diff --git a/client/rest-high-level/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/client/indices/GetIndexTemplatesResponseTests.java b/client/rest-high-level/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/client/indices/GetIndexTemplatesResponseTests.java
index 62ece236cad..d7456cafc18 100644
--- a/client/rest-high-level/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/client/indices/GetIndexTemplatesResponseTests.java
+++ b/client/rest-high-level/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/client/indices/GetIndexTemplatesResponseTests.java
@@ -112,7 +112,7 @@ public class GetIndexTemplatesResponseTests extends ESTestCase {
                     assertThat(result.version(), equalTo(esIMD.version()));
 
                     assertThat(esIMD.mappings().size(), equalTo(1));
-                    BytesArray mappingSource = new BytesArray(esIMD.mappings().valuesIt().next().uncompressed());
+                    BytesReference mappingSource = esIMD.mappings().valuesIt().next().uncompressed();
                     Map<String, Object> expectedMapping =
                         XContentHelper.convertToMap(mappingSource, true, xContentBuilder.contentType()).v2();
                     assertThat(result.mappings().sourceAsMap(), equalTo(expectedMapping.get("_doc")));
diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/cluster/metadata/AliasMetadata.java b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/cluster/metadata/AliasMetadata.java
index b116d96f9b9..801579c79cf 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/cluster/metadata/AliasMetadata.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/cluster/metadata/AliasMetadata.java
@@ -25,7 +25,6 @@ import org.elasticsearch.cluster.AbstractDiffable;
 import org.elasticsearch.cluster.Diff;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.Nullable;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.Strings;
-import org.elasticsearch.common.bytes.BytesArray;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.bytes.BytesReference;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.compress.CompressedXContent;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.io.stream.StreamInput;
@@ -343,7 +342,7 @@ public class AliasMetadata extends AbstractDiffable<AliasMetadata> implements To
                 if (binary) {
                     builder.field("filter", aliasMetadata.filter.compressed());
                 } else {
-                    builder.field("filter", XContentHelper.convertToMap(new BytesArray(aliasMetadata.filter().uncompressed()), true).v2());
+                    builder.field("filter", XContentHelper.convertToMap(aliasMetadata.filter().uncompressed(), true).v2());
                 }
             }
             if (aliasMetadata.indexRouting() != null) {
diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/cluster/metadata/AliasValidator.java b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/cluster/metadata/AliasValidator.java
index 2bb0a5664fd..f2a7928dc60 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/cluster/metadata/AliasValidator.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/cluster/metadata/AliasValidator.java
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ package org.elasticsearch.cluster.metadata;
 import org.elasticsearch.action.admin.indices.alias.Alias;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.Nullable;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.Strings;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.bytes.BytesReference;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.LoggingDeprecationHandler;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.NamedXContentRegistry;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.XContentFactory;
@@ -33,6 +34,7 @@ import org.elasticsearch.index.query.Rewriteable;
 import org.elasticsearch.indices.InvalidAliasNameException;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
+import java.io.InputStream;
 import java.util.function.Function;
 
 import static org.elasticsearch.index.query.AbstractQueryBuilder.parseInnerQueryBuilder;
@@ -125,11 +127,13 @@ public class AliasValidator {
      * provided {@link org.elasticsearch.index.query.QueryShardContext}
      * @throws IllegalArgumentException if the filter is not valid
      */
-    public void validateAliasFilter(String alias, byte[] filter, QueryShardContext queryShardContext,
-            NamedXContentRegistry xContentRegistry) {
+    public void validateAliasFilter(String alias, BytesReference filter, QueryShardContext queryShardContext,
+                                    NamedXContentRegistry xContentRegistry) {
         assert queryShardContext != null;
-        try (XContentParser parser = XContentFactory.xContent(filter)
-                .createParser(xContentRegistry, LoggingDeprecationHandler.INSTANCE, filter)) {
+
+        try (InputStream inputStream = filter.streamInput();
+             XContentParser parser = XContentFactory.xContentType(inputStream).xContent()
+                     .createParser(xContentRegistry, LoggingDeprecationHandler.INSTANCE, filter.streamInput())) {
             validateAliasFilter(parser, queryShardContext);
         } catch (Exception e) {
             throw new IllegalArgumentException("failed to parse filter for alias [" + alias + "]", e);
diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/cluster/metadata/IndexMetadata.java b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/cluster/metadata/IndexMetadata.java
index 8e7c18e2475..5392405a105 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/cluster/metadata/IndexMetadata.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/cluster/metadata/IndexMetadata.java
@@ -35,7 +35,6 @@ import org.elasticsearch.cluster.block.ClusterBlockLevel;
 import org.elasticsearch.cluster.node.DiscoveryNodeFilters;
 import org.elasticsearch.cluster.routing.allocation.IndexMetadataUpdater;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.Nullable;
-import org.elasticsearch.common.bytes.BytesArray;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.collect.ImmutableOpenIntMap;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.collect.ImmutableOpenMap;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.collect.MapBuilder;
@@ -1408,7 +1407,7 @@ public class IndexMetadata implements Diffable<IndexMetadata>, ToXContentFragmen
                     if (binary) {
                         builder.value(cursor.value.source().compressed());
                     } else {
-                        builder.map(XContentHelper.convertToMap(new BytesArray(cursor.value.source().uncompressed()), true).v2());
+                        builder.map(XContentHelper.convertToMap(cursor.value.source().uncompressed(), true).v2());
                     }
                 }
                 builder.endArray();
@@ -1416,7 +1415,7 @@ public class IndexMetadata implements Diffable<IndexMetadata>, ToXContentFragmen
                 builder.startObject(KEY_MAPPINGS);
                 for (ObjectObjectCursor<String, MappingMetadata> cursor : indexMetadata.getMappings()) {
                     Map<String, Object> mapping = XContentHelper
-                        .convertToMap(new BytesArray(cursor.value.source().uncompressed()), false).v2();
+                        .convertToMap(cursor.value.source().uncompressed(), false).v2();
                     if (mapping.size() == 1 && mapping.containsKey(cursor.key)) {
                         // the type name is the root value, reduce it
                         mapping = (Map<String, Object>) mapping.get(cursor.key);
diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/cluster/metadata/IndexTemplateMetadata.java b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/cluster/metadata/IndexTemplateMetadata.java
index d6f4f878f59..0681af22026 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/cluster/metadata/IndexTemplateMetadata.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/cluster/metadata/IndexTemplateMetadata.java
@@ -27,7 +27,6 @@ import org.elasticsearch.cluster.AbstractDiffable;
 import org.elasticsearch.cluster.Diff;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.Nullable;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.Strings;
-import org.elasticsearch.common.bytes.BytesArray;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.collect.ImmutableOpenMap;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.collect.MapBuilder;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.compress.CompressedXContent;
@@ -408,7 +407,7 @@ public class IndexTemplateMetadata extends AbstractDiffable<IndexTemplateMetadat
             if (context == Metadata.XContentContext.API) {
                 builder.startObject("mappings");
                 for (ObjectObjectCursor<String, CompressedXContent> cursor1 : indexTemplateMetadata.mappings()) {
-                    Map<String, Object> mapping = XContentHelper.convertToMap(new BytesArray(cursor1.value.uncompressed()), false).v2();
+                    Map<String, Object> mapping = XContentHelper.convertToMap(cursor1.value.uncompressed(), false).v2();
                     if (mapping.size() == 1 && mapping.containsKey(cursor1.key)) {
                         // the type name is the root value, reduce it
                         mapping = (Map<String, Object>) mapping.get(cursor1.key);
@@ -425,8 +424,7 @@ public class IndexTemplateMetadata extends AbstractDiffable<IndexTemplateMetadat
                     for (ObjectObjectCursor<String, CompressedXContent> cursor : indexTemplateMetadata.mappings()) {
                         if (!cursor.key.equals(MapperService.DEFAULT_MAPPING)) {
                             assert documentMapping == null;
-                            byte[] mappingSource = cursor.value.uncompressed();
-                            Map<String, Object> mapping = XContentHelper.convertToMap(new BytesArray(mappingSource), true).v2();
+                            Map<String, Object> mapping = XContentHelper.convertToMap(cursor.value.uncompressed(), true).v2();
                             documentMapping = reduceMapping(cursor.key, mapping);
                         }
                     }
@@ -439,8 +437,7 @@ public class IndexTemplateMetadata extends AbstractDiffable<IndexTemplateMetadat
                 } else {
                     builder.startObject("mappings");
                     for (ObjectObjectCursor<String, CompressedXContent> cursor : indexTemplateMetadata.mappings()) {
-                        byte[] mappingSource = cursor.value.uncompressed();
-                        Map<String, Object> mapping = XContentHelper.convertToMap(new BytesArray(mappingSource), true).v2();
+                        Map<String, Object> mapping = XContentHelper.convertToMap(cursor.value.uncompressed(), true).v2();
                         mapping = reduceMapping(cursor.key, mapping);
                         builder.field(cursor.key);
                         builder.map(mapping);
@@ -450,8 +447,7 @@ public class IndexTemplateMetadata extends AbstractDiffable<IndexTemplateMetadat
             } else {
                 builder.startArray("mappings");
                 for (ObjectObjectCursor<String, CompressedXContent> cursor : indexTemplateMetadata.mappings()) {
-                    byte[] data = cursor.value.uncompressed();
-                    builder.map(XContentHelper.convertToMap(new BytesArray(data), true).v2());
+                    builder.map(XContentHelper.convertToMap(cursor.value.uncompressed(), true).v2());
                 }
                 builder.endArray();
             }
diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/cluster/metadata/Template.java b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/cluster/metadata/Template.java
index c4ecaa0e8f3..16a204f4042 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/cluster/metadata/Template.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/cluster/metadata/Template.java
@@ -23,7 +23,6 @@ import org.elasticsearch.cluster.AbstractDiffable;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.Nullable;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.ParseField;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.Strings;
-import org.elasticsearch.common.bytes.BytesArray;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.compress.CompressedXContent;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.io.stream.StreamInput;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.io.stream.StreamOutput;
@@ -169,7 +168,7 @@ public class Template extends AbstractDiffable<Template> implements ToXContentOb
         }
         if (this.mappings != null) {
             Map<String, Object> uncompressedMapping =
-                XContentHelper.convertToMap(new BytesArray(this.mappings.uncompressed()), true, XContentType.JSON).v2();
+                XContentHelper.convertToMap(this.mappings.uncompressed(), true, XContentType.JSON).v2();
             if (uncompressedMapping.size() > 0) {
                 builder.field(MAPPINGS.getPreferredName());
                 builder.map(reduceMapping(uncompressedMapping));
diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/compress/CompressedXContent.java b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/compress/CompressedXContent.java
index 9a470b780cd..08f0a1d34b4 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/compress/CompressedXContent.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/compress/CompressedXContent.java
@@ -19,7 +19,6 @@
 
 package org.elasticsearch.common.compress;
 
-import org.apache.lucene.util.BytesRef;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.bytes.BytesArray;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.bytes.BytesReference;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.io.Streams;
@@ -94,13 +93,9 @@ public final class CompressedXContent {
         if (compressor != null) {
             // already compressed...
             this.bytes = BytesReference.toBytes(data);
-            this.crc32 = crc32(new BytesArray(uncompressed()));
+            this.crc32 = crc32(uncompressed());
         } else {
-            BytesStreamOutput out = new BytesStreamOutput();
-            try (OutputStream compressedOutput = CompressorFactory.COMPRESSOR.streamOutput(out)) {
-                data.writeTo(compressedOutput);
-            }
-            this.bytes = BytesReference.toBytes(out.bytes());
+            this.bytes = BytesReference.toBytes(CompressorFactory.COMPRESSOR.compress(data));
             this.crc32 = crc32(data);
         }
         assertConsistent();
@@ -108,7 +103,7 @@ public final class CompressedXContent {
 
     private void assertConsistent() {
         assert CompressorFactory.compressor(new BytesArray(bytes)) != null;
-        assert this.crc32 == crc32(new BytesArray(uncompressed()));
+        assert this.crc32 == crc32(uncompressed());
     }
 
     public CompressedXContent(byte[] data) throws IOException {
@@ -130,16 +125,16 @@ public final class CompressedXContent {
     }
 
     /** Return the uncompressed bytes. */
-    public byte[] uncompressed() {
+    public BytesReference uncompressed() {
         try {
-            return BytesReference.toBytes(CompressorFactory.uncompress(new BytesArray(bytes)));
+            return CompressorFactory.uncompress(new BytesArray(bytes));
         } catch (IOException e) {
             throw new IllegalStateException("Cannot decompress compressed string", e);
         }
     }
 
     public String string() {
-        return new BytesRef(uncompressed()).utf8ToString();
+        return uncompressed().utf8ToString();
     }
 
     public static CompressedXContent readCompressedString(StreamInput in) throws IOException {
@@ -167,7 +162,7 @@ public final class CompressedXContent {
             return false;
         }
 
-        return Arrays.equals(uncompressed(), that.uncompressed());
+        return uncompressed().equals(that.uncompressed());
     }
 
     @Override
diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/compress/Compressor.java b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/compress/Compressor.java
index d926a0b7dab..bb2544c7036 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/compress/Compressor.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/compress/Compressor.java
@@ -39,4 +39,20 @@ public interface Compressor {
      * output. Closing the returned {@link StreamOutput} will close the provided stream output.
      */
     StreamOutput streamOutput(OutputStream out) throws IOException;
+
+    /**
+     * Decompress bytes into a newly allocated buffer.
+     *
+     * @param bytesReference bytes to decompress
+     * @return decompressed bytes
+     */
+    BytesReference uncompress(BytesReference bytesReference) throws IOException;
+
+    /**
+     * Compress bytes into a newly allocated buffer.
+     *
+     * @param bytesReference bytes to compress
+     * @return compressed bytes
+     */
+    BytesReference compress(BytesReference bytesReference) throws IOException;
 }
diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/compress/CompressorFactory.java b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/compress/CompressorFactory.java
index 2ff2f4e95df..013dc2d3033 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/compress/CompressorFactory.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/compress/CompressorFactory.java
@@ -21,7 +21,6 @@ package org.elasticsearch.common.compress;
 
 import org.elasticsearch.common.Nullable;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.bytes.BytesReference;
-import org.elasticsearch.common.io.Streams;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.XContentHelper;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.XContentType;
 
@@ -71,14 +70,7 @@ public class CompressorFactory {
      */
     public static BytesReference uncompressIfNeeded(BytesReference bytes) throws IOException {
         Compressor compressor = compressor(Objects.requireNonNull(bytes, "the BytesReference must not be null"));
-        BytesReference uncompressed;
-        if (compressor != null) {
-            uncompressed = uncompress(bytes, compressor);
-        } else {
-            uncompressed = bytes;
-        }
-
-        return uncompressed;
+        return compressor == null ? bytes : compressor.uncompress(bytes);
     }
 
     /** Decompress the provided {@link BytesReference}. */
@@ -87,10 +79,6 @@ public class CompressorFactory {
         if (compressor == null) {
             throw new NotCompressedException();
         }
-        return uncompress(bytes, compressor);
-    }
-
-    private static BytesReference uncompress(BytesReference bytes, Compressor compressor) throws IOException {
-        return Streams.readFully(compressor.streamInput(bytes.streamInput()));
+        return compressor.uncompress(bytes);
     }
 }
diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/compress/DeflateCompressor.java b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/compress/DeflateCompressor.java
index 1ba9d43ecda..8cb8084a4df 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/compress/DeflateCompressor.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/compress/DeflateCompressor.java
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@
 package org.elasticsearch.common.compress;
 
 import org.elasticsearch.common.bytes.BytesReference;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.io.stream.BytesStreamOutput;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.io.stream.InputStreamStreamInput;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.io.stream.OutputStreamStreamOutput;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.io.stream.StreamInput;
@@ -36,6 +37,7 @@ import java.util.zip.Deflater;
 import java.util.zip.DeflaterOutputStream;
 import java.util.zip.Inflater;
 import java.util.zip.InflaterInputStream;
+import java.util.zip.InflaterOutputStream;
 
 /**
  * {@link Compressor} implementation based on the DEFLATE compression algorithm.
@@ -129,4 +131,41 @@ public class DeflateCompressor implements Compressor {
             }
         };
     }
+
+    // Reusable Inflater reference. Note: This is not used for the decompressing stream wrapper because we don't have strong guarantees
+    // about the scope in which the stream wrapper is used.
+    private static final ThreadLocal<Inflater> inflaterRef = ThreadLocal.withInitial(() -> new Inflater(true));
+
+    private static final ThreadLocal<BytesStreamOutput> baos = ThreadLocal.withInitial(BytesStreamOutput::new);
+
+    @Override
+    public BytesReference uncompress(BytesReference bytesReference) throws IOException {
+        final BytesStreamOutput buffer = baos.get();
+        final Inflater inflater = inflaterRef.get();
+        inflater.reset();
+        try (InflaterOutputStream ios = new InflaterOutputStream(buffer, inflater)) {
+            bytesReference.slice(HEADER.length, bytesReference.length() - HEADER.length).writeTo(ios);
+        }
+        final BytesReference res = buffer.copyBytes();
+        buffer.reset();
+        return res;
+    }
+
+    // Reusable Deflater reference. Note: This is not used for the compressing stream wrapper because we don't have strong guarantees
+    // about the scope in which the stream wrapper is used.
+    private static final ThreadLocal<Deflater> deflaterRef = ThreadLocal.withInitial(() -> new Deflater(LEVEL, true));
+
+    @Override
+    public BytesReference compress(BytesReference bytesReference) throws IOException {
+        final BytesStreamOutput buffer = baos.get();
+        final Deflater deflater = deflaterRef.get();
+        deflater.reset();
+        buffer.write(HEADER);
+        try (DeflaterOutputStream dos = new DeflaterOutputStream(buffer, deflater, true)) {
+            bytesReference.writeTo(dos);
+        }
+        final BytesReference res = buffer.copyBytes();
+        buffer.reset();
+        return res;
+    }
 }
diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/indices/IndicesService.java b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/indices/IndicesService.java
index d5907af567c..8a95c8e4417 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/indices/IndicesService.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/indices/IndicesService.java
@@ -137,6 +137,7 @@ import org.elasticsearch.threadpool.ThreadPool;
 
 import java.io.Closeable;
 import java.io.IOException;
+import java.io.InputStream;
 import java.io.UncheckedIOException;
 import java.nio.file.Files;
 import java.util.ArrayList;
@@ -1493,9 +1494,10 @@ public class IndicesService extends AbstractLifecycleComponent
     public AliasFilter buildAliasFilter(ClusterState state, String index, Set<String> resolvedExpressions) {
         /* Being static, parseAliasFilter doesn't have access to whatever guts it needs to parse a query. Instead of passing in a bunch
          * of dependencies we pass in a function that can perform the parsing. */
-        CheckedFunction<byte[], QueryBuilder, IOException> filterParser = bytes -> {
-            try (XContentParser parser = XContentFactory.xContent(bytes)
-                    .createParser(xContentRegistry, LoggingDeprecationHandler.INSTANCE, bytes)) {
+        CheckedFunction<BytesReference, QueryBuilder, IOException> filterParser = bytes -> {
+            try (InputStream inputStream = bytes.streamInput();
+                 XContentParser parser = XContentFactory.xContentType(inputStream).xContent()
+                    .createParser(xContentRegistry, LoggingDeprecationHandler.INSTANCE, inputStream)) {
                 return parseInnerQueryBuilder(parser);
             }
         };
diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/repositories/blobstore/BlobStoreRepository.java b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/repositories/blobstore/BlobStoreRepository.java
index 54ecf1a09dd..2700d4ea7c6 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/repositories/blobstore/BlobStoreRepository.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/repositories/blobstore/BlobStoreRepository.java
@@ -67,8 +67,6 @@ import org.elasticsearch.common.component.AbstractLifecycleComponent;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.compress.CompressorFactory;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.compress.NotXContentException;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.io.Streams;
-import org.elasticsearch.common.io.stream.BytesStreamOutput;
-import org.elasticsearch.common.io.stream.StreamOutput;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.lease.Releasable;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.lucene.Lucene;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.lucene.store.InputStreamIndexInput;
@@ -1318,12 +1316,8 @@ public abstract class BlobStoreRepository extends AbstractLifecycleComponent imp
     private void cacheRepositoryData(BytesReference updated, long generation) {
         if (cacheRepositoryData && bestEffortConsistency == false) {
             final BytesReference serialized;
-            BytesStreamOutput out = new BytesStreamOutput();
             try {
-                try (StreamOutput tmp = CompressorFactory.COMPRESSOR.streamOutput(out)) {
-                    updated.writeTo(tmp);
-                }
-                serialized = out.bytes();
+                serialized = CompressorFactory.COMPRESSOR.compress(updated);
                 final int len = serialized.length();
                 if (len > ByteSizeUnit.KB.toBytes(500)) {
                     logger.debug("Not caching repository data of size [{}] for repository [{}] because it is larger than 500KB in" +
diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/search/internal/ShardSearchRequest.java b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/search/internal/ShardSearchRequest.java
index 8d661dbd8b1..72d983208d7 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/search/internal/ShardSearchRequest.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/search/internal/ShardSearchRequest.java
@@ -441,7 +441,7 @@ public class ShardSearchRequest extends TransportRequest implements IndicesReque
      * The list of filtering aliases should be obtained by calling Metadata.filteringAliases.
      * Returns {@code null} if no filtering is required.</p>
      */
-    public static QueryBuilder parseAliasFilter(CheckedFunction<byte[], QueryBuilder, IOException> filterParser,
+    public static QueryBuilder parseAliasFilter(CheckedFunction<BytesReference, QueryBuilder, IOException> filterParser,
                                                 IndexMetadata metadata, String... aliasNames) {
         if (aliasNames == null || aliasNames.length == 0) {
             return null;
diff --git a/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/common/compress/DeflateCompressedXContentTests.java b/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/common/compress/DeflateCompressedXContentTests.java
index f2c1f853e2a..42e59991d82 100644
--- a/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/common/compress/DeflateCompressedXContentTests.java
+++ b/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/common/compress/DeflateCompressedXContentTests.java
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ public class DeflateCompressedXContentTests extends ESTestCase {
 
     private void assertEquals(CompressedXContent s1, CompressedXContent s2) {
         Assert.assertEquals(s1, s2);
-        assertArrayEquals(s1.uncompressed(), s2.uncompressed());
+        assertEquals(s1.uncompressed(), s2.uncompressed());
         assertEquals(s1.hashCode(), s2.hashCode());
     }
 
diff --git a/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/search/internal/ShardSearchRequestTests.java b/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/search/internal/ShardSearchRequestTests.java
index 6a3aa64cc04..c79aef7c0f1 100644
--- a/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/search/internal/ShardSearchRequestTests.java
+++ b/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/search/internal/ShardSearchRequestTests.java
@@ -24,7 +24,6 @@ import org.elasticsearch.action.OriginalIndices;
 import org.elasticsearch.action.search.SearchRequest;
 import org.elasticsearch.cluster.metadata.AliasMetadata;
 import org.elasticsearch.cluster.metadata.IndexMetadata;
-import org.elasticsearch.common.CheckedFunction;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.Nullable;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.Strings;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.compress.CompressedXContent;
@@ -44,6 +43,7 @@ import org.elasticsearch.test.VersionUtils;
 import org.elasticsearch.search.SearchSortValuesAndFormatsTests;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
+import java.io.InputStream;
 
 import static org.elasticsearch.index.query.AbstractQueryBuilder.parseInnerQueryBuilder;
 import static org.elasticsearch.index.query.QueryBuilders.termQuery;
@@ -188,12 +188,12 @@ public class ShardSearchRequestTests extends AbstractSearchTestCase {
     }
 
     public QueryBuilder aliasFilter(IndexMetadata indexMetadata, String... aliasNames) {
-        CheckedFunction<byte[], QueryBuilder, IOException> filterParser = bytes -> {
-            try (XContentParser parser = XContentFactory.xContent(bytes)
-                    .createParser(xContentRegistry(), DeprecationHandler.THROW_UNSUPPORTED_OPERATION, bytes)) {
+        return ShardSearchRequest.parseAliasFilter(bytes -> {
+            try (InputStream inputStream = bytes.streamInput();
+                 XContentParser parser = XContentFactory.xContentType(inputStream).xContent()
+                         .createParser(xContentRegistry(), DeprecationHandler.THROW_UNSUPPORTED_OPERATION, inputStream)) {
                 return parseInnerQueryBuilder(parser);
             }
-        };
-        return ShardSearchRequest.parseAliasFilter(filterParser, indexMetadata, aliasNames);
+        }, indexMetadata, aliasNames);
     }
 }
diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/core/template/TemplateUtils.java b/x-pack/plugin/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/core/template/TemplateUtils.java
index 80d160e49cb..6e725d60021 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/core/template/TemplateUtils.java
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/core/template/TemplateUtils.java
@@ -12,7 +12,6 @@ import org.elasticsearch.Version;
 import org.elasticsearch.cluster.ClusterState;
 import org.elasticsearch.cluster.metadata.IndexTemplateMetadata;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.Strings;
-import org.elasticsearch.common.bytes.BytesArray;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.bytes.BytesReference;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.collect.ImmutableOpenMap;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.compress.CompressedXContent;
@@ -167,9 +166,7 @@ public class TemplateUtils {
         for (Object typeMapping : mappings.values().toArray()) {
             CompressedXContent typeMappingXContent = (CompressedXContent) typeMapping;
             try {
-                Map<String, Object> typeMappingMap = convertToMap(
-                    new BytesArray(typeMappingXContent.uncompressed()), false,
-                    XContentType.JSON).v2();
+                Map<String, Object> typeMappingMap = convertToMap(typeMappingXContent.uncompressed(), false, XContentType.JSON).v2();
                 // should always contain one entry with key = typename
                 assert (typeMappingMap.size() == 1);
                 String key = typeMappingMap.keySet().iterator().next();
diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/rollup/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/rollup/action/TransportGetRollupCapsAction.java b/x-pack/plugin/rollup/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/rollup/action/TransportGetRollupCapsAction.java
index 676a0b50032..2ebecea14be 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/rollup/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/rollup/action/TransportGetRollupCapsAction.java
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/rollup/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/rollup/action/TransportGetRollupCapsAction.java
@@ -13,7 +13,6 @@ import org.elasticsearch.cluster.metadata.IndexMetadata;
 import org.elasticsearch.cluster.metadata.MappingMetadata;
 import org.elasticsearch.cluster.metadata.Metadata;
 import org.elasticsearch.cluster.service.ClusterService;
-import org.elasticsearch.common.bytes.BytesArray;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.collect.ImmutableOpenMap;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.inject.Inject;
 import org.elasticsearch.tasks.Task;
@@ -99,8 +98,7 @@ public class TransportGetRollupCapsAction extends HandledTransportAction<GetRoll
             return Optional.empty();
         }
 
-        RollupIndexCaps caps = RollupIndexCaps.parseMetadataXContent(
-            new BytesArray(rollupMapping.source().uncompressed()), indexName);
+        RollupIndexCaps caps = RollupIndexCaps.parseMetadataXContent(rollupMapping.source().uncompressed(), indexName);
 
         if (caps.hasCaps()) {
             return Optional.of(caps);
diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/transform/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/transform/persistence/TransformInternalIndex.java b/x-pack/plugin/transform/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/transform/persistence/TransformInternalIndex.java
index e17816b3a8a..b0f6cf97237 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/transform/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/transform/persistence/TransformInternalIndex.java
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/transform/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/transform/persistence/TransformInternalIndex.java
@@ -18,7 +18,6 @@ import org.elasticsearch.cluster.metadata.IndexMetadata;
 import org.elasticsearch.cluster.metadata.IndexTemplateMetadata;
 import org.elasticsearch.cluster.service.ClusterService;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.Strings;
-import org.elasticsearch.common.bytes.BytesArray;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.bytes.BytesReference;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.settings.Settings;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.XContentBuilder;
@@ -377,7 +376,7 @@ public final class TransformInternalIndex {
         // Installing the template involves communication with the master node, so it's more expensive but much rarer
         try {
             IndexTemplateMetadata indexTemplateMetadata = getIndexTemplateMetadata();
-            BytesReference jsonMappings = new BytesArray(indexTemplateMetadata.mappings().get(SINGLE_MAPPING_NAME).uncompressed());
+            BytesReference jsonMappings = indexTemplateMetadata.mappings().get(SINGLE_MAPPING_NAME).uncompressed();
             PutIndexTemplateRequest request = new PutIndexTemplateRequest(TransformInternalIndexConstants.LATEST_INDEX_VERSIONED_NAME)
                 .patterns(indexTemplateMetadata.patterns())
                 .version(indexTemplateMetadata.version())
@@ -413,7 +412,7 @@ public final class TransformInternalIndex {
         // Installing the template involves communication with the master node, so it's more expensive but much rarer
         try {
             IndexTemplateMetadata indexTemplateMetadata = getAuditIndexTemplateMetadata(clusterService.state().nodes().getMinNodeVersion());
-            BytesReference jsonMappings = new BytesArray(indexTemplateMetadata.mappings().get(SINGLE_MAPPING_NAME).uncompressed());
+            BytesReference jsonMappings = indexTemplateMetadata.mappings().get(SINGLE_MAPPING_NAME).uncompressed();
             PutIndexTemplateRequest request = new PutIndexTemplateRequest(TransformInternalIndexConstants.AUDIT_INDEX).patterns(
                 indexTemplateMetadata.patterns()
             )
diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/watcher/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/watcher/test/integration/HistoryIntegrationTests.java b/x-pack/plugin/watcher/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/watcher/test/integration/HistoryIntegrationTests.java
index d58664fb407..afb42c65b6b 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/watcher/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/watcher/test/integration/HistoryIntegrationTests.java
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/watcher/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/watcher/test/integration/HistoryIntegrationTests.java
@@ -7,7 +7,6 @@ package org.elasticsearch.xpack.watcher.test.integration;
 
 import org.elasticsearch.action.admin.indices.mapping.get.GetMappingsResponse;
 import org.elasticsearch.action.search.SearchResponse;
-import org.elasticsearch.common.bytes.BytesArray;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.XContentBuilder;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.XContentType;
 import org.elasticsearch.protocol.xpack.watcher.PutWatchResponse;
@@ -101,8 +100,8 @@ public class HistoryIntegrationTests extends AbstractWatcherIntegrationTestCase
         // as fields with dots are allowed in 5.0 again, the mapping must be checked in addition
         GetMappingsResponse response = client().admin().indices().prepareGetMappings(".watcher-history*")
             .addTypes(SINGLE_MAPPING_NAME).get();
-        byte[] bytes = response.getMappings().values().iterator().next().value.get(SINGLE_MAPPING_NAME).source().uncompressed();
-        XContentSource source = new XContentSource(new BytesArray(bytes), XContentType.JSON);
+        XContentSource source = new XContentSource(response.getMappings().values().iterator().next().value.get(SINGLE_MAPPING_NAME)
+                .source().uncompressed(), XContentType.JSON);
         // lets make sure the body fields are disabled
         if (useChained) {
             String chainedPath = SINGLE_MAPPING_NAME +
@@ -142,8 +141,8 @@ public class HistoryIntegrationTests extends AbstractWatcherIntegrationTestCase
         // as fields with dots are allowed in 5.0 again, the mapping must be checked in addition
         GetMappingsResponse response = client().admin().indices().prepareGetMappings(".watcher-history*")
             .addTypes(SINGLE_MAPPING_NAME).get();
-        byte[] bytes = response.getMappings().values().iterator().next().value.get(SINGLE_MAPPING_NAME).source().uncompressed();
-        XContentSource source = new XContentSource(new BytesArray(bytes), XContentType.JSON);
+        XContentSource source = new XContentSource(response.getMappings().values().iterator().next().value.get(SINGLE_MAPPING_NAME)
+                .source().uncompressed(), XContentType.JSON);
 
         // lets make sure the body fields are disabled
         if (useChained) {
@@ -200,8 +199,8 @@ public class HistoryIntegrationTests extends AbstractWatcherIntegrationTestCase
         // also ensure that the status field is disabled in the watch history
         GetMappingsResponse response = client().admin().indices().prepareGetMappings(".watcher-history*")
             .addTypes(SINGLE_MAPPING_NAME).get();
-        byte[] bytes = response.getMappings().values().iterator().next().value.get(SINGLE_MAPPING_NAME).source().uncompressed();
-        XContentSource mappingSource = new XContentSource(new BytesArray(bytes), XContentType.JSON);
+        XContentSource mappingSource = new XContentSource(response.getMappings().values().iterator().next().value.get(SINGLE_MAPPING_NAME)
+                .source().uncompressed(), XContentType.JSON);
         assertThat(mappingSource.getValue(SINGLE_MAPPING_NAME + ".properties.status.enabled"), is(false));
         assertThat(mappingSource.getValue(SINGLE_MAPPING_NAME + ".properties.status.properties.status"), is(nullValue()));
         assertThat(mappingSource.getValue(SINGLE_MAPPING_NAME + ".properties.status.properties.status.properties.active"), is(nullValue()));