diff --git a/jetty-http2/http2-hpack/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/http2/hpack/Huffman.java b/jetty-http2/http2-hpack/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/http2/hpack/Huffman.java
index ddb2c4a97df..a0ed7b538e1 100644
--- a/jetty-http2/http2-hpack/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/http2/hpack/Huffman.java
+++ b/jetty-http2/http2-hpack/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/http2/hpack/Huffman.java
@@ -350,23 +350,16 @@ public class Huffman
         return decode(buffer,buffer.remaining());
     }
 
-    public static String decode(ByteBuffer buffer,int length) throws HpackException.CompressionException
+    public static String decode(ByteBuffer buffer, int length) throws HpackException.CompressionException
     {        
         StringBuilder out = new StringBuilder(length*2);
         int node = 0;
         int current = 0;
         int bits = 0;
 
-        byte[] array = buffer.array();
-        int position=buffer.position();
-        int start=buffer.arrayOffset()+position;
-        int end=start+length;
-        buffer.position(position+length);
-
-
-        for (int i=start; i<end; i++)
+        for (int i=0; i<length; i++)
         {
-            int b = array[i]&0xFF;
+            int b = buffer.get()&0xFF;
             current = (current << 8) | b;
             bits += 8;
             while (bits >= 8) 
@@ -460,10 +453,6 @@ public class Huffman
     {
         long current = 0;
         int n = 0;
-
-        byte[] array = buffer.array();
-        int p=buffer.arrayOffset()+buffer.position();
-
         int len = s.length();
         for (int i=0;i<len;i++)
         {
@@ -480,18 +469,17 @@ public class Huffman
             while (n >= 8) 
             {
                 n -= 8;
-                array[p++]=(byte)(current >> n);
+                buffer.put((byte)(current >> n));
             }
         }
 
-        if (n > 0) 
+        if (n > 0)
         {
-          current <<= (8 - n);
-          current |= (0xFF >>> n); 
-          array[p++]=(byte)current;
+            current <<= (8 - n);
+            current |= (0xFF >>> n);
+            buffer.put((byte)(current));
         }
-        
-        buffer.position(p-buffer.arrayOffset());
+
     }
 
 }
diff --git a/jetty-http2/http2-hpack/src/test/java/org/eclipse/jetty/http2/hpack/HpackTest.java b/jetty-http2/http2-hpack/src/test/java/org/eclipse/jetty/http2/hpack/HpackTest.java
index 355ffb2953f..5962fdfb65e 100644
--- a/jetty-http2/http2-hpack/src/test/java/org/eclipse/jetty/http2/hpack/HpackTest.java
+++ b/jetty-http2/http2-hpack/src/test/java/org/eclipse/jetty/http2/hpack/HpackTest.java
@@ -19,10 +19,9 @@
 package org.eclipse.jetty.http2.hpack;
 
 import static org.hamcrest.CoreMatchers.is;
-import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.containsString;
 import static org.hamcrest.MatcherAssert.assertThat;
+import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.containsString;
 import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertEquals;
-import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertThrows;
 import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.fail;
 
 import java.nio.ByteBuffer;
@@ -51,7 +50,7 @@ public class HpackTest
     {
         HpackEncoder encoder = new HpackEncoder();
         HpackDecoder decoder = new HpackDecoder(4096,8192);
-        ByteBuffer buffer = BufferUtil.allocate(16*1024);
+        ByteBuffer buffer = BufferUtil.allocateDirect(16*1024);
         
         HttpFields fields0 = new HttpFields();
         fields0.add(HttpHeader.CONTENT_TYPE,"text/html");
@@ -104,7 +103,7 @@ public class HpackTest
     {
         HpackEncoder encoder = new HpackEncoder();
         HpackDecoder decoder = new HpackDecoder(4096,164);
-        ByteBuffer buffer = BufferUtil.allocate(16*1024);
+        ByteBuffer buffer = BufferUtil.allocateDirect(16*1024);
         
         HttpFields fields0 = new HttpFields();
         fields0.add("1234567890","1234567890123456789012345678901234567890");
@@ -144,7 +143,7 @@ public class HpackTest
     {
         HpackEncoder encoder = new HpackEncoder(200,200);
         HpackDecoder decoder = new HpackDecoder(200,1024);
-        ByteBuffer buffer = BufferUtil.allocate(16*1024);
+        ByteBuffer buffer = BufferUtil.allocateDirect(16*1024);
         
         HttpFields fields0 = new HttpFields();
         fields0.add("123456789012345678901234567890123456788901234567890","value");
diff --git a/jetty-http2/http2-hpack/src/test/java/org/eclipse/jetty/http2/hpack/HuffmanTest.java b/jetty-http2/http2-hpack/src/test/java/org/eclipse/jetty/http2/hpack/HuffmanTest.java
index bf7a935458c..c909d383d54 100644
--- a/jetty-http2/http2-hpack/src/test/java/org/eclipse/jetty/http2/hpack/HuffmanTest.java
+++ b/jetty-http2/http2-hpack/src/test/java/org/eclipse/jetty/http2/hpack/HuffmanTest.java
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ package org.eclipse.jetty.http2.hpack;
 import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertEquals;
 import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertThrows;
 
+import java.nio.BufferOverflowException;
 import java.nio.ByteBuffer;
 import java.util.Locale;
 import java.util.stream.Stream;
@@ -79,7 +80,7 @@ public class HuffmanTest
         assertThrows(IllegalArgumentException.class,
                 () -> Huffman.octetsNeeded(s));
 
-        assertThrows(IllegalArgumentException.class,
+        assertThrows(BufferOverflowException.class,
                 () -> Huffman.encode(BufferUtil.allocate(32), s));
     }
 }
diff --git a/jetty-jmh/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/io/jmh/ByteBufferBenchmark.java b/jetty-jmh/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/io/jmh/ByteBufferBenchmark.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..eb2ba3ec9b2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/jetty-jmh/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/io/jmh/ByteBufferBenchmark.java
@@ -0,0 +1,154 @@
+//
+//  ========================================================================
+//  Copyright (c) 1995-2018 Mort Bay Consulting Pty. Ltd.
+//  ------------------------------------------------------------------------
+//  All rights reserved. This program and the accompanying materials
+//  are made available under the terms of the Eclipse Public License v1.0
+//  and Apache License v2.0 which accompanies this distribution.
+//
+//      The Eclipse Public License is available at
+//      http://www.eclipse.org/legal/epl-v10.html
+//
+//      The Apache License v2.0 is available at
+//      http://www.opensource.org/licenses/apache2.0.php
+//
+//  You may elect to redistribute this code under either of these licenses.
+//  ========================================================================
+//
+
+package org.eclipse.jetty.io.jmh;
+
+import java.nio.ByteBuffer;
+import java.util.concurrent.ThreadLocalRandom;
+import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
+
+import org.openjdk.jmh.annotations.Benchmark;
+import org.openjdk.jmh.annotations.BenchmarkMode;
+import org.openjdk.jmh.annotations.Measurement;
+import org.openjdk.jmh.annotations.Mode;
+import org.openjdk.jmh.annotations.Scope;
+import org.openjdk.jmh.annotations.State;
+import org.openjdk.jmh.annotations.Threads;
+import org.openjdk.jmh.annotations.Warmup;
+import org.openjdk.jmh.runner.Runner;
+import org.openjdk.jmh.runner.RunnerException;
+import org.openjdk.jmh.runner.options.Options;
+import org.openjdk.jmh.runner.options.OptionsBuilder;
+
+
+@State(Scope.Benchmark)
+@Threads(4)
+@Warmup(iterations = 7, time = 500, timeUnit = TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS)
+@Measurement(iterations = 7, time = 500, timeUnit = TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS)
+public class ByteBufferBenchmark
+{
+    public long test(ByteBuffer buffer)
+    {
+        buffer.clear();
+        while(buffer.hasRemaining())
+        {
+            int size = ThreadLocalRandom.current().nextInt(1024);
+            byte[] bytes = new byte[size];
+            ThreadLocalRandom.current().nextBytes(bytes);
+            buffer.put(bytes,0,Math.min(bytes.length,buffer.remaining()));
+        }
+
+        buffer.flip();
+
+        long sum = 0;
+        while(buffer.hasRemaining())
+            sum += buffer.get();
+
+        return sum;
+    }
+
+
+    public long testArray(ByteBuffer buffer)
+    {
+        buffer.clear();
+        byte[] array = buffer.array();
+        int offset = buffer.arrayOffset();
+        int end = offset + buffer.remaining();
+        while(offset<end)
+        {
+            int size = ThreadLocalRandom.current().nextInt(1024);
+            byte[] bytes = new byte[size];
+            ThreadLocalRandom.current().nextBytes(bytes);
+            System.arraycopy(bytes,0,array,offset,Math.min(bytes.length,end-offset));
+            offset += bytes.length;
+        }
+        buffer.position(buffer.limit());
+        buffer.flip();
+
+        long sum = 0;
+        array = buffer.array();
+        offset = buffer.arrayOffset();
+        end = offset + buffer.remaining();
+
+        while(offset<end)
+            sum += array[offset++];
+        buffer.position(buffer.limit());
+        return sum;
+    }
+
+
+
+    @Benchmark
+    @BenchmarkMode({ Mode.Throughput})
+    public long testDirect()
+    {
+        ByteBuffer buffer = ByteBuffer.allocateDirect(32768);
+        long sum = 0;
+        sum ^= test(buffer);
+        sum ^= test(buffer);
+        sum ^= test(buffer);
+        sum ^= test(buffer);
+        sum ^= test(buffer);
+        return sum;
+    }
+
+
+    @Benchmark
+    @BenchmarkMode({ Mode.Throughput})
+    public long testInDirect()
+    {
+        ByteBuffer buffer = ByteBuffer.allocate(32768);
+        long sum = 0;
+        sum ^= test(buffer);
+        sum ^= test(buffer);
+        sum ^= test(buffer);
+        sum ^= test(buffer);
+        sum ^= test(buffer);
+        return sum;
+    }
+
+    @Benchmark
+    @BenchmarkMode({ Mode.Throughput})
+    public long testInDirectArray()
+    {
+        ByteBuffer buffer = ByteBuffer.allocate(32768);
+        long sum = 0;
+        sum ^= testArray(buffer);
+        sum ^= testArray(buffer);
+        sum ^= testArray(buffer);
+        sum ^= testArray(buffer);
+        sum ^= testArray(buffer);
+        return sum;
+    }
+
+
+    public static void main(String[] args) throws RunnerException
+    {
+        Options opt = new OptionsBuilder()
+            .include(ByteBufferBenchmark.class.getSimpleName())
+            .warmupIterations(20)
+            .measurementIterations(10)
+            // .addProfiler(GCProfiler.class)
+            .forks(1)
+            .threads(10)
+            .build();
+
+        new Runner(opt).run();
+    }
+
+}