diff --git a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/io/stream/AdapterStreamInput.java b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/io/stream/AdapterStreamInput.java
index cafd5c485da..24478fd2a6e 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/io/stream/AdapterStreamInput.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/io/stream/AdapterStreamInput.java
@@ -113,6 +113,11 @@ public abstract class AdapterStreamInput extends StreamInput {
         return in.readText();
     }
 
+    @Override
+    public Text readSharedText() throws IOException {
+        return in.readSharedText();
+    }
+
     @Override
     public int read(byte[] b) throws IOException {
         return in.read(b);
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/io/stream/AdapterStreamOutput.java b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/io/stream/AdapterStreamOutput.java
index 5fc112c404c..b6a4fee3a6e 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/io/stream/AdapterStreamOutput.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/io/stream/AdapterStreamOutput.java
@@ -141,6 +141,11 @@ public class AdapterStreamOutput extends StreamOutput {
         out.writeText(text);
     }
 
+    @Override
+    public void writeSharedText(Text text) throws IOException {
+        out.writeSharedText(text);
+    }
+
     @Override
     public void writeFloat(float v) throws IOException {
         out.writeFloat(v);
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/io/stream/HandlesStreamInput.java b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/io/stream/HandlesStreamInput.java
index 3a7537c70b0..3d6ea23b23d 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/io/stream/HandlesStreamInput.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/io/stream/HandlesStreamInput.java
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@
 package org.elasticsearch.common.io.stream;
 
 import gnu.trove.map.hash.TIntObjectHashMap;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.text.Text;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
 
@@ -29,9 +30,10 @@ import java.io.IOException;
 public class HandlesStreamInput extends AdapterStreamInput {
 
     private final TIntObjectHashMap<String> handles = new TIntObjectHashMap<String>();
-
     private final TIntObjectHashMap<String> identityHandles = new TIntObjectHashMap<String>();
 
+    private final TIntObjectHashMap<Text> handlesText = new TIntObjectHashMap<Text>();
+
     HandlesStreamInput() {
         super();
     }
@@ -89,21 +91,41 @@ public class HandlesStreamInput extends AdapterStreamInput {
         }
     }
 
+    @Override
+    public Text readSharedText() throws IOException {
+        byte b = in.readByte();
+        if (b == 0) {
+            int handle = in.readVInt();
+            Text s = in.readText();
+            handlesText.put(handle, s);
+            return s;
+        } else if (b == 1) {
+            return handlesText.get(in.readVInt());
+        } else if (b == 2) {
+            return in.readText();
+        } else {
+            throw new IOException("Expected handle header, got [" + b + "]");
+        }
+    }
+
     @Override
     public void reset() throws IOException {
         super.reset();
         handles.clear();
         identityHandles.clear();
+        handlesText.clear();
     }
 
     public void reset(StreamInput in) {
         super.reset(in);
         handles.clear();
         identityHandles.clear();
+        handlesText.clear();
     }
 
     public void cleanHandles() {
         handles.clear();
         identityHandles.clear();
+        handlesText.clear();
     }
 }
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/io/stream/HandlesStreamOutput.java b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/io/stream/HandlesStreamOutput.java
index b4a364e0b33..136fda0a249 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/io/stream/HandlesStreamOutput.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/io/stream/HandlesStreamOutput.java
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ package org.elasticsearch.common.io.stream;
 
 import gnu.trove.impl.Constants;
 import gnu.trove.map.hash.TObjectIntHashMap;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.text.Text;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.util.Arrays;
@@ -36,9 +37,10 @@ public class HandlesStreamOutput extends AdapterStreamOutput {
     private final int identityThreshold;
 
     private final TObjectIntHashMap<String> handles = new TObjectIntHashMap<String>(Constants.DEFAULT_CAPACITY, Constants.DEFAULT_LOAD_FACTOR, -1);
-
     private final HandleTable identityHandles = new HandleTable(10, (float) 3.00);
 
+    private final TObjectIntHashMap<Text> handlesText = new TObjectIntHashMap<Text>(Constants.DEFAULT_CAPACITY, Constants.DEFAULT_LOAD_FACTOR, -1);
+
     public HandlesStreamOutput(StreamOutput out) {
         this(out, DEFAULT_IDENTITY_THRESHOLD);
     }
@@ -105,10 +107,37 @@ public class HandlesStreamOutput extends AdapterStreamOutput {
         }
     }
 
+    @Override
+    public void writeSharedText(Text text) throws IOException {
+        int length;
+        if (text.hasBytes()) {
+            length = text.bytes().length();
+        } else {
+            length = text.string().length();
+        }
+        if (length < identityThreshold) {
+            int handle = handlesText.get(text);
+            if (handle == -1) {
+                handle = handlesText.size();
+                handlesText.put(text, handle);
+                out.writeByte((byte) 0);
+                out.writeVInt(handle);
+                out.writeText(text);
+            } else {
+                out.writeByte((byte) 1);
+                out.writeVInt(handle);
+            }
+        } else {
+            out.writeByte((byte) 2);
+            out.writeText(text);
+        }
+    }
+
     @Override
     public void reset() throws IOException {
         handles.clear();
         identityHandles.clear();
+        handlesText.clear();
         if (out != null) {
             out.reset();
         }
@@ -117,6 +146,7 @@ public class HandlesStreamOutput extends AdapterStreamOutput {
     public void clear() {
         handles.clear();
         identityHandles.clear();
+        handlesText.clear();
     }
 
     /**
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/io/stream/StreamInput.java b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/io/stream/StreamInput.java
index b993c9a55e0..e3ed22c4bb6 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/io/stream/StreamInput.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/io/stream/StreamInput.java
@@ -198,6 +198,10 @@ public abstract class StreamInput extends InputStream {
         return new StringAndBytesText(readBytesReference(length));
     }
 
+    public Text readSharedText() throws IOException {
+        return readText();
+    }
+
     @Nullable
     public String readOptionalString() throws IOException {
         if (readBoolean()) {
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/io/stream/StreamOutput.java b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/io/stream/StreamOutput.java
index 5af27273970..283576120b8 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/io/stream/StreamOutput.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/io/stream/StreamOutput.java
@@ -204,6 +204,10 @@ public abstract class StreamOutput extends OutputStream {
         }
     }
 
+    public void writeSharedText(Text text) throws IOException {
+        writeText(text);
+    }
+
     public void writeString(String str) throws IOException {
         int charCount = str.length();
         writeVInt(charCount);
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/text/BytesText.java b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/text/BytesText.java
index dc8ea88e219..488490b70ba 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/text/BytesText.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/text/BytesText.java
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@ import org.elasticsearch.common.bytes.BytesReference;
 public class BytesText implements Text {
 
     private BytesReference bytes;
+    private int hash;
 
     public BytesText(BytesReference bytes) {
         this.bytes = bytes;
@@ -64,7 +65,10 @@ public class BytesText implements Text {
 
     @Override
     public int hashCode() {
-        return bytes().hashCode();
+        if (hash == 0) {
+            hash = bytes.hashCode();
+        }
+        return hash;
     }
 
     @Override
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/text/StringAndBytesText.java b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/text/StringAndBytesText.java
index 73e2d196e49..ea26e7dc17d 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/text/StringAndBytesText.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/text/StringAndBytesText.java
@@ -44,6 +44,7 @@ public class StringAndBytesText implements Text {
 
     private BytesReference bytes;
     private String text;
+    private int hash;
 
     public StringAndBytesText(BytesReference bytes) {
         this.bytes = bytes;
@@ -90,7 +91,10 @@ public class StringAndBytesText implements Text {
 
     @Override
     public int hashCode() {
-        return bytes().hashCode();
+        if (hash == 0) {
+            hash = bytes().hashCode();
+        }
+        return hash;
     }
 
     @Override
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/text/StringText.java b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/text/StringText.java
index c478396b35d..cda2a9ec9ba 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/text/StringText.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/text/StringText.java
@@ -42,6 +42,7 @@ public class StringText implements Text {
     }
 
     private final String text;
+    private int hash;
 
     public StringText(String text) {
         this.text = text;
@@ -75,7 +76,10 @@ public class StringText implements Text {
     @Override
     public int hashCode() {
         // we use bytes here so we can be consistent with other text implementations
-        return bytes().hashCode();
+        if (hash == 0) {
+            hash = bytes().hashCode();
+        }
+        return hash;
     }
 
     @Override
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/text/Text.java b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/text/Text.java
index 03dc18bfb7c..a009092d7ad 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/text/Text.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/text/Text.java
@@ -21,12 +21,14 @@ package org.elasticsearch.common.text;
 
 import org.elasticsearch.common.bytes.BytesReference;
 
+import java.io.Serializable;
+
 /**
  * Text represents a (usually) long text data. We use this abstraction instead of {@link String}
  * so we can represent it in a more optimized manner in memory as well as serializing it over the
  * network as well as converting it to json format.
  */
-public interface Text extends Comparable<Text> {
+public interface Text extends Comparable<Text>, Serializable {
 
     /**
      * Are bytes available without the need to be converted into bytes when calling {@link #bytes()}.
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/DocumentMapper.java b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/DocumentMapper.java
index 31732e32e31..4d12f2cc35a 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/DocumentMapper.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/DocumentMapper.java
@@ -35,6 +35,8 @@ import org.elasticsearch.common.bytes.BytesReference;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.collect.MapBuilder;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.compress.CompressedString;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.settings.Settings;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.text.StringAndBytesText;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.text.Text;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.*;
 import org.elasticsearch.index.analysis.NamedAnalyzer;
 import org.elasticsearch.index.mapper.internal.*;
@@ -237,6 +239,7 @@ public class DocumentMapper implements ToXContent {
     private final Settings indexSettings;
 
     private final String type;
+    private final StringAndBytesText typeText;
 
     private final DocumentMapperParser docMapperParser;
 
@@ -279,6 +282,7 @@ public class DocumentMapper implements ToXContent {
         this.index = index;
         this.indexSettings = indexSettings;
         this.type = rootObjectMapper.name();
+        this.typeText = new StringAndBytesText(this.type);
         this.docMapperParser = docMapperParser;
         this.meta = meta;
         this.rootObjectMapper = rootObjectMapper;
@@ -341,6 +345,10 @@ public class DocumentMapper implements ToXContent {
         return this.type;
     }
 
+    public Text typeText() {
+        return this.typeText;
+    }
+
     public ImmutableMap<String, Object> meta() {
         return this.meta;
     }
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/search/SearchShardTarget.java b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/search/SearchShardTarget.java
index e7ba7e07055..e0fe1bc8773 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/search/SearchShardTarget.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/search/SearchShardTarget.java
@@ -23,21 +23,19 @@ import org.elasticsearch.common.Nullable;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.io.stream.StreamInput;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.io.stream.StreamOutput;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.io.stream.Streamable;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.text.StringAndBytesText;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.text.Text;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.io.Serializable;
 
 /**
  * The target that the search request was executed on.
- *
- *
  */
 public class SearchShardTarget implements Streamable, Serializable, Comparable<SearchShardTarget> {
 
-    private String nodeId;
-
-    private String index;
-
+    private Text nodeId;
+    private Text index;
     private int shardId;
 
     private SearchShardTarget() {
@@ -45,27 +43,35 @@ public class SearchShardTarget implements Streamable, Serializable, Comparable<S
     }
 
     public SearchShardTarget(String nodeId, String index, int shardId) {
-        this.nodeId = nodeId;
-        this.index = index;
+        this.nodeId = nodeId == null ? null : new StringAndBytesText(nodeId);
+        this.index = new StringAndBytesText(index);
         this.shardId = shardId;
     }
 
     @Nullable
     public String nodeId() {
-        return nodeId;
+        return nodeId.string();
     }
 
     @Nullable
     public String getNodeId() {
-        return nodeId;
+        return nodeId();
+    }
+
+    public Text nodeIdText() {
+        return this.nodeId;
     }
 
     public String index() {
-        return index;
+        return index.string();
     }
 
     public String getIndex() {
-        return index;
+        return index();
+    }
+
+    public Text indexText() {
+        return this.index;
     }
 
     public int shardId() {
@@ -84,7 +90,7 @@ public class SearchShardTarget implements Streamable, Serializable, Comparable<S
 
     @Override
     public int compareTo(SearchShardTarget o) {
-        int i = index.compareTo(o.index());
+        int i = index.string().compareTo(o.index());
         if (i == 0) {
             i = shardId - o.shardId;
         }
@@ -94,9 +100,9 @@ public class SearchShardTarget implements Streamable, Serializable, Comparable<S
     @Override
     public void readFrom(StreamInput in) throws IOException {
         if (in.readBoolean()) {
-            nodeId = in.readUTF();
+            nodeId = in.readSharedText();
         }
-        index = in.readUTF();
+        index = in.readSharedText();
         shardId = in.readVInt();
     }
 
@@ -106,9 +112,9 @@ public class SearchShardTarget implements Streamable, Serializable, Comparable<S
             out.writeBoolean(false);
         } else {
             out.writeBoolean(true);
-            out.writeUTF(nodeId);
+            out.writeSharedText(nodeId);
         }
-        out.writeUTF(index);
+        out.writeSharedText(index);
         out.writeVInt(shardId);
     }
 
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/search/fetch/FetchPhase.java b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/search/fetch/FetchPhase.java
index 581a3b01afc..845fb0031c4 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/search/fetch/FetchPhase.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/search/fetch/FetchPhase.java
@@ -24,10 +24,13 @@ import org.apache.lucene.index.AtomicReaderContext;
 import org.apache.lucene.index.ReaderUtil;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.bytes.BytesArray;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.inject.Inject;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.text.StringAndBytesText;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.text.Text;
 import org.elasticsearch.index.fieldvisitor.CustomFieldsVisitor;
 import org.elasticsearch.index.fieldvisitor.FieldsVisitor;
 import org.elasticsearch.index.fieldvisitor.JustUidFieldsVisitor;
 import org.elasticsearch.index.fieldvisitor.UidAndSourceFieldsVisitor;
+import org.elasticsearch.index.mapper.DocumentMapper;
 import org.elasticsearch.index.mapper.FieldMappers;
 import org.elasticsearch.index.mapper.internal.SourceFieldMapper;
 import org.elasticsearch.search.SearchHitField;
@@ -149,7 +152,14 @@ public class FetchPhase implements SearchPhase {
                 }
             }
 
-            InternalSearchHit searchHit = new InternalSearchHit(docId, fieldsVisitor.uid().id(), fieldsVisitor.uid().type(), sourceRequested ? fieldsVisitor.source() : null, searchFields);
+            DocumentMapper documentMapper = context.mapperService().documentMapper(fieldsVisitor.uid().type());
+            Text typeText;
+            if (documentMapper == null) {
+                typeText = new StringAndBytesText(fieldsVisitor.uid().type());
+            } else {
+                typeText = documentMapper.typeText();
+            }
+            InternalSearchHit searchHit = new InternalSearchHit(docId, fieldsVisitor.uid().id(), typeText, sourceRequested ? fieldsVisitor.source() : null, searchFields);
 
             hits[index] = searchHit;
 
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/search/internal/InternalSearchHit.java b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/search/internal/InternalSearchHit.java
index a353770c309..97b7850ae15 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/search/internal/InternalSearchHit.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/search/internal/InternalSearchHit.java
@@ -63,9 +63,8 @@ public class InternalSearchHit implements SearchHit {
 
     private float score = Float.NEGATIVE_INFINITY;
 
-    private String id;
-
-    private String type;
+    private Text id;
+    private Text type;
 
     private long version = -1;
 
@@ -91,9 +90,9 @@ public class InternalSearchHit implements SearchHit {
 
     }
 
-    public InternalSearchHit(int docId, String id, String type, BytesReference source, Map<String, SearchHitField> fields) {
+    public InternalSearchHit(int docId, String id, Text type, BytesReference source, Map<String, SearchHitField> fields) {
         this.docId = docId;
-        this.id = id;
+        this.id = new StringAndBytesText(id);
         this.type = type;
         this.source = source;
         this.fields = fields;
@@ -147,7 +146,7 @@ public class InternalSearchHit implements SearchHit {
 
     @Override
     public String id() {
-        return id;
+        return id.string();
     }
 
     @Override
@@ -157,7 +156,7 @@ public class InternalSearchHit implements SearchHit {
 
     @Override
     public String type() {
-        return type;
+        return type.string();
     }
 
     @Override
@@ -381,9 +380,9 @@ public class InternalSearchHit implements SearchHit {
         builder.startObject();
         if (explanation() != null) {
             builder.field("_shard", shard.shardId());
-            builder.field("_node", shard.nodeId());
+            builder.field("_node", shard.nodeIdText());
         }
-        builder.field(Fields._INDEX, shard.index());
+        builder.field(Fields._INDEX, shard.indexText());
         builder.field(Fields._TYPE, type);
         builder.field(Fields._ID, id);
         if (version != -1) {
@@ -482,8 +481,8 @@ public class InternalSearchHit implements SearchHit {
 
     public void readFrom(StreamInput in, InternalSearchHits.StreamContext context) throws IOException {
         score = in.readFloat();
-        id = in.readString();
-        type = in.readString();
+        id = in.readText();
+        type = in.readSharedText();
         version = in.readLong();
         source = in.readBytesReference();
         if (source.length() == 0) {
@@ -617,8 +616,8 @@ public class InternalSearchHit implements SearchHit {
 
     public void writeTo(StreamOutput out, InternalSearchHits.StreamContext context) throws IOException {
         out.writeFloat(score);
-        out.writeString(id);
-        out.writeString(type);
+        out.writeText(id);
+        out.writeSharedText(type);
         out.writeLong(version);
         out.writeBytesReference(source);
         if (explanation == null) {