diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index 24a1226fe..c2c05e91f 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -93,6 +93,25 @@ dependencies = [
  "rustc-demangle",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "bincode"
+version = "2.0.0-rc.3"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "f11ea1a0346b94ef188834a65c068a03aec181c94896d481d7a0a40d85b0ce95"
+dependencies = [
+ "bincode_derive",
+ "serde",
+]
+
+[[package]]
+name = "bincode_derive"
+version = "2.0.0-rc.3"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "7e30759b3b99a1b802a7a3aa21c85c3ded5c28e1c83170d82d70f08bbf7f3e4c"
+dependencies = [
+ "virtue",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "bitflags"
 version = "1.3.2"
@@ -122,12 +141,6 @@ version = "3.12.0"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "0d261e256854913907f67ed06efbc3338dfe6179796deefc1ff763fc1aee5535"
 
-[[package]]
-name = "byteorder"
-version = "1.5.0"
-source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "1fd0f2584146f6f2ef48085050886acf353beff7305ebd1ae69500e27c67f64b"
-
 [[package]]
 name = "bytes"
 version = "1.4.0"
@@ -1426,6 +1439,7 @@ version = "24.7.0"
 dependencies = [
  "anyhow",
  "arc-swap",
+ "bincode",
  "chrono",
  "content_inspector",
  "crossterm",
@@ -1451,7 +1465,6 @@ dependencies = [
  "open",
  "pulldown-cmark",
  "same-file",
- "rmp-serde",
  "serde",
  "serde_json",
  "signal-hook",
@@ -1883,12 +1896,6 @@ dependencies = [
  "windows-sys 0.45.0",
 ]
 
-[[package]]
-name = "paste"
-version = "1.0.14"
-source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "de3145af08024dea9fa9914f381a17b8fc6034dfb00f3a84013f7ff43f29ed4c"
-
 [[package]]
 name = "pathdiff"
 version = "0.2.1"
@@ -2063,28 +2070,6 @@ version = "0.8.2"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "c08c74e62047bb2de4ff487b251e4a92e24f48745648451635cec7d591162d9f"
 
-[[package]]
-name = "rmp"
-version = "0.8.12"
-source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "7f9860a6cc38ed1da53456442089b4dfa35e7cedaa326df63017af88385e6b20"
-dependencies = [
- "byteorder",
- "num-traits",
- "paste",
-]
-
-[[package]]
-name = "rmp-serde"
-version = "1.1.2"
-source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "bffea85eea980d8a74453e5d02a8d93028f3c34725de143085a844ebe953258a"
-dependencies = [
- "byteorder",
- "rmp",
- "serde",
-]
-
 [[package]]
 name = "ropey"
 version = "1.6.1"
@@ -2586,6 +2571,12 @@ version = "0.9.4"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "49874b5167b65d7193b8aba1567f5c7d93d001cafc34600cee003eda787e483f"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "virtue"
+version = "0.0.13"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "9dcc60c0624df774c82a0ef104151231d37da4962957d691c011c852b2473314"
+
 [[package]]
 name = "walkdir"
 version = "2.4.0"
diff --git a/helix-term/Cargo.toml b/helix-term/Cargo.toml
index a488e45bd..6aedd3017 100644
--- a/helix-term/Cargo.toml
+++ b/helix-term/Cargo.toml
@@ -69,7 +69,7 @@ serde_json = "1.0"
 serde = { version = "1.0", features = ["derive"] }
 
 # shada
-rmp-serde = "1.1.2"
+bincode = "2.0.0-rc.3"
 
 # ripgrep for global search
 grep-regex = "0.1.12"
diff --git a/helix-term/src/shada.rs b/helix-term/src/shada.rs
index 108ce036a..9dc890e7e 100644
--- a/helix-term/src/shada.rs
+++ b/helix-term/src/shada.rs
@@ -1,39 +1,36 @@
+use bincode::{encode_into_std_write, Decode, Encode};
 use helix_loader::{shada_file, VERSION_AND_GIT_HASH};
-use helix_view::view::ViewPosition;
-use rmp_serde::Serializer;
-use serde::{Deserialize, Serialize};
+// use helix_view::view::ViewPosition;
 use std::{
     fs::File,
     time::{SystemTime, UNIX_EPOCH},
 };
 
 // TODO: should this be non-exhaustive?
-#[derive(Debug, Deserialize, Serialize)]
-#[serde(rename = "H")]
+#[derive(Debug, Encode, Decode)]
 struct Header {
     generator: String,
     version: String,
-    encoding: String,
     max_kbyte: u32,
     pid: u32,
 }
 
 // TODO: should this be non-exhaustive?
-#[derive(Debug, Deserialize, Serialize)]
+#[derive(Debug, Encode, Decode)]
 struct FilePosition {
     path: String,
-    position: ViewPosition,
+    // position: ViewPosition,
 }
 
 // TODO: should this be non-exhaustive?
-#[derive(Debug, Deserialize, Serialize)]
+#[derive(Debug, Encode, Decode)]
 enum EntryData {
     Header(Header),
     FilePosition(FilePosition),
 }
 
 // TODO: should this be non-exhaustive?
-#[derive(Debug, Deserialize, Serialize)]
+#[derive(Debug, Encode, Decode)]
 struct Entry {
     timestamp: u64,
     data: EntryData,
@@ -52,9 +49,6 @@ fn generate_header() -> Entry {
         data: EntryData::Header(Header {
             generator: "helix".to_string(),
             version: VERSION_AND_GIT_HASH.to_string(),
-            // TODO: is this necessary? helix doesn't seem to expose an option
-            // for internal encoding like nvim does
-            encoding: "utf-8".to_string(),
             max_kbyte: 100,
             pid: std::process::id(),
         }),
@@ -65,11 +59,10 @@ pub fn write_shada_file() {
     // TODO: merge existing file if exists
 
     // TODO: do something about this unwrap
-    let shada_file = File::create(shada_file()).unwrap();
-    let mut serializer = Serializer::new(shada_file);
+    let mut shada_file = File::create(shada_file()).unwrap();
 
     let header = generate_header();
 
     // TODO: do something about this unwrap
-    header.serialize(&mut serializer).unwrap();
+    encode_into_std_write(&header, &mut shada_file, bincode::config::standard()).unwrap();
 }
diff --git a/helix-view/src/view.rs b/helix-view/src/view.rs
index 9ebec0051..a229f01ea 100644
--- a/helix-view/src/view.rs
+++ b/helix-view/src/view.rs
@@ -18,8 +18,6 @@ use helix_core::{
     VisualOffsetError::{PosAfterMaxRow, PosBeforeAnchorRow},
 };
 
-use serde::{Deserialize, Serialize};
-
 use std::{
     collections::{HashMap, VecDeque},
     fmt,
@@ -120,7 +118,7 @@ impl JumpList {
     }
 }
 
-#[derive(Clone, Debug, PartialEq, Eq, Copy, Default, Serialize, Deserialize)]
+#[derive(Clone, Debug, PartialEq, Eq, Copy, Default)]
 pub struct ViewPosition {
     pub anchor: usize,
     pub horizontal_offset: usize,