diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index a4d2af845..62a040f27 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -123,6 +123,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "flate2",
  "log",
  "md5",
+ "memmap2",
  "miniz_oxide 0.8.0",
  "plotters",
  "serde",
@@ -676,6 +677,15 @@ version = "2.7.4"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "78ca9ab1a0babb1e7d5695e3530886289c18cf2f87ec19a575a0abdce112e3a3"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "memmap2"
+version = "0.9.5"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "fd3f7eed9d3848f8b98834af67102b720745c4ec028fcd0aa0239277e7de374f"
+dependencies = [
+ "libc",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "miniz_oxide"
 version = "0.7.4"
diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index ae2819fee..5b0f30bea 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -33,6 +33,7 @@ aho-corasick = "1.1.3"
 serde = { version = "1.0", features = ["derive"]}
 clap = { version = "4.5.16", features = ["derive"] }
 xxhash-rust = { version = "0.8.12", features = ["xxh32"] }
+memmap2 = "0.9.5"
 
 [dependencies.uuid]
 version = "1.10.0"
diff --git a/src/binwalk.rs b/src/binwalk.rs
index 933970ded..482de9b60 100644
--- a/src/binwalk.rs
+++ b/src/binwalk.rs
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ use std::os::windows;
 #[cfg(unix)]
 use std::os::unix;
 
-use crate::common::{is_offset_safe, read_file};
+use crate::common::{is_offset_safe, mmap_file};
 use crate::extractors;
 use crate::magic;
 use crate::signatures;
@@ -699,11 +699,10 @@ impl Binwalk {
 
         debug!("Analysis start: {}", target_file);
 
-        // Read file into memory
-        if let Ok(file_data) = read_file(target_file) {
+        if let Ok(file_mmap) = mmap_file(target_file) {
             // Scan file data for signatures
             info!("Scanning {}", target_file);
-            results.file_map = self.scan(&file_data);
+            results.file_map = self.scan(&file_mmap);
 
             // Only extract if told to, and if there were some signatures found in this file
             if do_extraction && !results.file_map.is_empty() {
@@ -712,7 +711,7 @@ impl Binwalk {
                     "Submitting {} signature results to extractor",
                     results.file_map.len()
                 );
-                results.extractions = self.extract(&file_data, target_file, &results.file_map);
+                results.extractions = self.extract(&file_mmap, target_file, &results.file_map);
             }
         }
 
diff --git a/src/common.rs b/src/common.rs
index cb1276a4c..8e0b59aeb 100644
--- a/src/common.rs
+++ b/src/common.rs
@@ -1,24 +1,22 @@
 //! Common Functions
 use chrono::prelude::DateTime;
-use log::{debug, error};
+use log::error;
+use memmap2::Mmap;
 use std::fs::File;
-use std::io::Read;
 
-/// Read a file into memory and return its contents.
+/// Map the file into memory and return a [Mmap] instance
+/// that provides access into the file's contents.
 ///
 /// ## Example
 ///
 /// ```
-/// # fn main() { #[allow(non_snake_case)] fn _doctest_main_src_common_rs_11_0() -> Result<(), Box<dyn std::error::Error>> {
-/// use binwalk::common::read_file;
+/// use binwalk::common::mmap_file;
 ///
-/// let file_data = read_file("/etc/passwd")?;
+/// let file_data = mmap_file("/etc/passwd")?;
 /// assert!(file_data.len() > 0);
-/// # Ok(())
-/// # } _doctest_main_src_common_rs_11_0(); }
+/// # Ok::<(), std::io::Error>(())
 /// ```
-pub fn read_file(file: impl Into<String>) -> Result<Vec<u8>, std::io::Error> {
-    let mut file_data = Vec::new();
+pub fn mmap_file(file: impl Into<String>) -> Result<Mmap, std::io::Error> {
     let file_path = file.into();
 
     match File::open(&file_path) {
@@ -26,15 +24,12 @@ pub fn read_file(file: impl Into<String>) -> Result<Vec<u8>, std::io::Error> {
             error!("Failed to open file {}: {}", file_path, e);
             Err(e)
         }
-        Ok(mut fp) => match fp.read_to_end(&mut file_data) {
+        Ok(fp) => match unsafe { Mmap::map(&fp) } {
             Err(e) => {
-                error!("Failed to read file {} into memory: {}", file_path, e);
+                error!("Failed to map file {} into memory: {}", file_path, e);
                 Err(e)
             }
-            Ok(file_size) => {
-                debug!("Loaded {} bytes from {}", file_size, file_path);
-                Ok(file_data)
-            }
+            Ok(mmap) => Ok(mmap),
         },
     }
 }
diff --git a/src/entropy.rs b/src/entropy.rs
index e3455262f..5628ad890 100644
--- a/src/entropy.rs
+++ b/src/entropy.rs
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-use crate::common::read_file;
+use crate::common::mmap_file;
 use entropy::shannon_entropy;
 use log::error;
 use plotters::prelude::*;
@@ -87,7 +87,7 @@ pub fn plot(file_path: impl Into<String>) -> Result<FileEntropy, EntropyError> {
     }
 
     // Read in the target file data
-    if let Ok(file_data) = read_file(&target_file) {
+    if let Ok(file_data) = mmap_file(&target_file) {
         let mut points: Vec<(i32, i32)> = vec![];
 
         // Calculate the entropy for each file block
diff --git a/src/main.rs b/src/main.rs
index 586d1f968..0e389e25d 100644
--- a/src/main.rs
+++ b/src/main.rs
@@ -305,7 +305,7 @@ fn carve_file_map(results: &binwalk::AnalysisResults) -> usize {
     // No results, don't do anything
     if !results.file_map.is_empty() {
         // Read in the source file
-        if let Ok(file_data) = common::read_file(&results.file_path) {
+        if let Ok(file_data) = common::mmap_file(&results.file_path) {
             // Loop through all identified signatures in the file
             for signature_result in &results.file_map {
                 // If there is data between the last signature and this signature, it is some chunk of unknown data