diff --git a/milli/src/heed_codec/script_language_codec.rs b/milli/src/heed_codec/script_language_codec.rs
index af15990ea..7e150723a 100644
--- a/milli/src/heed_codec/script_language_codec.rs
+++ b/milli/src/heed_codec/script_language_codec.rs
@@ -1,6 +1,5 @@
 use std::borrow::Cow;
 
-use std::mem::size_of;
 use std::str;
 
 use charabia::{Language, Script};
@@ -11,16 +10,11 @@ impl<'a> heed::BytesDecode<'a> for ScriptLanguageCodec {
     type DItem = (Script, Language);
 
     fn bytes_decode(bytes: &'a [u8]) -> Option<Self::DItem> {
-        let footer_len = size_of::<u32>();
-
-        if bytes.len() < footer_len {
-            return None;
-        }
-
-        let (script, bytes) = bytes.split_at(bytes.len() - footer_len);
-        let script = str::from_utf8(script).ok()?;
+        let sep = bytes.iter().position(|b| *b == 0)?;
+        let (s_bytes, l_bytes) = bytes.split_at(sep);
+        let script = str::from_utf8(s_bytes).ok()?;
         let script_name = Script::from_name(script);
-        let lan = str::from_utf8(bytes).ok()?;
+        let lan = str::from_utf8(l_bytes).ok()?;
         let lan_name = Language::from_name(lan);
 
         Some((script_name, lan_name))
@@ -31,12 +25,13 @@ impl<'a> heed::BytesEncode<'a> for ScriptLanguageCodec {
     type EItem = (Script, Language);
 
     fn bytes_encode((script, lan): &Self::EItem) -> Option<Cow<[u8]>> {
-        let script_name = script.name();
-        let lan_name = lan.name();
+        let script_name = script.name().as_bytes();
+        let lan_name = lan.name().as_bytes();
 
-        let mut bytes = Vec::with_capacity(script_name.len() + lan_name.len());
-        bytes.extend_from_slice(script_name.as_bytes());
-        bytes.extend_from_slice(lan_name.as_bytes());
+        let mut bytes = Vec::with_capacity(script_name.len() + lan_name.len() + 1);
+        bytes.extend_from_slice(script_name);
+        bytes.push(0);
+        bytes.extend_from_slice(lan_name);
 
         Some(Cow::Owned(bytes))
     }