diff --git a/lib/messages.js b/lib/messages.js
index 1993ec8a..37e8b17c 100644
--- a/lib/messages.js
+++ b/lib/messages.js
@@ -1,11 +1,8 @@
 const c = require('compact-encoding')
-const b4a = require('b4a')
 const { DEFAULT_NAMESPACE } = require('./caps')
 const { INVALID_OPLOG_VERSION } = require('hypercore-errors')
 const unslab = require('unslab')
 
-const EMPTY = b4a.alloc(0)
-
 const MANIFEST_PATCH = 0b00000001
 const MANIFEST_PROLOGUE = 0b00000010
 const MANIFEST_LINKED = 0b00000100
@@ -403,14 +400,14 @@ const dataUpgrade = {
     c.uint.preencode(state, u.length)
     nodeArray.preencode(state, u.nodes)
     nodeArray.preencode(state, u.additionalNodes)
-    c.buffer.preencode(state, u.signature)
+    c.optionalBuffer.preencode(state, u.signature)
   },
   encode(state, u) {
     c.uint.encode(state, u.start)
     c.uint.encode(state, u.length)
     nodeArray.encode(state, u.nodes)
     nodeArray.encode(state, u.additionalNodes)
-    c.buffer.encode(state, u.signature)
+    c.optionalBuffer.encode(state, u.signature)
   },
   decode(state) {
     return {
@@ -418,7 +415,7 @@ const dataUpgrade = {
       length: c.uint.decode(state),
       nodes: nodeArray.decode(state),
       additionalNodes: nodeArray.decode(state),
-      signature: c.buffer.decode(state)
+      signature: c.optionalBuffer.decode(state)
     }
   }
 }
@@ -454,7 +451,7 @@ const dataBlock = {
   decode(state) {
     return {
       index: c.uint.decode(state),
-      value: c.buffer.decode(state) || EMPTY,
+      value: c.buffer.decode(state),
       nodes: nodeArray.decode(state)
     }
   }
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 4848a184..f04b3bf1 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@
     "b4a": "^1.1.0",
     "bare-events": "^2.2.0",
     "big-sparse-array": "^1.0.3",
-    "compact-encoding": "^2.11.0",
+    "compact-encoding": "^3.0.0",
     "fast-fifo": "^1.3.0",
     "flat-tree": "^1.9.0",
     "hypercore-crypto": "^3.2.1",
diff --git a/test/streams.js b/test/streams.js
index 48218726..6441420b 100644
--- a/test/streams.js
+++ b/test/streams.js
@@ -97,6 +97,23 @@ test('basic byte stream', async function (t) {
   t.is(expected.length, 0)
 })
 
+test('basic byte stream w/ empty buffers', async function (t) {
+  const core = await create(t)
+
+  // 'end' enforces that it attempts to decode the previous blocks even though they dont contribute to byte length
+  const expected = ['hello', 'world', '', b4a.alloc(0), 'end']
+
+  await core.append(expected)
+
+  t.is(core.length, expected.length, 'all blocks appended')
+  for await (const data of core.createByteStream()) {
+    const r = expected.shift()
+    t.alike(b4a.toString(data), typeof r === 'string' ? r : b4a.toString(r))
+  }
+
+  t.is(expected.length, 0)
+})
+
 test('basic byte stream with byteOffset / byteLength', async function (t) {
   const core = await create(t)