diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index 6432cc7..de30793 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -346,6 +346,7 @@ source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "05efc5cfd9110c8416e471df0e96702d58690178e206e61b7173706673c93706"
 dependencies = [
  "memchr",
+ "regex-automata 0.4.6",
  "serde",
 ]
 
@@ -1367,6 +1368,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "async-trait",
  "async_zip",
  "blocking",
+ "bstr",
  "chrono",
  "chrono_lc",
  "clap",
diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index 8552e1e..2eace8d 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -77,6 +77,7 @@ path-clean = "1.0"
 pathdiff = "0.2"
 pin-project = "1.0"
 urlencoding = "2.1"
+bstr = "1.9.1"
 
 ### RUNTIME
 
@@ -87,7 +88,7 @@ tokio = { version = "1.24", features = ["full", "tracing"] }
 os_str_bytes = { version = "7.0", features = ["conversions"] }
 
 mlua-luau-scheduler = { version = "0.0.2" }
-mlua = { version = "0.9.6", features = [
+mlua = { version = "0.9.7", features = [
     "luau",
     "luau-jit",
     "async",
diff --git a/src/lune/builtins/fs/mod.rs b/src/lune/builtins/fs/mod.rs
index 2c7b9fb..0db1f7f 100644
--- a/src/lune/builtins/fs/mod.rs
+++ b/src/lune/builtins/fs/mod.rs
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 use std::io::ErrorKind as IoErrorKind;
 use std::path::{PathBuf, MAIN_SEPARATOR};
 
+use bstr::{BString, ByteSlice};
 use mlua::prelude::*;
 use tokio::fs;
 
@@ -32,6 +33,7 @@ pub fn create(lua: &Lua) -> LuaResult<LuaTable> {
 
 async fn fs_read_file(lua: &Lua, path: String) -> LuaResult<LuaString> {
     let bytes = fs::read(&path).await.into_lua_err()?;
+
     lua.create_string(bytes)
 }
 
@@ -64,8 +66,8 @@ async fn fs_read_dir(_: &Lua, path: String) -> LuaResult<Vec<String>> {
     Ok(dir_strings_no_prefix)
 }
 
-async fn fs_write_file(_: &Lua, (path, contents): (String, LuaString<'_>)) -> LuaResult<()> {
-    fs::write(&path, &contents.as_bytes()).await.into_lua_err()
+async fn fs_write_file(_: &Lua, (path, contents): (String, BString)) -> LuaResult<()> {
+    fs::write(&path, contents.as_bytes()).await.into_lua_err()
 }
 
 async fn fs_write_dir(_: &Lua, path: String) -> LuaResult<()> {
diff --git a/src/lune/builtins/net/config.rs b/src/lune/builtins/net/config.rs
index d801c47..1abd121 100644
--- a/src/lune/builtins/net/config.rs
+++ b/src/lune/builtins/net/config.rs
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ use std::{
     net::{IpAddr, Ipv4Addr},
 };
 
+use bstr::{BString, ByteSlice};
 use mlua::prelude::*;
 
 use reqwest::Method;
@@ -107,10 +108,11 @@ impl FromLua<'_> for RequestConfig {
                 Err(_) => HashMap::new(),
             };
             // Extract body
-            let body = match tab.get::<_, LuaString>("body") {
+            let body = match tab.get::<_, BString>("body") {
                 Ok(config_body) => Some(config_body.as_bytes().to_owned()),
                 Err(_) => None,
             };
+
             // Convert method string into proper enum
             let method = method.trim().to_ascii_uppercase();
             let method = match method.as_ref() {
diff --git a/src/lune/builtins/net/mod.rs b/src/lune/builtins/net/mod.rs
index 6253dec..d41b047 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;
 
@@ -45,7 +46,7 @@ fn net_json_encode<'lua>(
         .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/net/server/response.rs b/src/lune/builtins/net/server/response.rs
index f575990..240a7cd 100644
--- a/src/lune/builtins/net/server/response.rs
+++ b/src/lune/builtins/net/server/response.rs
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 use std::str::FromStr;
 
+use bstr::{BString, ByteSlice};
 use http_body_util::Full;
 use hyper::{
     body::Bytes,
@@ -56,7 +57,7 @@ impl FromLua<'_> for LuaResponse {
             LuaValue::Table(t) => {
                 let status: Option<u16> = t.get("status")?;
                 let headers: Option<LuaTable> = t.get("headers")?;
-                let body: Option<LuaString> = t.get("body")?;
+                let body: Option<BString> = t.get("body")?;
 
                 let mut headers_map = HeaderMap::new();
                 if let Some(headers) = headers {
diff --git a/src/lune/builtins/net/websocket.rs b/src/lune/builtins/net/websocket.rs
index fb7233c..5dba4ec 100644
--- a/src/lune/builtins/net/websocket.rs
+++ b/src/lune/builtins/net/websocket.rs
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ use std::sync::{
     Arc,
 };
 
+use bstr::{BString, ByteSlice};
 use mlua::prelude::*;
 
 use futures_util::{
@@ -160,7 +161,7 @@ where
 
         methods.add_async_method(
             "send",
-            |_, this, (string, as_binary): (LuaString, Option<bool>)| async move {
+            |_, this, (string, as_binary): (BString, Option<bool>)| async move {
                 this.send(if as_binary.unwrap_or_default() {
                     WsMessage::Binary(string.as_bytes().to_vec())
                 } else {
diff --git a/src/lune/builtins/serde/encode_decode.rs b/src/lune/builtins/serde/encode_decode.rs
index 1f83ce4..d8bae5c 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;
@@ -89,7 +90,7 @@ 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..910cb59 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;
@@ -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)
@@ -35,7 +36,7 @@ fn serde_decode<'lua>(
 
 async fn serde_compress<'lua>(
     lua: &'lua Lua,
-    (format, str): (CompressDecompressFormat, LuaString<'lua>),
+    (format, str): (CompressDecompressFormat, BString),
 ) -> LuaResult<LuaString<'lua>> {
     let bytes = compress(format, str).await?;
     lua.create_string(bytes)
@@ -43,7 +44,7 @@ async fn serde_compress<'lua>(
 
 async fn serde_decompress<'lua>(
     lua: &'lua Lua,
-    (format, str): (CompressDecompressFormat, LuaString<'lua>),
+    (format, str): (CompressDecompressFormat, BString),
 ) -> LuaResult<LuaString<'lua>> {
     let bytes = decompress(format, str).await?;
     lua.create_string(bytes)
diff --git a/tests/fs/copy.luau b/tests/fs/copy.luau
index c7ed6dd..1b52320 100644
--- a/tests/fs/copy.luau
+++ b/tests/fs/copy.luau
@@ -50,15 +50,15 @@ assert(fs.isFile(TEMP_ROOT_PATH_2 .. "/foo/buzz"), "Missing copied file - root/f
 -- Make sure the copied files are correct
 
 assert(
-	fs.readFile(TEMP_ROOT_PATH_2 .. "/foo/bar/baz") == utils.binaryBlob,
+	fs.readFile(TEMP_ROOT_PATH_2 .. "/foo/bar/baz") == buffer.tostring(utils.binaryBlob),
 	"Invalid copied file - root/foo/bar/baz"
 )
 assert(
-	fs.readFile(TEMP_ROOT_PATH_2 .. "/foo/fizz") == utils.binaryBlob,
+	fs.readFile(TEMP_ROOT_PATH_2 .. "/foo/fizz") == buffer.tostring(utils.binaryBlob),
 	"Invalid copied file - root/foo/fizz"
 )
 assert(
-	fs.readFile(TEMP_ROOT_PATH_2 .. "/foo/buzz") == utils.binaryBlob,
+	fs.readFile(TEMP_ROOT_PATH_2 .. "/foo/buzz") == buffer.tostring(utils.binaryBlob),
 	"Invalid copied file - root/foo/buzz"
 )
 
diff --git a/tests/fs/files.luau b/tests/fs/files.luau
index a49412e..38b7485 100644
--- a/tests/fs/files.luau
+++ b/tests/fs/files.luau
@@ -11,6 +11,8 @@ fs.writeDir(TEMP_ROOT_PATH)
 
 -- Write both of our files
 
+-- binaryBlob is of type buffer to make sure fs.writeFile
+-- works with both strings and buffers
 fs.writeFile(TEMP_ROOT_PATH .. "/test_binary", utils.binaryBlob)
 fs.writeFile(TEMP_ROOT_PATH .. "/test_json.json", utils.jsonBlob)
 
@@ -18,7 +20,7 @@ fs.writeFile(TEMP_ROOT_PATH .. "/test_json.json", utils.jsonBlob)
 -- wrote gets us back the original strings
 
 assert(
-	fs.readFile(TEMP_ROOT_PATH .. "/test_binary") == utils.binaryBlob,
+	fs.readFile(TEMP_ROOT_PATH .. "/test_binary") == buffer.tostring(utils.binaryBlob),
 	"Binary file round-trip resulted in different strings"
 )
 
diff --git a/tests/fs/metadata.luau b/tests/fs/metadata.luau
index e926a2c..8a5a795 100644
--- a/tests/fs/metadata.luau
+++ b/tests/fs/metadata.luau
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@ assert(metaFile.kind == "file", "File metadata kind was invalid")
 
 local metaBefore = fs.metadata(TEMP_FILE_PATH)
 task.wait(1)
-fs.writeFile(TEMP_FILE_PATH, utils.binaryBlob .. "\n")
+fs.writeFile(TEMP_FILE_PATH, buffer.tostring(utils.binaryBlob) .. "\n")
 local metaAfter = fs.metadata(TEMP_FILE_PATH)
 
 assert(
diff --git a/tests/fs/move.luau b/tests/fs/move.luau
index 868a095..749c8cb 100644
--- a/tests/fs/move.luau
+++ b/tests/fs/move.luau
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ fs.move("bin/move_test_json.json", "bin/moved_test_json.json")
 -- wrote gets us back the original strings
 
 assert(
-	fs.readFile("bin/moved_test_binary") == utils.binaryBlob,
+	fs.readFile("bin/moved_test_binary") == buffer.tostring(utils.binaryBlob),
 	"Binary file round-trip resulted in different strings"
 )
 
diff --git a/tests/fs/utils.luau b/tests/fs/utils.luau
index a5a947e..89a6964 100644
--- a/tests/fs/utils.luau
+++ b/tests/fs/utils.luau
@@ -16,6 +16,6 @@ local jsonBlob = serde.encode("json", {
 -- Return testing data and utils
 
 return {
-	binaryBlob = binaryBlob,
+	binaryBlob = buffer.fromstring(binaryBlob),
 	jsonBlob = jsonBlob,
 }
diff --git a/tests/net/socket/wss_rw.luau b/tests/net/socket/wss_rw.luau
index 8ae6066..fefb244 100644
--- a/tests/net/socket/wss_rw.luau
+++ b/tests/net/socket/wss_rw.luau
@@ -22,7 +22,9 @@ end)
 
 task.wait(1)
 
-socket.send('{"op":1,"d":null}')
+local payload = '{"op":1,"d":null}'
+socket.send(payload)
+socket.send(buffer.fromstring(payload))
 socket.close(1000)
 
 task.cancel(delayedThread)
diff --git a/tests/roblox/rbx-test-files b/tests/roblox/rbx-test-files
index 52f2c1a..655b5cc 160000
--- a/tests/roblox/rbx-test-files
+++ b/tests/roblox/rbx-test-files
@@ -1 +1 @@
-Subproject commit 52f2c1a686e7b67d996005eeddf63b97b170a741
+Subproject commit 655b5cc6a64024709d3662cc45ec4319c87de5a2
diff --git a/tests/serde/compression/files.luau b/tests/serde/compression/files.luau
index 8d41492..6f32ed0 100644
--- a/tests/serde/compression/files.luau
+++ b/tests/serde/compression/files.luau
@@ -33,69 +33,60 @@ local TESTS: { Test } = {
 }
 
 local failed = false
-for _, test in TESTS do
-	local source = fs.readFile(test.Source)
-	local target = fs.readFile(test.Target)
-
-	local success, compressed = pcall(serde.compress, test.Format, source)
+local function testOperation(
+	operationName: "Compress" | "Decompress",
+	operation: (
+		format: serde.CompressDecompressFormat,
+		s: buffer | string
+	) -> string,
+	format: serde.CompressDecompressFormat,
+	source: string | buffer,
+	target: string
+)
+	local success, res = pcall(operation, format, source)
 	if not success then
 		stdio.ewrite(
 			string.format(
-				"Compressing source using '%s' format threw an error!\n%s",
-				tostring(test.Format),
-				tostring(compressed)
+				"%sing source using '%s' format threw an error!\n%s",
+				operationName,
+				tostring(format),
+				tostring(res)
 			)
 		)
 		failed = true
-		continue
-	elseif compressed ~= target then
+	elseif res ~= target then
 		stdio.ewrite(
 			string.format(
-				"Compressing source using '%s' format did not produce target!\n",
-				tostring(test.Format)
+				"%sing source using '%s' format did not produce target!\n",
+				operationName,
+				tostring(format)
 			)
 		)
 		stdio.ewrite(
 			string.format(
-				"Compressed (%d chars long):\n%s\nTarget (%d chars long):\n%s\n\n",
-				#compressed,
-				tostring(compressed),
+				"%sed (%d chars long):\n%s\nTarget (%d chars long):\n%s\n\n",
+				operationName,
+				#res,
+				tostring(res),
 				#target,
 				tostring(target)
 			)
 		)
 		failed = true
-		continue
 	end
+end
 
-	local success2, decompressed = pcall(serde.decompress, test.Format, target)
-	if not success2 then
-		stdio.ewrite(
-			string.format(
-				"Decompressing source using '%s' format threw an error!\n%s",
-				tostring(test.Format),
-				tostring(decompressed)
-			)
-		)
-		failed = true
-		continue
-	elseif decompressed ~= source then
-		stdio.ewrite(
-			string.format(
-				"Decompressing target using '%s' format did not produce source!\n",
-				tostring(test.Format)
-			)
-		)
-		stdio.ewrite(
-			string.format(
-				"Decompressed (%d chars long):\n%s\n\n",
-				#decompressed,
-				tostring(decompressed)
-			)
-		)
-		failed = true
-		continue
-	end
+for _, test in TESTS do
+	local source = fs.readFile(test.Source)
+	local target = fs.readFile(test.Target)
+
+	-- Compression
+	testOperation("Compress", serde.compress, test.Format, source, target)
+	testOperation("Compress", serde.compress, test.Format, buffer.fromstring(source), target)
+
+	-- Decompression
+	testOperation("Decompress", serde.decompress, test.Format, target, source)
+	testOperation("Decompress", serde.decompress, test.Format, buffer.fromstring(target), source)
 end
 
 if failed then
diff --git a/types/fs.luau b/types/fs.luau
index 1d80604..823f6f7 100644
--- a/types/fs.luau
+++ b/types/fs.luau
@@ -144,7 +144,7 @@ end
 	@param path The path of the file
 	@param contents The contents of the file
 ]=]
-function fs.writeFile(path: string, contents: string) end
+function fs.writeFile(path: string, contents: buffer | string) end
 
 --[=[
 	@within FS
diff --git a/types/net.luau b/types/net.luau
index 47c6249..e9b793e 100644
--- a/types/net.luau
+++ b/types/net.luau
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ export type FetchParamsOptions = {
 export type FetchParams = {
 	url: string,
 	method: HttpMethod?,
-	body: string?,
+	body: (string | buffer)?,
 	query: HttpQueryMap?,
 	headers: HttpHeaderMap?,
 	options: FetchParamsOptions?,
@@ -101,7 +101,7 @@ export type ServeRequest = {
 export type ServeResponse = {
 	status: number?,
 	headers: { [string]: string }?,
-	body: string?,
+	body: (string | buffer)?,
 }
 
 type ServeHttpHandler = (request: ServeRequest) -> string | ServeResponse
@@ -174,7 +174,7 @@ export type ServeHandle = {
 export type WebSocket = {
 	closeCode: number?,
 	close: (code: number?) -> (),
-	send: (message: string, asBinaryMessage: boolean?) -> (),
+	send: (message: (string | buffer)?, asBinaryMessage: boolean?) -> (),
 	next: () -> string?,
 }
 
diff --git a/types/serde.luau b/types/serde.luau
index 6bd63db..c4a21d8 100644
--- a/types/serde.luau
+++ b/types/serde.luau
@@ -70,7 +70,7 @@ end
 	@param encoded The string to decode
 	@return The decoded lua value
 ]=]
-function serde.decode(format: EncodeDecodeFormat, encoded: string): any
+function serde.decode(format: EncodeDecodeFormat, encoded: buffer | string): any
 	return nil :: any
 end
 
@@ -93,7 +93,7 @@ end
 	@param s The string to compress
 	@return The compressed string
 ]=]
-function serde.compress(format: CompressDecompressFormat, s: string): string
+function serde.compress(format: CompressDecompressFormat, s: buffer | string): string
 	return nil :: any
 end
 
@@ -116,7 +116,7 @@ end
 	@param s The string to decompress
 	@return The decompressed string
 ]=]
-function serde.decompress(format: CompressDecompressFormat, s: string): string
+function serde.decompress(format: CompressDecompressFormat, s: buffer | string): string
 	return nil :: any
 end