diff --git a/.gitmodules b/.gitmodules
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..57de596
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.gitmodules
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+[submodule "engine/utils/compatto"]
+	path = engine/utils/compatto
+	url = https://github.com/macarie/compatto
diff --git a/client/src/network/MessagePublisher.ts b/client/src/network/MessagePublisher.ts
index de105c5..c0aec28 100644
--- a/client/src/network/MessagePublisher.ts
+++ b/client/src/network/MessagePublisher.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 import type { Message, MessagePublisher } from '@engine/network';
-import { stringify } from '@engine/utils';
+import { serialize } from '@engine/utils';
 
 export class ClientSocketMessagePublisher implements MessagePublisher {
   private socket: WebSocket;
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ export class ClientSocketMessagePublisher implements MessagePublisher {
   public publish() {
     if (this.socket.readyState == WebSocket.OPEN) {
       this.messages.forEach((message: Message) =>
-        this.socket.send(stringify(message))
+        this.socket.send(serialize(message))
       );
       this.messages = [];
     }
diff --git a/client/src/network/MessageQueueReceiver.ts b/client/src/network/MessageQueueReceiver.ts
index 46ca5cc..cb74cf7 100644
--- a/client/src/network/MessageQueueReceiver.ts
+++ b/client/src/network/MessageQueueReceiver.ts
@@ -10,8 +10,10 @@ export class ClientSocketMessageQueueProvider implements MessageQueueProvider {
     this.messages = [];
 
     this.socket.addEventListener('message', (e) => {
-      const messages = parse<Message[]>(e.data);
-      this.messages = this.messages.concat(messages);
+      e.data.arrayBuffer().then((buffer) => {
+        const messages = parse<Message[]>(new Uint8Array(buffer));
+        this.messages = this.messages.concat(messages);
+      });
     });
   }
 
diff --git a/engine/utils/coding.ts b/engine/utils/coding.ts
index 283844f..d0904fe 100644
--- a/engine/utils/coding.ts
+++ b/engine/utils/coding.ts
@@ -1,3 +1,8 @@
+import { compatto } from './compatto';
+import dictionary from './dictionary';
+
+const { compress, decompress } = compatto({ dictionary });
+
 const replacer = (_key: any, value: any) => {
   if (value instanceof Map) {
     return {
@@ -31,10 +36,17 @@ const reviver = (_key: any, value: any) => {
 };
 
 // "deterministic" stringify
-export const stringify = (obj: any) => {
+
+export const stringify = (obj: any): string => {
   return JSON.stringify(sortObj(obj), replacer);
 };
 
-export const parse = <T>(str: string) => {
-  return JSON.parse(str, reviver) as unknown as T;
+export const serialize = (obj: any): Uint8Array => {
+  //return new Uint8Array(new TextEncoder().encode(stringify(obj)));
+  return compress(stringify(obj));
+};
+
+export const parse = <T>(serialized: Uint8Array): T => {
+  //return JSON.parse(new TextDecoder().decode(serialized), reviver) as T;
+  return JSON.parse(decompress(serialized), reviver) as T;
 };
diff --git a/engine/utils/compatto b/engine/utils/compatto
new file mode 160000
index 0000000..68628ac
--- /dev/null
+++ b/engine/utils/compatto
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Subproject commit 68628ac6f173f50b81cc2d83a75de176484b2c7f
diff --git a/engine/utils/dictionary.ts b/engine/utils/dictionary.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5a19c6d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/engine/utils/dictionary.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,56 @@
+// basically a list of common strings between network components to help in compression
+// can't be longer than 254 "words"
+export default [
+  '{',
+  '}',
+  ',',
+  '"',
+  "'",
+  ',',
+  '1',
+  '2',
+  '3',
+  '4',
+  '5',
+  '6',
+  '7',
+  '8',
+  '9',
+  '0',
+  '.',
+  'Map',
+  '[',
+  ']',
+  'BoundingBox',
+  'args',
+  'height',
+  'width',
+  'name',
+  'body',
+  'Velocity',
+  'Control',
+  'Component',
+  'NEW_ENTITIES',
+  'REMOVE_ENTITIES',
+  'UPDATE_ENTITIES',
+  'NEW_INPUT',
+  'REMOVE_INPUT',
+  'boundingBox',
+  'dTheta',
+  'id',
+  'Forces',
+  ':',
+  'control',
+  'controllableBy',
+  'dimension',
+  'rotation',
+  'forces',
+  'velocity',
+  'center',
+  'dCartesian',
+  'x',
+  'y',
+  '"body":[{"args":{',
+  'controlVelocityComponent',
+  '"boundingBox":{"center":'
+];
diff --git a/server/src/network/MessagePublisher.ts b/server/src/network/MessagePublisher.ts
index 9c6011f..0b8340e 100644
--- a/server/src/network/MessagePublisher.ts
+++ b/server/src/network/MessagePublisher.ts
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 import { Message, MessagePublisher } from '@engine/network';
 import { Server } from 'bun';
 import { Constants } from '../constants';
-import { stringify } from '@engine/utils';
+import { serialize } from '@engine/utils';
 
 export class ServerSocketMessagePublisher implements MessagePublisher {
   private server?: Server;
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ export class ServerSocketMessagePublisher implements MessagePublisher {
 
   public publish() {
     if (this.messages.length) {
-      this.server?.publish(Constants.GAME_TOPIC, stringify(this.messages));
+      this.server?.publish(Constants.GAME_TOPIC, serialize(this.messages));
 
       this.messages = [];
     }
diff --git a/server/src/server.ts b/server/src/server.ts
index 251fd89..b99380b 100644
--- a/server/src/server.ts
+++ b/server/src/server.ts
@@ -10,11 +10,10 @@ import {
   Session,
   SessionManager
 } from './network';
-import { parse } from '@engine/utils';
+import { parse, serialize } from '@engine/utils';
 import { Server, ServerWebSocket } from 'bun';
 import { Input } from '@engine/systems';
 import { Control, NetworkUpdateable } from '@engine/components';
-import { stringify } from '@engine/utils';
 
 export class GameServer {
   private server?: Server;
@@ -44,7 +43,8 @@ export class GameServer {
         websocket: {
           open: (ws) => this.openWebsocket(ws),
           message: (ws, msg) => {
-            if (typeof msg === 'string') this.websocketMessage(ws, msg);
+            if (typeof msg !== 'string')
+              this.websocketMessage(ws, new Uint8Array(msg));
           },
           close: (ws) => this.closeWebsocket(ws)
         }
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ export class GameServer {
 
   private websocketMessage(
     websocket: ServerWebSocket<SessionData>,
-    message: string
+    message: Uint8Array
   ) {
     const receivedMessage = parse<ServerMessage>(message);
     receivedMessage.sessionData = websocket.data;
@@ -117,7 +117,7 @@ export class GameServer {
           })
       }
     ];
-    websocket.sendText(stringify(addCurrentEntities));
+    websocket.sendBinary(serialize(addCurrentEntities));
 
     const addNewPlayer: Message = {
       type: MessageType.NEW_ENTITIES,