diff --git a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/BytesHolder.java b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/BytesHolder.java
index c95960c7739..3875f832768 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/BytesHolder.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/BytesHolder.java
@@ -19,14 +19,9 @@
 
 package org.elasticsearch.common;
 
-import org.elasticsearch.common.io.stream.StreamInput;
-import org.elasticsearch.common.io.stream.StreamOutput;
-import org.elasticsearch.common.io.stream.Streamable;
-
-import java.io.IOException;
 import java.util.Arrays;
 
-public class BytesHolder implements Streamable {
+public class BytesHolder {
 
     public static final BytesHolder EMPTY = new BytesHolder(Bytes.EMPTY_ARRAY, 0, 0);
 
@@ -66,26 +61,6 @@ public class BytesHolder implements Streamable {
         return length;
     }
 
-    public static BytesHolder readBytesHolder(StreamInput in) throws IOException {
-        BytesHolder holder = new BytesHolder();
-        holder.readFrom(in);
-        return holder;
-    }
-
-    @Override
-    public void readFrom(StreamInput in) throws IOException {
-        offset = 0;
-        length = in.readVInt();
-        bytes = new byte[length];
-        in.readBytes(bytes, 0, length);
-    }
-
-    @Override
-    public void writeTo(StreamOutput out) throws IOException {
-        out.writeVInt(length);
-        out.writeBytes(bytes, offset, length);
-    }
-
     @Override
     public boolean equals(Object obj) {
         return bytesEquals((BytesHolder) obj);
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/get/GetResult.java b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/get/GetResult.java
index ef15d4089be..b8d9f8f404e 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/get/GetResult.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/get/GetResult.java
@@ -170,8 +170,7 @@ public class GetResult implements Streamable, Iterable<GetField>, ToXContent {
     public BytesHolder sourceRef() {
         if (LZF.isCompressed(source.bytes(), source.offset(), source.length())) {
             try {
-                // TODO decompress without doing an extra copy!
-                this.source = new BytesHolder(LZFDecoder.decode(source.copyBytes()));
+                this.source = new BytesHolder(LZFDecoder.decode(source.bytes(), source.offset(), source.length()));
             } catch (IOException e) {
                 throw new ElasticSearchParseException("failed to decompress source", e);
             }
@@ -315,8 +314,9 @@ public class GetResult implements Streamable, Iterable<GetField>, ToXContent {
         version = in.readLong();
         exists = in.readBoolean();
         if (exists) {
-            if (in.readBoolean()) {
-                source = BytesHolder.readBytesHolder(in);
+            source = in.readBytesReference();
+            if (source.length() == 0) {
+                source = null;
             }
             int size = in.readVInt();
             if (size == 0) {
@@ -339,12 +339,7 @@ public class GetResult implements Streamable, Iterable<GetField>, ToXContent {
         out.writeLong(version);
         out.writeBoolean(exists);
         if (exists) {
-            if (source == null) {
-                out.writeBoolean(false);
-            } else {
-                out.writeBoolean(true);
-                source.writeTo(out);
-            }
+            out.writeBytesHolder(source);
             if (fields == null) {
                 out.writeVInt(0);
             } else {