diff --git a/packages/pdfkit/package.json b/packages/pdfkit/package.json
index b6659da4f..1e0179ecb 100644
--- a/packages/pdfkit/package.json
+++ b/packages/pdfkit/package.json
@@ -30,14 +30,13 @@
   ],
   "dependencies": {
     "@babel/runtime": "^7.20.13",
-    "browserify-zlib": "^0.2.0",
     "@noble/ciphers": "^1.0.0",
     "@noble/hashes": "^1.6.0",
     "fontkit": "^2.0.2",
     "js-md5": "^0.8.3",
     "linebreak": "^1.1.0",
-    "png-js": "^2.0.0",
-    "vite-compatible-readable-stream": "^3.6.1"
+    "pako": "^2.1.0",
+    "png-js": "^2.0.0"
   },
   "devDependencies": {
     "iconv-lite": "^0.4.13"
diff --git a/packages/pdfkit/rollup.config.js b/packages/pdfkit/rollup.config.js
index ccd1e4299..b7377c90f 100644
--- a/packages/pdfkit/rollup.config.js
+++ b/packages/pdfkit/rollup.config.js
@@ -18,11 +18,7 @@ const babelConfig = () => ({
 });
 
 const getExternal = ({ browser }) => [
-  ...Object.keys(pkg.dependencies).filter(
-    (dep) =>
-      !browser ||
-      !['vite-compatible-readable-stream', 'browserify-zlib'].includes(dep)
-  ),
+  ...Object.keys(pkg.dependencies),
   /\/node_modules\/pako\//,
   /@babel\/runtime/,
   'js-md5',
@@ -38,7 +34,6 @@ const getPlugins = ({ browser }) => [
         ignore(['fs']),
         alias({
           entries: [
-            // See https://github.com/browserify/browserify-zlib/pull/45
             {
               find: 'pako/lib/zlib/zstream',
               replacement: 'pako/lib/zlib/zstream.js'
@@ -46,9 +41,7 @@ const getPlugins = ({ browser }) => [
             {
               find: 'pako/lib/zlib/constants',
               replacement: 'pako/lib/zlib/constants.js'
-            },
-            { find: 'stream', replacement: 'vite-compatible-readable-stream' },
-            { find: 'zlib', replacement: 'browserify-zlib' }
+            }
           ]
         }),
         commonjs(),
diff --git a/packages/pdfkit/src/binary.js b/packages/pdfkit/src/binary.js
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..3c9d9a463
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/pdfkit/src/binary.js
@@ -0,0 +1,77 @@
+/*
+Binary helpers — Uint8Array-native replacements for Node Buffer operations.
+*/
+
+const HEX = '0123456789abcdef';
+
+export const fromBinaryString = (str) => {
+  const out = new Uint8Array(str.length);
+  for (let i = 0; i < str.length; i++) out[i] = str.charCodeAt(i) & 0xff;
+  return out;
+};
+
+export const toBinaryString = (bytes) => {
+  const chunkSize = 0x8000;
+  let out = '';
+  for (let i = 0; i < bytes.length; i += chunkSize) {
+    const end = Math.min(i + chunkSize, bytes.length);
+    out += String.fromCharCode.apply(null, bytes.subarray(i, end));
+  }
+  return out;
+};
+
+export const fromUtf8String = (str) => new TextEncoder().encode(str);
+
+// Matches Buffer.from(`\ufeff${str}`, 'utf16le') + byte swap: UTF-16BE with BOM.
+export const fromUtf16BEWithBOM = (str) => {
+  const withBom = `\ufeff${str}`;
+  const out = new Uint8Array(withBom.length * 2);
+  for (let i = 0; i < withBom.length; i++) {
+    const code = withBom.charCodeAt(i);
+    out[i * 2] = (code >> 8) & 0xff;
+    out[i * 2 + 1] = code & 0xff;
+  }
+  return out;
+};
+
+export const fromBase64 = (str) => fromBinaryString(atob(str));
+
+export const toHex = (bytes) => {
+  let out = '';
+  for (let i = 0; i < bytes.length; i++) {
+    out += HEX[bytes[i] >> 4] + HEX[bytes[i] & 0xf];
+  }
+  return out;
+};
+
+export const concat = (arrays) => {
+  let total = 0;
+  for (const a of arrays) total += a.length;
+  const out = new Uint8Array(total);
+  let offset = 0;
+  for (const a of arrays) {
+    out.set(a, offset);
+    offset += a.length;
+  }
+  return out;
+};
+
+export const readUInt16BE = (bytes, offset = 0) =>
+  ((bytes[offset] << 8) | bytes[offset + 1]) >>> 0;
+
+export const readUInt16LE = (bytes, offset = 0) =>
+  ((bytes[offset + 1] << 8) | bytes[offset]) >>> 0;
+
+export const readUInt32BE = (bytes, offset = 0) =>
+  (bytes[offset] * 0x1000000 +
+    ((bytes[offset + 1] << 16) |
+      (bytes[offset + 2] << 8) |
+      bytes[offset + 3])) >>>
+  0;
+
+export const readUInt32LE = (bytes, offset = 0) =>
+  ((bytes[offset] |
+    (bytes[offset + 1] << 8) |
+    (bytes[offset + 2] << 16)) +
+    bytes[offset + 3] * 0x1000000) >>>
+  0;
diff --git a/packages/pdfkit/src/document.js b/packages/pdfkit/src/document.js
index b3296f4cd..782d7a406 100644
--- a/packages/pdfkit/src/document.js
+++ b/packages/pdfkit/src/document.js
@@ -3,7 +3,8 @@ PDFDocument - represents an entire PDF document
 By Devon Govett
 */
 
-import stream from 'stream';
+import MiniReadable from './mini-stream';
+import { fromBinaryString } from './binary';
 import PDFObject from './object';
 import PDFReference from './reference';
 import PDFPage from './page';
@@ -24,9 +25,9 @@ import SubsetMixin from './mixins/subsets';
 import TableMixin from './mixins/table';
 import MetadataMixin from './mixins/metadata';
 
-class PDFDocument extends stream.Readable {
+class PDFDocument extends MiniReadable {
   constructor(options = {}) {
-    super(options);
+    super();
     this.options = options;
 
     // PDF version
@@ -254,12 +255,9 @@ class PDFDocument extends stream.Readable {
     return ref;
   }
 
-  _read() {}
-  // do nothing, but this method is required by node
-
   _write(data) {
-    if (!Buffer.isBuffer(data)) {
-      data = Buffer.from(data + '\n', 'binary');
+    if (!(data instanceof Uint8Array)) {
+      data = fromBinaryString(data + '\n');
     }
 
     this.push(data);
diff --git a/packages/pdfkit/src/image.js b/packages/pdfkit/src/image.js
index 23af05baf..ff84486fa 100644
--- a/packages/pdfkit/src/image.js
+++ b/packages/pdfkit/src/image.js
@@ -4,20 +4,21 @@ By Devon Govett
 */
 
 import fs from 'fs';
+import { fromBase64 } from './binary';
 import JPEG from './image/jpeg';
 import PNG from './image/png';
 
 class PDFImage {
   static open(src, label) {
     let data;
-    if (Buffer.isBuffer(src)) {
+    if (src instanceof Uint8Array) {
       data = src;
     } else if (src instanceof ArrayBuffer) {
-      data = Buffer.from(new Uint8Array(src));
+      data = new Uint8Array(src);
     } else {
       const match = /^data:.+?;base64,(.*)$/.exec(src);
       if (match) {
-        data = Buffer.from(match[1], 'base64');
+        data = fromBase64(match[1]);
       } else {
         data = fs.readFileSync(src);
         if (!data) {
@@ -28,7 +29,12 @@ class PDFImage {
 
     if (data[0] === 0xff && data[1] === 0xd8) {
       return new JPEG(data, label);
-    } else if (data[0] === 0x89 && data.toString('ascii', 1, 4) === 'PNG') {
+    } else if (
+      data[0] === 0x89 &&
+      data[1] === 0x50 &&
+      data[2] === 0x4e &&
+      data[3] === 0x47
+    ) {
       return new PNG(data, label);
     } else {
       throw new Error('Unknown image format.');
diff --git a/packages/pdfkit/src/image/jpeg.js b/packages/pdfkit/src/image/jpeg.js
index 8510df32c..b0dcccf96 100644
--- a/packages/pdfkit/src/image/jpeg.js
+++ b/packages/pdfkit/src/image/jpeg.js
@@ -1,6 +1,14 @@
+import {
+  readUInt16BE,
+  readUInt16LE,
+  readUInt32BE,
+  readUInt32LE,
+  toBinaryString,
+} from '../binary';
+
 /**
  * Parse EXIF orientation from JPEG buffer
- * @param {Buffer} data - JPEG image data
+ * @param {Uint8Array} data - JPEG image data
  * @returns {number|null} Orientation value (1-8) or null if not found
  */
 const parseExifOrientation = (data) => {
@@ -13,7 +21,7 @@ const parseExifOrientation = (data) => {
     while (pos < data.length && data[pos] !== 0xff) pos++;
     if (pos >= data.length - 4) return null;
 
-    const marker = data.readUInt16BE(pos);
+    const marker = readUInt16BE(data, pos);
     pos += 2;
 
     // SOS marker - image data starts, stop searching
@@ -23,28 +31,28 @@ const parseExifOrientation = (data) => {
     if ((marker >= 0xffd0 && marker <= 0xffd9) || marker === 0xff01) continue;
 
     if (pos + 2 > data.length) return null;
-    const segmentLength = data.readUInt16BE(pos);
+    const segmentLength = readUInt16BE(data, pos);
 
     // APP1 (EXIF) marker
     if (marker === 0xffe1 && pos + 8 <= data.length) {
-      const exifHeader = data.subarray(pos + 2, pos + 8).toString('binary');
+      const exifHeader = toBinaryString(data.subarray(pos + 2, pos + 8));
       if (exifHeader === 'Exif\x00\x00') {
         const tiffStart = pos + 8;
         if (tiffStart + 8 > data.length) return null;
 
         // Byte order
-        const byteOrder = data
-          .subarray(tiffStart, tiffStart + 2)
-          .toString('ascii');
+        const byteOrder = toBinaryString(
+          data.subarray(tiffStart, tiffStart + 2),
+        );
         const isLittleEndian = byteOrder === 'II';
         if (!isLittleEndian && byteOrder !== 'MM') return null;
 
         const read16 = isLittleEndian
-          ? (o) => data.readUInt16LE(o)
-          : (o) => data.readUInt16BE(o);
+          ? (o) => readUInt16LE(data, o)
+          : (o) => readUInt16BE(data, o);
         const read32 = isLittleEndian
-          ? (o) => data.readUInt32LE(o)
-          : (o) => data.readUInt32BE(o);
+          ? (o) => readUInt32LE(data, o)
+          : (o) => readUInt32BE(data, o);
 
         // Verify TIFF magic number (42)
         if (read16(tiffStart + 2) !== 42) return null;
@@ -91,7 +99,7 @@ class JPEG {
     let marker;
     this.data = data;
     this.label = label;
-    if (this.data.readUInt16BE(0) !== 0xffd8) {
+    if (readUInt16BE(this.data, 0) !== 0xffd8) {
       throw 'SOI not found in JPEG';
     }
 
@@ -104,12 +112,12 @@ class JPEG {
       while (pos < this.data.length && this.data[pos] !== 0xff) pos++;
       if (pos >= this.data.length) break;
 
-      marker = this.data.readUInt16BE(pos);
+      marker = readUInt16BE(this.data, pos);
       pos += 2;
       if (MARKERS.includes(marker)) {
         break;
       }
-      pos += this.data.readUInt16BE(pos);
+      pos += readUInt16BE(this.data, pos);
     }
 
     if (!MARKERS.includes(marker)) {
@@ -118,10 +126,10 @@ class JPEG {
     pos += 2;
 
     this.bits = this.data[pos++];
-    this.height = this.data.readUInt16BE(pos);
+    this.height = readUInt16BE(this.data, pos);
     pos += 2;
 
-    this.width = this.data.readUInt16BE(pos);
+    this.width = readUInt16BE(this.data, pos);
     pos += 2;
 
     const channels = this.data[pos++];
diff --git a/packages/pdfkit/src/image/png.js b/packages/pdfkit/src/image/png.js
index 9feeff905..49dd080c7 100644
--- a/packages/pdfkit/src/image/png.js
+++ b/packages/pdfkit/src/image/png.js
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-import zlib from 'zlib';
+import pako from 'pako';
 import PNG from 'png-js';
 
 class PNGImage {
@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@ class PNGImage {
     } else {
       // embed the color palette in the PDF as an object stream
       const palette = this.document.ref();
-      palette.end(Buffer.from(this.image.palette));
+      palette.end(new Uint8Array(this.image.palette));
 
       // build the color space array for the image
       this.obj.data['ColorSpace'] = [
@@ -126,8 +126,8 @@ class PNGImage {
       let a, p;
       const colorCount = this.image.colors;
       const pixelCount = this.width * this.height;
-      const imgData = Buffer.alloc(pixelCount * colorCount);
-      const alphaChannel = Buffer.alloc(pixelCount);
+      const imgData = new Uint8Array(pixelCount * colorCount);
+      const alphaChannel = new Uint8Array(pixelCount);
 
       let i = (p = a = 0);
       const len = pixels.length;
@@ -142,8 +142,8 @@ class PNGImage {
         i += skipByteCount;
       }
 
-      this.imgData = zlib.deflateSync(imgData);
-      this.alphaChannel = zlib.deflateSync(alphaChannel);
+      this.imgData = pako.deflate(imgData);
+      this.alphaChannel = pako.deflate(alphaChannel);
       return this.finalize();
     });
   }
@@ -152,7 +152,7 @@ class PNGImage {
     const transparency = this.image.transparency.indexed;
     const isInterlaced = this.image.interlaceMethod === 1;
     return this.image.decodePixels((pixels) => {
-      const alphaChannel = Buffer.alloc(this.width * this.height);
+      const alphaChannel = new Uint8Array(this.width * this.height);
 
       let i = 0;
       for (let j = 0, end = pixels.length; j < end; j++) {
@@ -161,17 +161,17 @@ class PNGImage {
 
       // For interlaced images, re-encode the decoded pixel data
       if (isInterlaced) {
-        this.imgData = zlib.deflateSync(Buffer.from(pixels));
+        this.imgData = pako.deflate(pixels);
       }
 
-      this.alphaChannel = zlib.deflateSync(alphaChannel);
+      this.alphaChannel = pako.deflate(alphaChannel);
       return this.finalize();
     });
   }
 
   decodeData() {
     this.image.decodePixels((pixels) => {
-      this.imgData = zlib.deflateSync(pixels);
+      this.imgData = pako.deflate(pixels);
       this.finalize();
     });
   }
diff --git a/packages/pdfkit/src/line_wrapper.js b/packages/pdfkit/src/line_wrapper.js
index 66aaeb902..4b11d8d40 100644
--- a/packages/pdfkit/src/line_wrapper.js
+++ b/packages/pdfkit/src/line_wrapper.js
@@ -1,13 +1,12 @@
-import { EventEmitter } from 'events';
 import LineBreaker from 'linebreak';
 import { PDFNumber } from './utils';
 
 const SOFT_HYPHEN = '\u00AD';
 const HYPHEN = '-';
 
-class LineWrapper extends EventEmitter {
+class LineWrapper {
   constructor(document, options) {
-    super();
+    this._listeners = {};
     this.document = document;
     this.horizontalScaling = options.horizontalScaling || 100;
     this.indent = ((options.indent || 0) * this.horizontalScaling) / 100;
@@ -85,6 +84,29 @@ class LineWrapper extends EventEmitter {
     });
   }
 
+  on(event, fn) {
+    (this._listeners[event] = this._listeners[event] || []).push(fn);
+    return this;
+  }
+
+  once(event, fn) {
+    const wrap = (...args) => {
+      const arr = this._listeners[event];
+      if (arr) {
+        const idx = arr.indexOf(wrap);
+        if (idx !== -1) arr.splice(idx, 1);
+      }
+      fn(...args);
+    };
+    return this.on(event, wrap);
+  }
+
+  emit(event, ...args) {
+    const arr = this._listeners[event];
+    if (!arr) return;
+    for (const fn of arr.slice()) fn(...args);
+  }
+
   wordWidth(word) {
     return PDFNumber(
       this.document.widthOfString(word, this) +
diff --git a/packages/pdfkit/src/mini-stream.js b/packages/pdfkit/src/mini-stream.js
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..0b19989b4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/pdfkit/src/mini-stream.js
@@ -0,0 +1,79 @@
+/*
+Minimal Readable stream shim — only what PDFDocument needs:
+on/once/off/emit, push(chunk|null), pipe(dest).
+
+Buffers pushes until the first `data` listener is added, then flushes on a
+microtask so a caller can attach both `data` and `end` listeners before
+flowing starts. After the first flush, pushes emit synchronously.
+*/
+
+class MiniReadable {
+  constructor() {
+    this._listeners = {};
+    this._buffered = [];
+    this._endBuffered = false;
+    this._flowing = false;
+    this._scheduled = false;
+  }
+
+  on(event, fn) {
+    (this._listeners[event] = this._listeners[event] || []).push(fn);
+    if (event === 'data' && !this._scheduled) {
+      this._scheduled = true;
+      queueMicrotask(() => {
+        this._flowing = true;
+        const chunks = this._buffered;
+        this._buffered = [];
+        for (const chunk of chunks) this.emit('data', chunk);
+        if (this._endBuffered) this.emit('end');
+      });
+    }
+    return this;
+  }
+
+  once(event, fn) {
+    const wrap = (...args) => {
+      this.off(event, wrap);
+      fn(...args);
+    };
+    return this.on(event, wrap);
+  }
+
+  off(event, fn) {
+    const arr = this._listeners[event];
+    if (!arr) return this;
+    const idx = arr.indexOf(fn);
+    if (idx !== -1) arr.splice(idx, 1);
+    return this;
+  }
+
+  removeListener(event, fn) {
+    return this.off(event, fn);
+  }
+
+  emit(event, ...args) {
+    const arr = this._listeners[event];
+    if (!arr) return;
+    for (const fn of arr.slice()) fn(...args);
+  }
+
+  push(chunk) {
+    if (chunk === null) {
+      if (this._flowing) this.emit('end');
+      else this._endBuffered = true;
+      return false;
+    }
+    if (this._flowing) this.emit('data', chunk);
+    else this._buffered.push(chunk);
+    return true;
+  }
+
+  pipe(dest) {
+    this.on('data', (chunk) => dest.write(chunk));
+    this.on('end', () => dest.end && dest.end());
+    this.on('error', (err) => dest.emit && dest.emit('error', err));
+    return dest;
+  }
+}
+
+export default MiniReadable;
diff --git a/packages/pdfkit/src/mixins/attachments.js b/packages/pdfkit/src/mixins/attachments.js
index 063a76e6b..5a2961175 100644
--- a/packages/pdfkit/src/mixins/attachments.js
+++ b/packages/pdfkit/src/mixins/attachments.js
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 import fs from 'fs';
+import { fromBase64 } from '../binary';
 import { md5Hex } from '../crypto/md5';
 
 export default {
@@ -28,17 +29,17 @@ export default {
     if (!src) {
       throw new Error('No src specified');
     }
-    if (Buffer.isBuffer(src)) {
+    if (src instanceof Uint8Array) {
       data = src;
     } else if (src instanceof ArrayBuffer) {
-      data = Buffer.from(new Uint8Array(src));
+      data = new Uint8Array(src);
     } else {
       const match = /^data:(.*?);base64,(.*)$/.exec(src);
       if (match) {
         if (match[1]) {
           refBody.Subtype = match[1].replace('/', '#2F');
         }
-        data = Buffer.from(match[2], 'base64');
+        data = fromBase64(match[2]);
       } else {
         data = fs.readFileSync(src);
         if (!data) {
diff --git a/packages/pdfkit/src/mixins/metadata.js b/packages/pdfkit/src/mixins/metadata.js
index 92edb7c20..cc2708a28 100644
--- a/packages/pdfkit/src/mixins/metadata.js
+++ b/packages/pdfkit/src/mixins/metadata.js
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+import { fromUtf8String } from '../binary';
 import PDFMetadata from '../metadata';
 
 export default {
@@ -93,7 +94,7 @@ export default {
         Subtype: 'XML',
       });
       this.metadataRef.compress = false;
-      this.metadataRef.write(Buffer.from(this.metadata.getXML(), 'utf-8'));
+      this.metadataRef.write(fromUtf8String(this.metadata.getXML()));
       this.metadataRef.end();
       this._root.data.Metadata = this.metadataRef;
     }
diff --git a/packages/pdfkit/src/object.js b/packages/pdfkit/src/object.js
index 24a86e4c7..745123528 100644
--- a/packages/pdfkit/src/object.js
+++ b/packages/pdfkit/src/object.js
@@ -5,6 +5,12 @@ By Devon Govett
 
 import PDFReference from './reference';
 import PDFNameTree from './name_tree';
+import {
+  fromBinaryString,
+  fromUtf16BEWithBOM,
+  toBinaryString,
+  toHex,
+} from './binary';
 
 const pad = (str, length) => (Array(length + 1).join('0') + str).slice(-length);
 
@@ -20,22 +26,6 @@ const escapable = {
   ')': '\\)'
 };
 
-// Convert little endian UTF-16 to big endian
-const swapBytes = function (buff) {
-  const l = buff.length;
-  if (l & 0x01) {
-    throw new Error('Buffer length must be even');
-  } else {
-    for (let i = 0, end = l - 1; i < end; i += 2) {
-      const a = buff[i];
-      buff[i] = buff[i + 1];
-      buff[i + 1] = a;
-    }
-  }
-
-  return buff;
-};
-
 class PDFObject {
   static convert(object, encryptFn = null) {
     // String literals are converted to the PDF name type
@@ -45,7 +35,7 @@ class PDFObject {
 
     // String objects are converted to PDF strings (UTF-16)
     if (object instanceof String) {
-      let string = object;
+      const string = object;
       // Detect if this is a unicode string
       let isUnicode = false;
       for (let i = 0, end = string.length; i < end; i++) {
@@ -55,31 +45,26 @@ class PDFObject {
         }
       }
 
-      // If so, encode it as big endian UTF-16
-      let stringBuffer;
-      if (isUnicode) {
-        stringBuffer = swapBytes(Buffer.from(`\ufeff${string}`, 'utf16le'));
-      } else {
-        stringBuffer = Buffer.from(string.valueOf(), 'ascii');
-      }
+      let bytes = isUnicode
+        ? fromUtf16BEWithBOM(string.valueOf())
+        : fromBinaryString(string.valueOf());
 
-      // Encrypt the string when necessary
       if (encryptFn) {
-        string = encryptFn(stringBuffer).toString('binary');
-      } else {
-        string = stringBuffer.toString('binary');
+        bytes = encryptFn(bytes);
       }
 
       // Escape characters as required by the spec
-      string = string.replace(escapableRe, (c) => escapable[c]);
-
-      return `(${string})`;
+      const escaped = toBinaryString(bytes).replace(
+        escapableRe,
+        (c) => escapable[c],
+      );
 
-      // Buffers are converted to PDF hex strings
+      return `(${escaped})`;
     }
 
-    if (Buffer.isBuffer(object)) {
-      return `<${object.toString('hex')}>`;
+    // Byte arrays are converted to PDF hex strings
+    if (object instanceof Uint8Array) {
+      return `<${toHex(object)}>`;
     }
 
     if (object instanceof PDFReference || object instanceof PDFNameTree) {
@@ -98,7 +83,7 @@ class PDFObject {
 
       // Encrypt the string when necessary
       if (encryptFn) {
-        string = encryptFn(Buffer.from(string, 'ascii')).toString('binary');
+        string = toBinaryString(encryptFn(fromBinaryString(string)));
         string = string.replace(escapableRe, (c) => escapable[c]);
       }
 
@@ -106,7 +91,7 @@ class PDFObject {
     }
 
     if (Array.isArray(object)) {
-      const items = Array.from(object)
+      const items = object
         .map((e) => PDFObject.convert(e, encryptFn))
         .join(' ');
       return `[${items}]`;
diff --git a/packages/pdfkit/src/reference.js b/packages/pdfkit/src/reference.js
index ade58fa4c..358713aa0 100644
--- a/packages/pdfkit/src/reference.js
+++ b/packages/pdfkit/src/reference.js
@@ -3,15 +3,12 @@ PDFReference - represents a reference to another object in the PDF object heirar
 By Devon Govett
 */
 
-import zlib from 'zlib';
-import stream from 'stream';
+import pako from 'pako';
+import { concat, fromBinaryString } from './binary';
 import PDFObject from './object';
 
-class PDFReference extends stream.Writable {
+class PDFReference {
   constructor(document, id, data) {
-    super({ decodeStrings: false });
-
-    this.finalize = this.finalize.bind(this);
     this.document = document;
     this.id = id;
     if (data == null) {
@@ -20,27 +17,14 @@ class PDFReference extends stream.Writable {
     this.data = data;
 
     this.gen = 0;
-    this.deflate = null;
     this.compress = this.document.compress && !this.data.Filter;
     this.uncompressedLength = 0;
     this.chunks = [];
   }
 
-  initDeflate() {
-    this.data.Filter = 'FlateDecode';
-
-    this.deflate = zlib.createDeflate();
-    this.deflate.on('data', (chunk) => {
-      this.chunks.push(chunk);
-      return (this.data.Length += chunk.length);
-    });
-
-    return this.deflate.on('end', this.finalize);
-  }
-
-  _write(chunk, encoding, callback) {
+  write(chunk) {
     if (!(chunk instanceof Uint8Array)) {
-      chunk = Buffer.from(chunk + '\n', 'binary');
+      chunk = fromBinaryString(chunk + '\n');
     }
 
     this.uncompressedLength += chunk.length;
@@ -48,26 +32,12 @@ class PDFReference extends stream.Writable {
       this.data.Length = 0;
     }
 
-    if (this.compress) {
-      if (!this.deflate) {
-        this.initDeflate();
-      }
-      this.deflate.write(chunk);
-    } else {
-      this.chunks.push(chunk);
-      this.data.Length += chunk.length;
-    }
-
-    return callback();
+    this.chunks.push(chunk);
+    this.data.Length += chunk.length;
   }
 
-  end() {
-    super.end(...arguments);
-
-    if (this.deflate) {
-      return this.deflate.end();
-    }
-
+  end(chunk) {
+    if (chunk != null) this.write(chunk);
     return this.finalize();
   }
 
@@ -79,7 +49,12 @@ class PDFReference extends stream.Writable {
       : null;
 
     if (this.chunks.length) {
-      let buffer = Buffer.concat(this.chunks);
+      let buffer = concat(this.chunks);
+
+      if (this.compress) {
+        this.data.Filter = 'FlateDecode';
+        buffer = pako.deflate(buffer);
+      }
 
       if (encryptFn) {
         buffer = encryptFn(buffer);
diff --git a/packages/pdfkit/src/security.js b/packages/pdfkit/src/security.js
index d6639a424..66c51554b 100644
--- a/packages/pdfkit/src/security.js
+++ b/packages/pdfkit/src/security.js
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ class PDFSecurity {
       infoStr += `${key}: ${info[key].valueOf()}\n`;
     }
 
-    return Buffer.from(md5Hash(infoStr));
+    return md5Hash(infoStr);
   }
 
   static generateRandomWordArray(bytes) {
@@ -157,8 +157,8 @@ class PDFSecurity {
       encDict.StrF = 'StdCF';
     }
     encDict.R = r;
-    encDict.O = Buffer.from(ownerPasswordEntry);
-    encDict.U = Buffer.from(userPasswordEntry);
+    encDict.O = ownerPasswordEntry;
+    encDict.U = userPasswordEntry;
     encDict.P = permissions;
   }
 
@@ -214,12 +214,12 @@ class PDFSecurity {
     encDict.StmF = 'StdCF';
     encDict.StrF = 'StdCF';
     encDict.R = 5;
-    encDict.O = Buffer.from(ownerPasswordEntry);
-    encDict.OE = Buffer.from(ownerEncryptionKeyEntry);
-    encDict.U = Buffer.from(userPasswordEntry);
-    encDict.UE = Buffer.from(userEncryptionKeyEntry);
+    encDict.O = ownerPasswordEntry;
+    encDict.OE = ownerEncryptionKeyEntry;
+    encDict.U = userPasswordEntry;
+    encDict.UE = userEncryptionKeyEntry;
     encDict.P = permissions;
-    encDict.Perms = Buffer.from(permsEntry);
+    encDict.Perms = permsEntry;
   }
 
   getEncryptFn(obj, gen) {
@@ -240,7 +240,7 @@ class PDFSecurity {
       let key = md5Hash(digest);
       const keyLen = Math.min(16, this.keyBits / 8 + 5);
       key = key.slice(0, keyLen);
-      return (buffer) => Buffer.from(rc4(new Uint8Array(buffer), key));
+      return (buffer) => rc4(buffer, key);
     }
 
     let key;
@@ -255,8 +255,8 @@ class PDFSecurity {
     const iv = PDFSecurity.generateRandomWordArray(16);
 
     return (buffer) => {
-      const encrypted = aesCbcEncrypt(new Uint8Array(buffer), key, iv, true);
-      return Buffer.from(concatBytes(iv, encrypted));
+      const encrypted = aesCbcEncrypt(buffer, key, iv, true);
+      return concatBytes(iv, encrypted);
     };
   }
 
diff --git a/yarn.lock b/yarn.lock
index a8b2cd153..e7f63fb10 100644
--- a/yarn.lock
+++ b/yarn.lock
@@ -752,14 +752,8 @@
   dependencies:
     "@babel/helper-plugin-utils" "^7.18.6"
 
-"@babel/plugin-transform-react-jsx-development@^7.18.6":
-  version "7.23.3"
-  resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/@babel/plugin-transform-react-jsx-self/-/plugin-transform-react-jsx-self-7.23.3.tgz#ed3e7dadde046cce761a8e3cf003a13d1a7972d9"
-  integrity sha512-qXRvbeKDSfwnlJnanVRp0SfuWE5DQhwQr5xtLBzp56Wabyo+4CMosF6Kfp+eOD/4FYpql64XVJ2W0pVLlJZxOQ==
-  dependencies:
-    "@babel/helper-plugin-utils" "^7.22.5"
-
-"@babel/plugin-transform-react-jsx-self@^7.23.3":
+"@babel/plugin-transform-react-jsx-development@^7.18.6", "@babel/plugin-transform-react-jsx-self@^7.23.3":
+  name "@babel/plugin-transform-react-jsx-development"
   version "7.23.3"
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/@babel/plugin-transform-react-jsx-self/-/plugin-transform-react-jsx-self-7.23.3.tgz#ed3e7dadde046cce761a8e3cf003a13d1a7972d9"
   integrity sha512-qXRvbeKDSfwnlJnanVRp0SfuWE5DQhwQr5xtLBzp56Wabyo+4CMosF6Kfp+eOD/4FYpql64XVJ2W0pVLlJZxOQ==
@@ -8473,6 +8467,11 @@ pako@^0.2.5:
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/pako/-/pako-0.2.9.tgz#f3f7522f4ef782348da8161bad9ecfd51bf83a75"
   integrity sha1-8/dSL073gjSNqBYbrZ7P1Rv4OnU=
 
+pako@^2.1.0:
+  version "2.1.0"
+  resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/pako/-/pako-2.1.0.tgz#266cc37f98c7d883545d11335c00fbd4062c9a86"
+  integrity sha512-w+eufiZ1WuJYgPXbV/PO3NCMEc3xqylkKHzp8bxp1uW4qaSNQUkwmLLEc3kKsfz8lpV1F8Ht3U1Cm+9Srog2ug==
+
 pako@~1.0.5:
   version "1.0.11"
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/pako/-/pako-1.0.11.tgz#6c9599d340d54dfd3946380252a35705a6b992bf"
@@ -10128,16 +10127,7 @@ string-argv@0.3.1:
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/string-argv/-/string-argv-0.3.1.tgz#95e2fbec0427ae19184935f816d74aaa4c5c19da"
   integrity sha512-a1uQGz7IyVy9YwhqjZIZu1c8JO8dNIe20xBmSS6qu9kv++k3JGzCVmprbNN5Kn+BgzD5E7YYwg1CcjuJMRNsvg==
 
-"string-width-cjs@npm:string-width@^4.2.0":
-  version "4.2.3"
-  resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/string-width/-/string-width-4.2.3.tgz#269c7117d27b05ad2e536830a8ec895ef9c6d010"
-  integrity sha512-wKyQRQpjJ0sIp62ErSZdGsjMJWsap5oRNihHhu6G7JVO/9jIB6UyevL+tXuOqrng8j/cxKTWyWUwvSTriiZz/g==
-  dependencies:
-    emoji-regex "^8.0.0"
-    is-fullwidth-code-point "^3.0.0"
-    strip-ansi "^6.0.1"
-
-"string-width@^1.0.2 || 2 || 3 || 4", string-width@^4.1.0, string-width@^4.2.0, string-width@^4.2.3:
+"string-width-cjs@npm:string-width@^4.2.0", "string-width@^1.0.2 || 2 || 3 || 4", string-width@^4.1.0, string-width@^4.2.0, string-width@^4.2.3:
   version "4.2.3"
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/string-width/-/string-width-4.2.3.tgz#269c7117d27b05ad2e536830a8ec895ef9c6d010"
   integrity sha512-wKyQRQpjJ0sIp62ErSZdGsjMJWsap5oRNihHhu6G7JVO/9jIB6UyevL+tXuOqrng8j/cxKTWyWUwvSTriiZz/g==
@@ -10264,14 +10254,7 @@ stringify-object@^3.3.0:
     is-obj "^1.0.1"
     is-regexp "^1.0.0"
 
-"strip-ansi-cjs@npm:strip-ansi@^6.0.1":
-  version "6.0.1"
-  resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/strip-ansi/-/strip-ansi-6.0.1.tgz#9e26c63d30f53443e9489495b2105d37b67a85d9"
-  integrity sha512-Y38VPSHcqkFrCpFnQ9vuSXmquuv5oXOKpGeT6aGrr3o3Gc9AlVa6JBfUSOCnbxGGZF+/0ooI7KrPuUSztUdU5A==
-  dependencies:
-    ansi-regex "^5.0.1"
-
-strip-ansi@^6.0.0, strip-ansi@^6.0.1:
+"strip-ansi-cjs@npm:strip-ansi@^6.0.1", strip-ansi@^6.0.0, strip-ansi@^6.0.1:
   version "6.0.1"
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/strip-ansi/-/strip-ansi-6.0.1.tgz#9e26c63d30f53443e9489495b2105d37b67a85d9"
   integrity sha512-Y38VPSHcqkFrCpFnQ9vuSXmquuv5oXOKpGeT6aGrr3o3Gc9AlVa6JBfUSOCnbxGGZF+/0ooI7KrPuUSztUdU5A==
@@ -11021,15 +11004,6 @@ validate-npm-package-name@^3.0.0:
   dependencies:
     builtins "^1.0.3"
 
-vite-compatible-readable-stream@^3.6.1:
-  version "3.6.1"
-  resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/vite-compatible-readable-stream/-/vite-compatible-readable-stream-3.6.1.tgz#27267aebbdc9893c0ddf65a421279cbb1e31d8cd"
-  integrity sha512-t20zYkrSf868+j/p31cRIGN28Phrjm3nRSLR2fyc2tiWi4cZGVdv68yNlwnIINTkMTmPoMiSlc0OadaO7DXZaQ==
-  dependencies:
-    inherits "^2.0.3"
-    string_decoder "^1.1.1"
-    util-deprecate "^1.0.1"
-
 vite-node@1.6.1:
   version "1.6.1"
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/vite-node/-/vite-node-1.6.1.tgz#fff3ef309296ea03ceaa6ca4bb660922f5416c57"
@@ -11317,7 +11291,7 @@ wordwrap@^1.0.0:
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/wordwrap/-/wordwrap-1.0.0.tgz#27584810891456a4171c8d0226441ade90cbcaeb"
   integrity sha1-J1hIEIkUVqQXHI0CJkQa3pDLyus=
 
-"wrap-ansi-cjs@npm:wrap-ansi@^7.0.0":
+"wrap-ansi-cjs@npm:wrap-ansi@^7.0.0", wrap-ansi@^7.0.0:
   version "7.0.0"
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/wrap-ansi/-/wrap-ansi-7.0.0.tgz#67e145cff510a6a6984bdf1152911d69d2eb9e43"
   integrity sha512-YVGIj2kamLSTxw6NsZjoBxfSwsn0ycdesmc4p+Q21c5zPuZ1pl+NfxVdxPtdHvmNVOQ6XSYG4AUtyt/Fi7D16Q==
@@ -11335,15 +11309,6 @@ wrap-ansi@^6.0.1, wrap-ansi@^6.2.0:
     string-width "^4.1.0"
     strip-ansi "^6.0.0"
 
-wrap-ansi@^7.0.0:
-  version "7.0.0"
-  resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/wrap-ansi/-/wrap-ansi-7.0.0.tgz#67e145cff510a6a6984bdf1152911d69d2eb9e43"
-  integrity sha512-YVGIj2kamLSTxw6NsZjoBxfSwsn0ycdesmc4p+Q21c5zPuZ1pl+NfxVdxPtdHvmNVOQ6XSYG4AUtyt/Fi7D16Q==
-  dependencies:
-    ansi-styles "^4.0.0"
-    string-width "^4.1.0"
-    strip-ansi "^6.0.0"
-
 wrap-ansi@^8.1.0:
   version "8.1.0"
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/wrap-ansi/-/wrap-ansi-8.1.0.tgz#56dc22368ee570face1b49819975d9b9a5ead214"