diff --git a/azalea-nbt/benches/my_benchmark.rs b/azalea-nbt/benches/my_benchmark.rs
index 30de196c..3d7eaeee 100644
--- a/azalea-nbt/benches/my_benchmark.rs
+++ b/azalea-nbt/benches/my_benchmark.rs
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 use azalea_nbt::Tag;
 use criterion::{criterion_group, criterion_main, Criterion, Throughput};
+use flate2::read::GzDecoder;
 use std::{
     fs::File,
     io::{self, Read, Seek, SeekFrom},
@@ -10,18 +11,25 @@ fn bench_serialize(filename: &str, c: &mut Criterion) {
     let mut contents = Vec::new();
     file.read_to_end(&mut contents).unwrap();
     let mut src = std::io::Cursor::new(&contents[..]);
+
+    // decode the original src so most of the time isn't spent on unzipping
+    let mut decoded_src_decoder = GzDecoder::new(&mut src);
+    let mut decoded_src = Vec::new();
+    decoded_src_decoder.read_to_end(&mut decoded_src).unwrap();
+    let mut decoded_src_stream = std::io::Cursor::new(decoded_src);
+
     file.seek(SeekFrom::Start(0)).unwrap();
     let nbt = Tag::read_gzip(&mut file).unwrap();
 
     let mut group = c.benchmark_group(filename);
     group.throughput(Throughput::Bytes(contents.len() as u64));
-    group.bench_function("Deserialize As Blob", |b| {
+    group.bench_function("Decode", |b| {
         b.iter(|| {
-            src.seek(SeekFrom::Start(0)).unwrap();
-            Tag::read_gzip(&mut src).unwrap();
+            decoded_src_stream.seek(SeekFrom::Start(0)).unwrap();
+            Tag::read(&mut decoded_src_stream).unwrap();
         })
     });
-    group.bench_function("Serialize As Blob", |b| {
+    group.bench_function("Encode", |b| {
         b.iter(|| {
             nbt.write(&mut io::sink()).unwrap();
         })
@@ -31,9 +39,9 @@ fn bench_serialize(filename: &str, c: &mut Criterion) {
 
 fn bench(c: &mut Criterion) {
     bench_serialize("tests/bigtest.nbt", c);
-    // bench_serialize::<data::PlayerData>("tests/simple_player.dat", c);
-    // bench_serialize::<data::PlayerData>("tests/complex_player.dat", c);
-    // bench_serialize::<data::Level>("tests/level.dat", c);
+    // bench_serialize("tests/simple_player.dat", c);
+    // bench_serialize("tests/complex_player.dat", c);
+    bench_serialize("tests/level.dat", c);
 }
 
 criterion_group!(benches, bench);
diff --git a/azalea-nbt/src/decode.rs b/azalea-nbt/src/decode.rs
index a0a4ba8c..f7cda3f9 100644
--- a/azalea-nbt/src/decode.rs
+++ b/azalea-nbt/src/decode.rs
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ impl Tag {
             // integer (thus 4 bytes)
             7 => {
                 let length = stream.read_i32::<BE>().map_err(|_| Error::InvalidTag)?;
-                let mut bytes = Vec::new();
+                let mut bytes = Vec::with_capacity(length as usize);
                 for _ in 0..length {
                     bytes.push(stream.read_i8().map_err(|_| Error::InvalidTag)?);
                 }
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ impl Tag {
             // string in bytes
             8 => {
                 let length = stream.read_u16::<BE>().map_err(|_| Error::InvalidTag)?;
-                let mut bytes = Vec::new();
+                let mut bytes = Vec::with_capacity(length as usize);
                 for _ in 0..length {
                     bytes.push(stream.read_u8().map_err(|_| Error::InvalidTag)?);
                 }
@@ -56,7 +56,7 @@ impl Tag {
             9 => {
                 let type_id = stream.read_u8().map_err(|_| Error::InvalidTag)?;
                 let length = stream.read_i32::<BE>().map_err(|_| Error::InvalidTag)?;
-                let mut list = Vec::new();
+                let mut list = Vec::with_capacity(length as usize);
                 for _ in 0..length {
                     list.push(Tag::read_known(stream, type_id)?);
                 }
@@ -64,7 +64,8 @@ impl Tag {
             }
             // Effectively a list of a named tags. Order is not guaranteed.
             10 => {
-                let mut map = HashMap::new();
+                // we default to capacity 4 because it'll probably not be empty
+                let mut map = HashMap::with_capacity(4);
                 loop {
                     let tag_id = stream.read_u8().unwrap_or(0);
                     if tag_id == 0 {
@@ -84,7 +85,7 @@ impl Tag {
             // integers.
             11 => {
                 let length = stream.read_i32::<BE>().map_err(|_| Error::InvalidTag)?;
-                let mut ints = Vec::new();
+                let mut ints = Vec::with_capacity(length as usize);
                 for _ in 0..length {
                     ints.push(stream.read_i32::<BE>().map_err(|_| Error::InvalidTag)?);
                 }
@@ -94,7 +95,7 @@ impl Tag {
             // integer (thus 4 bytes) and indicates the number of 8 byte longs.
             12 => {
                 let length = stream.read_i32::<BE>().map_err(|_| Error::InvalidTag)?;
-                let mut longs = Vec::new();
+                let mut longs = Vec::with_capacity(length as usize);
                 for _ in 0..length {
                     longs.push(stream.read_i64::<BE>().map_err(|_| Error::InvalidTag)?);
                 }
diff --git a/azalea-nbt/tests/level.dat b/azalea-nbt/tests/level.dat
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..e5d11b8c
Binary files /dev/null and b/azalea-nbt/tests/level.dat differ
diff --git a/azalea-nbt/tests/tests.rs b/azalea-nbt/tests/tests.rs
index 2c69745b..b6bc1023 100644
--- a/azalea-nbt/tests/tests.rs
+++ b/azalea-nbt/tests/tests.rs
@@ -1,8 +1,4 @@
 use azalea_nbt::Tag;
-use flate2::{
-    read::{GzDecoder, ZlibDecoder},
-    write::{GzEncoder, ZlibEncoder},
-};
 use std::{
     collections::HashMap,
     io::{Cursor, Read},