diff --git a/leveldown.js b/leveldown.js
index 209e6f6..02a87f5 100644
--- a/leveldown.js
+++ b/leveldown.js
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ var eos = require('end-of-stream')
 var ids = require('numeric-id-map')
 var lpstream = require('length-prefixed-stream')
 var messages = require('./messages')
+var bufferAlloc = require('buffer-alloc')
 
 var ENCODERS = [
   messages.Get,
@@ -206,7 +207,7 @@ Multilevel.prototype._batch = function (batch, opts, cb) {
 Multilevel.prototype._write = function (req) {
   if (this._requests.length + this._iterators.length === 1) ref(this._ref)
   var enc = ENCODERS[req.tag]
-  var buf = new Buffer(enc.encodingLength(req) + 1)
+  var buf = bufferAlloc(enc.encodingLength(req) + 1)
   buf[0] = req.tag
   enc.encode(req, buf, 1)
   this._encode.write(buf)
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index c276257..1da1301 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
   "main": "index.js",
   "dependencies": {
     "abstract-leveldown": "^2.4.1",
+    "buffer-alloc": "^1.1.0",
     "duplexify": "^3.4.2",
     "end-of-stream": "^1.1.0",
     "length-prefixed-stream": "^1.4.0",
diff --git a/server.js b/server.js
index f8775d3..ccfc21b 100644
--- a/server.js
+++ b/server.js
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ var lpstream = require('length-prefixed-stream')
 var eos = require('end-of-stream')
 var duplexify = require('duplexify')
 var messages = require('./messages')
+var bufferAlloc = require('buffer-alloc')
 
 var DECODERS = [
   messages.Get,
@@ -72,7 +73,7 @@ module.exports = function (db, opts) {
 
     function callback (id, err, value) {
       var msg = {id: id, error: err && err.message, value: value}
-      var buf = new Buffer(messages.Callback.encodingLength(msg) + 1)
+      var buf = bufferAlloc(messages.Callback.encodingLength(msg) + 1)
       buf[0] = 0
       messages.Callback.encode(msg, buf, 1)
       encode.write(buf)
@@ -163,7 +164,7 @@ function Iterator (down, req, encode) {
     self._data.key = key
     self._data.value = value
     self.batch--
-    var buf = new Buffer(messages.IteratorData.encodingLength(self._data) + 1)
+    var buf = bufferAlloc(messages.IteratorData.encodingLength(self._data) + 1)
     buf[0] = 1
     messages.IteratorData.encode(self._data, buf, 1)
     encode.write(buf)