diff --git a/index.js b/index.js
index 87777ac..347ba6b 100644
--- a/index.js
+++ b/index.js
@@ -3,14 +3,16 @@ var Readable = require('readable-stream/readable');
 var peek = require('level-peek');
 var util = require('util');
 var once = require('once');
+var bufferAlloc = require('buffer-alloc');
+var bufferFrom = require('buffer-from');
 
-var EMPTY = new Buffer(0);
+var EMPTY = bufferAlloc(0);
 var ENCODER = {
 	encode: function(data) {
-		return typeof data === 'string' ? data = new Buffer(data) : data;
+		return typeof data === 'string' ? data = bufferFrom(data) : data;
 	},
 	decode: function(data) {
-		return Buffer.isBuffer(data) ? data : new Buffer(data);
+		return Buffer.isBuffer(data) ? data : bufferFrom(data);
 	},
 	buffer: true,
 	type: 'raw'
@@ -24,7 +26,7 @@ var pad = function(n) {
 };
 
 var expand = function(buf, len) {
-	var tmp = new Buffer(len);
+	var tmp = bufferAlloc(len);
 	buf.copy(tmp);
 	return tmp;
 };
@@ -36,7 +38,7 @@ module.exports = function(db, opts) {
 
 	var blockSize = opts.blockSize || 65536;
 	var maxBatch = opts.batch || 100;
-	var blank = new Buffer(blockSize);
+	var blank = bufferAlloc(blockSize);
 
 	db.put('\x00', 'ignore', noop); // memdown#12 workaround
 
@@ -55,7 +57,7 @@ module.exports = function(db, opts) {
 				return;
 			}
 
-			if (!r.block) r.block = new Buffer(blockSize);
+			if (!r.block) r.block = bufferAlloc(blockSize);
 			if (r.block.length < offset + block.length) r.block = expand(r.block, offset + block.length);
 
 			block.copy(r.block, offset);
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index abc5b68..72f5bc4 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -13,9 +13,11 @@
     "store"
   ],
   "dependencies": {
+    "buffer-alloc": "^1.1.0",
+    "buffer-from": "^1.0.0",
+    "level-peek": "1.0.6",
     "once": "^1.3.0",
-    "readable-stream": "^1.0.26-4",
-    "level-peek": "1.0.6"
+    "readable-stream": "^1.0.26-4"
   },
   "devDependencies": {
     "tape": "^2.12.3",
diff --git a/test/multi-block.js b/test/multi-block.js
index 3111fff..864fe9b 100644
--- a/test/multi-block.js
+++ b/test/multi-block.js
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 var tape = require('tape');
 var levelup = require('levelup');
 var memdown = require('memdown');
+var bufferAlloc = require('buffer-alloc');
 
 var blobs = function() {
 	return require('../')(levelup('mem', {db:memdown}));
@@ -9,7 +10,7 @@ var blobs = function() {
 var allocer = function() {
 	var i = 0;
 	return function() {
-		var buf = new Buffer(50000);
+		var buf = bufferAlloc(50000);
 		buf.fill(i++);
 		return buf;
 	};