diff --git a/remote/src/main/scala/org/apache/pekko/remote/transport/netty/NettyHelpers.scala b/remote/src/main/scala/org/apache/pekko/remote/transport/netty/NettyHelpers.scala
index 3b17a57730..8a02a9c4e3 100644
--- a/remote/src/main/scala/org/apache/pekko/remote/transport/netty/NettyHelpers.scala
+++ b/remote/src/main/scala/org/apache/pekko/remote/transport/netty/NettyHelpers.scala
@@ -22,7 +22,6 @@ import org.apache.pekko
 import pekko.PekkoException
 import pekko.util.unused
 
-import io.netty.buffer.ByteBuf
 import io.netty.channel.{ ChannelHandlerContext, SimpleChannelInboundHandler }
 
 /**
@@ -36,7 +35,7 @@ private[netty] trait NettyHelpers {
 
   protected def onOpen(@unused ctx: ChannelHandlerContext): Unit = ()
 
-  protected def onMessage(@unused ctx: ChannelHandlerContext, @unused msg: ByteBuf): Unit = ()
+  protected def onMessage(@unused ctx: ChannelHandlerContext, @unused msg: Array[Byte]): Unit = ()
 
   protected def onException(@unused ctx: ChannelHandlerContext, @unused e: Throwable): Unit = ()
 
@@ -53,9 +52,9 @@ private[netty] trait NettyHelpers {
 /**
  * INTERNAL API
  */
-private[netty] abstract class NettyChannelHandlerAdapter extends SimpleChannelInboundHandler[ByteBuf]
+private[netty] abstract class NettyChannelHandlerAdapter extends SimpleChannelInboundHandler[Array[Byte]]
     with NettyHelpers {
-  final override def channelRead0(ctx: ChannelHandlerContext, msg: ByteBuf): Unit = {
+  final override def channelRead0(ctx: ChannelHandlerContext, msg: Array[Byte]): Unit = {
     onMessage(ctx, msg)
   }
 
diff --git a/remote/src/main/scala/org/apache/pekko/remote/transport/netty/NettyTransport.scala b/remote/src/main/scala/org/apache/pekko/remote/transport/netty/NettyTransport.scala
index 0956548fdf..3c57186934 100644
--- a/remote/src/main/scala/org/apache/pekko/remote/transport/netty/NettyTransport.scala
+++ b/remote/src/main/scala/org/apache/pekko/remote/transport/netty/NettyTransport.scala
@@ -51,6 +51,7 @@ import io.netty.channel.group.{ ChannelGroup, ChannelGroupFuture, ChannelMatcher
 import io.netty.channel.nio.NioEventLoopGroup
 import io.netty.channel.socket.SocketChannel
 import io.netty.channel.socket.nio.{ NioServerSocketChannel, NioSocketChannel }
+import io.netty.handler.codec.bytes.ByteArrayDecoder
 import io.netty.handler.codec.{ LengthFieldBasedFrameDecoder, LengthFieldPrepender }
 import io.netty.handler.flush.FlushConsolidationHandler
 import io.netty.handler.ssl.SslHandler
@@ -381,7 +382,7 @@ class NettyTransport(val settings: NettyTransportSettings, val system: ExtendedA
         FrameLengthFieldLength, // Strip the header
         true))
     pipeline.addLast("FrameEncoder", new LengthFieldPrepender(FrameLengthFieldLength))
-
+    pipeline.addLast("bytesDecoder", new ByteArrayDecoder)
     pipeline
   }
 
diff --git a/remote/src/main/scala/org/apache/pekko/remote/transport/netty/TcpSupport.scala b/remote/src/main/scala/org/apache/pekko/remote/transport/netty/TcpSupport.scala
index 8d8fab344a..1870bf056a 100644
--- a/remote/src/main/scala/org/apache/pekko/remote/transport/netty/TcpSupport.scala
+++ b/remote/src/main/scala/org/apache/pekko/remote/transport/netty/TcpSupport.scala
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ import pekko.remote.transport.AssociationHandle.{ Disassociated, HandleEvent, Ha
 import pekko.remote.transport.Transport.AssociationEventListener
 import pekko.util.ByteString
 
-import io.netty.buffer.{ ByteBuf, ByteBufUtil, Unpooled }
+import io.netty.buffer.Unpooled
 import io.netty.channel.{ Channel, ChannelHandlerContext }
 import io.netty.util.AttributeKey
 
@@ -55,8 +55,7 @@ private[remote] trait TcpHandlers extends CommonHandlers {
     log.debug("Remote connection to [{}] was disconnected.", ctx.channel().remoteAddress())
   }
 
-  override def onMessage(ctx: ChannelHandlerContext, msg: ByteBuf): Unit = {
-    val bytes: Array[Byte] = ByteBufUtil.getBytes(msg)
+  override def onMessage(ctx: ChannelHandlerContext, bytes: Array[Byte]): Unit = {
     if (bytes.length > 0) notifyListener(ctx.channel(), InboundPayload(ByteString(bytes)))
   }