaml => {
-                let serialized: YamlValue = lua.from_value_with(value, LUA_DESERIALIZE_OPTIONS)?;
+                let serialized: YamlValue = lua.from_value_with(
+                    LuaValue::String(lua.create_string(value)?),
+                    LUA_DESERIALIZE_OPTIONS,
+                )?;
                 let mut writer = Vec::with_capacity(128);
                 serde_yaml::to_writer(&mut writer, &serialized).into_lua_err()?;
                 writer
             }
             EncodeDecodeFormat::Toml => {
-                let serialized: TomlValue = lua.from_value_with(value, LUA_DESERIALIZE_OPTIONS)?;
+                let serialized: TomlValue = lua.from_value_with(
+                    LuaValue::String(lua.create_string(value)?),
+                    LUA_DESERIALIZE_OPTIONS,
+                )?;
                 let s = if self.pretty {
                     toml::to_string_pretty(&serialized).into_lua_err()?
                 } else {
@@ -89,7 +99,7 @@ impl EncodeDecodeConfig {
     pub fn deserialize_from_string<'lua>(
         self,
         lua: &'lua Lua,
-        string: LuaString<'lua>,
+        string: BString,
     ) -> LuaResult<LuaValue<'lua>> {
         let bytes = string.as_bytes();
         match self.format {
diff --git a/src/lune/builtins/serde/mod.rs b/src/lune/builtins/serde/mod.rs
index c149467..4741585 100644
--- a/src/lune/builtins/serde/mod.rs
+++ b/src/lune/builtins/serde/mod.rs
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+use bstr::BString;
 use mlua::prelude::*;
 
 pub(super) mod compress_decompress;
@@ -19,7 +20,7 @@ pub fn create(lua: &Lua) -> LuaResult<LuaTable> {
 
 fn serde_encode<'lua>(
     lua: &'lua Lua,
-    (format, val, pretty): (EncodeDecodeFormat, LuaValue<'lua>, Option<bool>),
+    (format, val, pretty): (EncodeDecodeFormat, BString, Option<bool>),
 ) -> LuaResult<LuaString<'lua>> {
     let config = EncodeDecodeConfig::from((format, pretty.unwrap_or_default()));
     config.serialize_to_string(lua, val)
@@ -27,7 +28,7 @@ fn serde_encode<'lua>(
 
 fn serde_decode<'lua>(
     lua: &'lua Lua,
-    (format, str): (EncodeDecodeFormat, LuaString<'lua>),
+    (format, str): (EncodeDecodeFormat, BString),
 ) -> LuaResult<LuaValue<'lua>> {
     let config = EncodeDecodeConfig::from(format);
     config.deserialize_from_string(lua, str)