diff --git a/strata-daemon/Cargo.lock b/strata-daemon/Cargo.lock
index 9464eb4..26fac71 100644
--- a/strata-daemon/Cargo.lock
+++ b/strata-daemon/Cargo.lock
@@ -201,12 +201,6 @@ version = "1.5.1"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "f2032f911046de80f0a198e0901378627c33f59ea0ac00e363d481118bd70a53"
 
-[[package]]
-name = "base64"
-version = "0.22.1"
-source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "72b3254f16251a8381aa12e40e3c4d2f0199f8c6508fbecb9d91f575e0fbb8c6"
-
 [[package]]
 name = "bitflags"
 version = "2.11.1"
@@ -1281,7 +1275,6 @@ name = "strata-daemon"
 version = "0.2.0"
 dependencies = [
  "anyhow",
- "base64",
  "blake3",
  "dirs",
  "image",
diff --git a/strata-daemon/Cargo.toml b/strata-daemon/Cargo.toml
index 8786467..54c3ca7 100644
--- a/strata-daemon/Cargo.toml
+++ b/strata-daemon/Cargo.toml
@@ -32,7 +32,6 @@ uuid               = { version = "1",    features = ["v4"] }
 
 # Image thumbnail generation (runs in spawn_blocking — never blocks async runtime)
 image              = { version = "0.25", default-features = false, features = ["png", "jpeg"] }
-base64             = { version = "0.22", features = ["std"] }
 
 # Fast content hashing for deduplication
 blake3             = "1"
diff --git a/strata-daemon/src/dbus_service.rs b/strata-daemon/src/dbus_service.rs
index e1cb17a..793f381 100644
--- a/strata-daemon/src/dbus_service.rs
+++ b/strata-daemon/src/dbus_service.rs
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 use std::sync::atomic::{AtomicUsize, Ordering};
 use std::sync::Arc;
 
-use base64::Engine as _;
 use zbus::{interface, object_server::SignalContext};
 
 use crate::db::{Db, RawItem};
@@ -112,7 +111,8 @@ impl StrataManager {
     /// Return the raw content of a clipboard item for GJS to write to clipboard.
     /// GJS uses St.Clipboard (text) or Meta.SelectionSourceMemory (images)
     /// because the Wayland data-control protocol is not accessible from non-compositor processes.
-    async fn get_item_content(&self, id: String) -> zbus::fdo::Result<(String, String)> {
+    /// Content is returned as a raw byte array (`ay`) — no base64 round-trip.
+    async fn get_item_content(&self, id: String) -> zbus::fdo::Result<(String, Vec<u8>)> {
         let db = self.db.clone();
         let item: Option<RawItem> = tokio::task::spawn_blocking(move || db.get_raw_item(&id))
             .await
@@ -121,15 +121,15 @@ impl StrataManager {
 
         let item = item.ok_or_else(|| zbus::fdo::Error::Failed("Item not found".into()))?;
 
-        let content_b64 = if let Some(text) = item.content_text {
-            base64::engine::general_purpose::STANDARD.encode(text.as_bytes())
+        let content = if let Some(text) = item.content_text {
+            text.into_bytes()
         } else if let Some(blob) = item.content_blob {
-            base64::engine::general_purpose::STANDARD.encode(&blob)
+            blob
         } else {
             return Err(zbus::fdo::Error::Failed("Item has no content".into()));
         };
 
-        Ok((item.mime_type, content_b64))
+        Ok((item.mime_type, content))
     }
 
     /// Restore a clipboard item to the system clipboard.
diff --git a/strata@edu4rdshl.dev/dbus.js b/strata@edu4rdshl.dev/dbus.js
index 8dc3183..794e3de 100644
--- a/strata@edu4rdshl.dev/dbus.js
+++ b/strata@edu4rdshl.dev/dbus.js
@@ -30,9 +30,9 @@ const STRATA_IFACE_XML = `
     </method>
 
     <method name="GetItemContent">
-      <arg type="s" direction="in"  name="id"/>
-      <arg type="s" direction="out" name="mime_type"/>
-      <arg type="s" direction="out" name="content_b64"/>
+      <arg type="s"  direction="in"  name="id"/>
+      <arg type="s"  direction="out" name="mime_type"/>
+      <arg type="ay" direction="out" name="content"/>
     </method>
 
     <method name="SetClipboard">
diff --git a/strata@edu4rdshl.dev/ui/panel.js b/strata@edu4rdshl.dev/ui/panel.js
index ede8a4f..c4a418e 100644
--- a/strata@edu4rdshl.dev/ui/panel.js
+++ b/strata@edu4rdshl.dev/ui/panel.js
@@ -471,8 +471,8 @@ export class StrataPanel {
 
     async _onItemActivated(id) {
         try {
-            const [mimeType, contentB64] = await this._proxy.GetItemContentAsync(id);
-            this._writeToClipboard(mimeType, GLib.base64_decode(contentB64));
+            const [mimeType, content] = await this._proxy.GetItemContentAsync(id);
+            this._writeToClipboard(mimeType, content);
         } catch (e) {
             console.error('[Strata] Paste error:', e);
         }