diff --git a/zlib-rs/src/deflate/sym_buf.rs b/zlib-rs/src/deflate/sym_buf.rs
index ce6e771e..6ec8e383 100644
--- a/zlib-rs/src/deflate/sym_buf.rs
+++ b/zlib-rs/src/deflate/sym_buf.rs
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 use crate::weak_slice::WeakSliceMut;
 
 pub(crate) struct SymBuf<'a> {
-    buf: WeakSliceMut<'a, u8>,
+    buf: WeakSliceMut<'a, [u8; 3]>,
     filled: usize,
 }
 
@@ -12,16 +12,14 @@ impl<'a> SymBuf<'a> {
     #[inline]
     pub fn iter(&self) -> impl Iterator<Item = (u16, u8)> + '_ {
         self.buf.as_slice()[..self.filled]
-            .chunks_exact(3)
-            .map(|chunk| match *chunk {
-                [dist_low, dist_high, lc] => (u16::from_le_bytes([dist_low, dist_high]), lc),
-                _ => unreachable!("chunks are exactly 3 elements wide"),
-            })
+            .iter()
+            .copied()
+            .map(|[dist_low, dist_high, lc]| (u16::from_le_bytes([dist_low, dist_high]), lc))
     }
 
     #[inline]
     pub fn should_flush_block(&self) -> bool {
-        self.filled == self.buf.len() - 3
+        self.filled == self.buf.len() - 1
     }
 
     /// Returns true if there are no bytes in this ReadBuf
@@ -35,38 +33,37 @@ impl<'a> SymBuf<'a> {
     /// The number of initialized bytes is not changed, and the contents of the buffer are not modified.
     #[inline]
     pub fn clear(&mut self) {
-        self.buf.as_mut_slice().fill(0);
+        self.buf.as_mut_slice().fill([0; 3]);
         self.filled = 0;
     }
 
     #[inline(always)]
     pub fn push_lit(&mut self, byte: u8) {
         // NOTE: we rely on the buffer being zeroed here!
-        self.buf.as_mut_slice()[self.filled + 2] = byte;
+        self.buf.as_mut_slice()[self.filled][2] = byte;
 
-        self.filled += 3;
+        self.filled += 1;
     }
 
     #[inline(always)]
     pub fn push_dist(&mut self, dist: u16, len: u8) {
-        let buf = &mut self.buf.as_mut_slice()[self.filled..][..3];
         let [dist1, dist2] = dist.to_le_bytes();
 
-        buf[0] = dist1;
-        buf[1] = dist2;
-        buf[2] = len;
+        self.buf.as_mut_slice()[self.filled] = [dist1, dist2, len];
 
-        self.filled += 3;
+        self.filled += 1;
     }
 
     pub(crate) unsafe fn from_raw_parts(ptr: *mut u8, lit_bufsize: usize) -> Self {
+        let ptr = ptr.cast::<[u8; 3]>();
         Self {
-            buf: unsafe { WeakSliceMut::from_raw_parts_mut(ptr, lit_bufsize * 3) },
+            buf: unsafe { WeakSliceMut::from_raw_parts_mut(ptr, lit_bufsize) },
             filled: 0,
         }
     }
 
     pub(crate) unsafe fn clone_to(&self, ptr: *mut u8) -> Self {
+        let ptr = ptr.cast::<[u8; 3]>();
         unsafe { ptr.copy_from_nonoverlapping(self.buf.as_ptr(), self.buf.len()) };
         Self {
             buf: unsafe { WeakSliceMut::from_raw_parts_mut(ptr, self.buf.len()) },