diff --git a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/bytes/BytesReference.java b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/bytes/BytesReference.java
index 29d858c1748..a72346f9ee8 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/bytes/BytesReference.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/bytes/BytesReference.java
@@ -20,7 +20,6 @@ package org.elasticsearch.common.bytes;
 
 import org.apache.lucene.util.BytesRef;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.io.stream.StreamInput;
-import org.elasticsearch.common.util.UnsafeUtils;
 import org.jboss.netty.buffer.ChannelBuffer;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
@@ -42,16 +41,11 @@ public interface BytesReference {
                 return false;
             }
 
-            if (a.hasArray() && b.hasArray()) {
-                // court-circuit to compare several bytes at once
-                return UnsafeUtils.equals(a.array(), a.arrayOffset(), b.array(), b.arrayOffset(), a.length());
-            } else {
-                return slowBytesEquals(a, b);
-            }
+            return bytesEquals(a, b);
         }
 
         // pkg-private for testing
-        static boolean slowBytesEquals(BytesReference a, BytesReference b) {
+        static boolean bytesEquals(BytesReference a, BytesReference b) {
             assert a.length() == b.length();
             for (int i = 0, end = a.length(); i < end; ++i) {
                 if (a.get(i) != b.get(i)) {
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/hash/MurmurHash3.java b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/hash/MurmurHash3.java
index 0da1120f5a8..c9c0d29c448 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/hash/MurmurHash3.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/hash/MurmurHash3.java
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@
 
 package org.elasticsearch.common.hash;
 
-import org.elasticsearch.common.util.UnsafeUtils;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.util.ByteUtils;
 
 
 /**
@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@ public enum MurmurHash3 {
     protected static long getblock(byte[] key, int offset, int index) {
         int i_8 = index << 3;
         int blockOffset = offset + i_8;
-        return UnsafeUtils.readLongLE(key, blockOffset);
+        return ByteUtils.readLongLE(key, blockOffset);
     }
 
     protected static long fmix(long k) {
@@ -68,8 +68,8 @@ public enum MurmurHash3 {
             final int len16 = length & 0xFFFFFFF0; // higher multiple of 16 that is lower than or equal to length
             final int end = offset + len16;
             for (int i = offset; i < end; i += 16) {
-                long k1 = UnsafeUtils.readLongLE(key, i);
-                long k2 = UnsafeUtils.readLongLE(key, i + 8);
+                long k1 = ByteUtils.readLongLE(key, i);
+                long k2 = ByteUtils.readLongLE(key, i + 8);
 
                 k1 *= C1;
                 k1 = Long.rotateLeft(k1, 31);
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/util/BytesRefHash.java b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/util/BytesRefHash.java
index 90ee3c75f71..fc3cb285416 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/util/BytesRefHash.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/util/BytesRefHash.java
@@ -77,7 +77,7 @@ public final class BytesRefHash extends AbstractHash {
         final long slot = slot(rehash(code), mask);
         for (long index = slot; ; index = nextSlot(index, mask)) {
             final long id = id(index);
-            if (id == -1L || UnsafeUtils.equals(key, get(id, spare))) {
+            if (id == -1L || key.bytesEquals(get(id, spare))) {
                 return id;
             }
         }
@@ -99,7 +99,7 @@ public final class BytesRefHash extends AbstractHash {
                 append(id, key, code);
                 ++size;
                 return id;
-            } else if (UnsafeUtils.equals(key, get(curId, spare))) {
+            } else if (key.bytesEquals(get(curId, spare))) {
                 return -1 - curId;
             }
         }
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/util/UnsafeUtils.java b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/util/UnsafeUtils.java
deleted file mode 100644
index 9f733b045a0..00000000000
--- a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/util/UnsafeUtils.java
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,145 +0,0 @@
-/*
- * Licensed to Elasticsearch under one or more contributor
- * license agreements. See the NOTICE file distributed with
- * this work for additional information regarding copyright
- * ownership. Elasticsearch licenses this file to you under
- * the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); you may
- * not use this file except in compliance with the License.
- * You may obtain a copy of the License at
- *
- *    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
- *
- * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
- * software distributed under the License is distributed on an
- * "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
- * KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
- * specific language governing permissions and limitations
- * under the License.
- */
-
-package org.elasticsearch.common.util;
-
-import org.apache.lucene.util.BytesRef;
-import sun.misc.Unsafe;
-
-import java.lang.reflect.Field;
-import java.nio.ByteOrder;
-
-/** Utility methods that use {@link Unsafe}. */
-public enum UnsafeUtils {
-    ;
-
-    private static final Unsafe UNSAFE;
-    private static final long BYTE_ARRAY_OFFSET;
-    private static final int BYTE_ARRAY_SCALE;
-
-    static {
-        try {
-            Field theUnsafe = Unsafe.class.getDeclaredField("theUnsafe");
-            theUnsafe.setAccessible(true);
-            UNSAFE = (Unsafe) theUnsafe.get(null);
-            BYTE_ARRAY_OFFSET = UNSAFE.arrayBaseOffset(byte[].class);
-            BYTE_ARRAY_SCALE = UNSAFE.arrayIndexScale(byte[].class);
-        } catch (IllegalAccessException e) {
-            throw new ExceptionInInitializerError("Cannot access Unsafe");
-        } catch (NoSuchFieldException e) {
-            throw new ExceptionInInitializerError("Cannot access Unsafe");
-        } catch (SecurityException e) {
-            throw new ExceptionInInitializerError("Cannot access Unsafe");
-        }
-    }
-
-    // Don't expose these methods directly, they are too easy to mis-use since they depend on the byte order.
-    // If you need methods to read integers, please expose a method that makes the byte order explicit such
-    // as readIntLE (little endian).
-
-    // Also, please ***NEVER*** expose any method that writes using Unsafe, this is too dangerous
-
-    private static long readLong(byte[] src, int offset) {
-        return UNSAFE.getLong(src, BYTE_ARRAY_OFFSET + offset);
-    }
-
-    private static int readInt(byte[] src, int offset) {
-        return UNSAFE.getInt(src, BYTE_ARRAY_OFFSET + offset);
-    }
-
-    private static short readShort(byte[] src, int offset) {
-        return UNSAFE.getShort(src, BYTE_ARRAY_OFFSET + offset);
-    }
-
-    private static byte readByte(byte[] src, int offset) {
-        return UNSAFE.getByte(src, BYTE_ARRAY_OFFSET + BYTE_ARRAY_SCALE * offset);
-    }
-
-    /** Compare the two given {@link BytesRef}s for equality. */
-    public static boolean equals(BytesRef b1, BytesRef b2) {
-        if (b1.length != b2.length) {
-            return false;
-        }
-        return equals(b1.bytes, b1.offset, b2.bytes, b2.offset, b1.length);
-    }
-
-    /**
-     * Compare <code>b1[offset1:offset1+length)</code>against <code>b1[offset2:offset2+length)</code>.
-     */
-    public static boolean equals(byte[] b1, int offset1, byte[] b2, int offset2, int length) {
-        int o1 = offset1;
-        int o2 = offset2;
-        int len = length;
-        while (len >= 8) {
-            if (readLong(b1, o1) != readLong(b2, o2)) {
-                return false;
-            }
-            len -= 8;
-            o1 += 8;
-            o2 += 8;
-        }
-        if (len >= 4) {
-            if (readInt(b1, o1) != readInt(b2, o2)) {
-                return false;
-            }
-            len -= 4;
-            o1 += 4;
-            o2 += 4;
-        }
-        if (len >= 2) {
-            if (readShort(b1, o1) != readShort(b2, o2)) {
-                return false;
-            }
-            len -= 2;
-            o1 += 2;
-            o2 += 2;
-        }
-        if (len == 1) {
-            if (readByte(b1, o1) != readByte(b2, o2)) {
-                return false;
-            }
-        } else {
-            assert len == 0;
-        }
-        return true;
-    }
-
-    /**
-     * Read a long using little endian byte order.
-     */
-    public static long readLongLE(byte[] src, int offset) {
-        long value = readLong(src, offset);
-        if (ByteOrder.nativeOrder() == ByteOrder.BIG_ENDIAN) {
-            value = Long.reverseBytes(value);
-        }
-        return value;
-    }
-
-    /**
-     * Read an int using little endian byte order.
-     */
-    public static int readIntLE(byte[] src, int offset) {
-        int value = readInt(src, offset);
-        if (ByteOrder.nativeOrder() == ByteOrder.BIG_ENDIAN) {
-            value = Integer.reverseBytes(value);
-        }
-        return value;
-    }
-
-}
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/search/aggregations/metrics/cardinality/HyperLogLogPlusPlus.java b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/search/aggregations/metrics/cardinality/HyperLogLogPlusPlus.java
index c4980dc8cf9..82988dd3fa4 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/search/aggregations/metrics/cardinality/HyperLogLogPlusPlus.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/search/aggregations/metrics/cardinality/HyperLogLogPlusPlus.java
@@ -31,8 +31,8 @@ import org.elasticsearch.common.lease.Releasable;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.lease.Releasables;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.util.BigArrays;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.util.ByteArray;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.util.ByteUtils;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.util.IntArray;
-import org.elasticsearch.common.util.UnsafeUtils;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.nio.ByteBuffer;
@@ -438,7 +438,7 @@ public final class HyperLogLogPlusPlus implements Releasable {
 
         private int get(long bucket, int index) {
             runLens.get(index(bucket, index), 4, readSpare);
-            return UnsafeUtils.readIntLE(readSpare.bytes, readSpare.offset);
+            return ByteUtils.readIntLE(readSpare.bytes, readSpare.offset);
         }
 
         private void set(long bucket, int index, int value) {
diff --git a/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/benchmark/common/util/BytesRefComparisonsBenchmark.java b/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/benchmark/common/util/BytesRefComparisonsBenchmark.java
deleted file mode 100644
index 7ff45eb7935..00000000000
--- a/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/benchmark/common/util/BytesRefComparisonsBenchmark.java
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,140 +0,0 @@
-/*
- * Licensed to Elasticsearch under one or more contributor
- * license agreements. See the NOTICE file distributed with
- * this work for additional information regarding copyright
- * ownership. Elasticsearch licenses this file to you under
- * the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); you may
- * not use this file except in compliance with the License.
- * You may obtain a copy of the License at
- *
- *    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
- *
- * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
- * software distributed under the License is distributed on an
- * "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
- * KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
- * specific language governing permissions and limitations
- * under the License.
- */
-
-package org.elasticsearch.benchmark.common.util;
-
-import com.carrotsearch.randomizedtesting.generators.RandomInts;
-import com.carrotsearch.randomizedtesting.generators.RandomPicks;
-import org.apache.lucene.util.BytesRef;
-import org.elasticsearch.common.unit.TimeValue;
-import org.elasticsearch.common.util.UnsafeUtils;
-
-import java.util.Random;
-import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
-
-public class BytesRefComparisonsBenchmark {
-
-    private static final Random R = new Random(0);
-    private static final int ITERS = 100;
-
-    // To avoid JVM optimizations
-    @SuppressWarnings("unused")
-    private static boolean DUMMY;
-
-    enum Comparator {
-        SAFE {
-            boolean compare(BytesRef b1, BytesRef b2) {
-                return b1.bytesEquals(b2);
-            }
-        },
-        UNSAFE {
-            @Override
-            boolean compare(BytesRef b1, BytesRef b2) {
-                return UnsafeUtils.equals(b1, b2);
-            }
-        };
-        abstract boolean compare(BytesRef b1, BytesRef b2);
-    }
-
-    private static BytesRef[] buildBytesRefs(int minLen, int maxLen, int count, int uniqueCount) {
-        final BytesRef[] uniqueRefs = new BytesRef[uniqueCount];
-        for (int i = 0; i < uniqueCount; ++i) {
-            final int len = RandomInts.randomIntBetween(R, minLen, maxLen);
-            final byte[] bytes = new byte[len];
-            for (int j = 0; j < bytes.length; ++j) {
-                bytes[j] = (byte) R.nextInt(2); // so that some instances have common prefixes
-            }
-            uniqueRefs[i] = new BytesRef(bytes);
-        }
-        final BytesRef[] result = new BytesRef[count];
-        for (int i = 0; i < count; ++i) {
-            result[i] = RandomPicks.randomFrom(R, uniqueRefs);
-        }
-        int totalLen = 0;
-        for (BytesRef b : result) {
-            totalLen += b.length;
-        }
-        final byte[] data = new byte[totalLen];
-        int offset = 0;
-        for (int i = 0; i < count; ++i) {
-            final BytesRef b = result[i];
-            System.arraycopy(b.bytes, b.offset, data, offset, b.length);
-            result[i] = new BytesRef(data, offset, b.length);
-            offset += b.length;
-        }
-        if (offset != totalLen) {
-            throw new AssertionError();
-        }
-        return result;
-    }
-
-    private static long bench(Comparator comparator, BytesRef[] refs, int iters) {
-        boolean xor = false;
-        final long start = System.nanoTime();
-        for (int iter = 0; iter < iters; ++iter) {
-            for (int i = 0; i < refs.length; ++i) {
-                for (int j = i + 1; j < refs.length; ++j) {
-                    xor ^= comparator.compare(refs[i], refs[j]);
-                }
-            }
-        }
-        DUMMY = xor;
-        return System.nanoTime() - start;
-    }
-
-    public static void main(String[] args) throws InterruptedException {
-        // warmup
-        BytesRef[] bytes = buildBytesRefs(2, 20, 1000, 100);
-        final long start = System.nanoTime();
-        while (System.nanoTime() - start < TimeUnit.SECONDS.toNanos(10)) {
-            for (Comparator comparator : Comparator.values()) {
-                bench(comparator, bytes, 1);
-            }
-        }
-
-        System.out.println("## Various lengths");
-        // make sure GC doesn't hurt results
-        System.gc();
-        Thread.sleep(2000);
-        for (Comparator comparator : Comparator.values()) {
-            bench(comparator, bytes, ITERS);
-        }
-        for (int i = 0; i < 3; ++i) {
-            for (Comparator comparator : Comparator.values()) {
-                System.out.println(comparator + " " + new TimeValue(bench(comparator, bytes, ITERS), TimeUnit.NANOSECONDS));
-            }
-        }
-
-        for (int len = 2; len <= 20; ++len) {
-            System.out.println("## Length = " + len);
-            bytes = buildBytesRefs(len, len, 1000, 100);
-            System.gc();
-            Thread.sleep(2000);
-            for (Comparator comparator : Comparator.values()) {
-                bench(comparator, bytes, ITERS);
-            }
-            for (int i = 0; i < 3; ++i) {
-                for (Comparator comparator : Comparator.values()) {
-                    System.out.println(comparator + " " + new TimeValue(bench(comparator, bytes, ITERS), TimeUnit.NANOSECONDS));
-                }
-            }
-        }
-    }
-
-}
diff --git a/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/common/bytes/BytesReferenceTests.java b/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/common/bytes/BytesReferenceTests.java
index 187a458c293..aaf2ef557fb 100644
--- a/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/common/bytes/BytesReferenceTests.java
+++ b/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/common/bytes/BytesReferenceTests.java
@@ -37,13 +37,13 @@ public class BytesReferenceTests extends ElasticsearchTestCase {
         final BytesArray b1 = new BytesArray(array1, offset1, len);
         final BytesArray b2 = new BytesArray(array2, offset2, len);
         assertTrue(BytesReference.Helper.bytesEqual(b1, b2));
-        assertTrue(BytesReference.Helper.slowBytesEquals(b1, b2));
+        assertTrue(BytesReference.Helper.bytesEquals(b1, b2));
         assertEquals(Arrays.hashCode(b1.toBytes()), b1.hashCode());
         assertEquals(BytesReference.Helper.bytesHashCode(b1), BytesReference.Helper.slowHashCode(b2));
 
         // test same instance
         assertTrue(BytesReference.Helper.bytesEqual(b1, b1));
-        assertTrue(BytesReference.Helper.slowBytesEquals(b1, b1));
+        assertTrue(BytesReference.Helper.bytesEquals(b1, b1));
         assertEquals(BytesReference.Helper.bytesHashCode(b1), BytesReference.Helper.slowHashCode(b1));
 
         if (len > 0) {
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ public class BytesReferenceTests extends ElasticsearchTestCase {
             // test changed bytes
             array1[offset1 + randomInt(len - 1)] += 13;
             assertFalse(BytesReference.Helper.bytesEqual(b1, b2));
-            assertFalse(BytesReference.Helper.slowBytesEquals(b1, b2));
+            assertFalse(BytesReference.Helper.bytesEquals(b1, b2));
         }
     }