diff --git a/__bench__/buf-vs-string.ts b/__bench__/buf-vs-string.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f997035
--- /dev/null
+++ b/__bench__/buf-vs-string.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,115 @@
+/**
+ * Buffer-vs-string transport benchmark.
+ *
+ * Asserts that `findIterBuf` stays within 2x of
+ * `findIter` on the same corpus. Both APIs must use
+ * the packed `Uint32Array` transport; if a future
+ * change reverts `findIterBuf` to per-match FFI
+ * object allocation, this benchmark fails.
+ *
+ * Self-contained: synthesises a haystack large
+ * enough to produce ~140k matches without needing
+ * an external corpus download.
+ *
+ * Run: bun __bench__/buf-vs-string.ts
+ */
+import { AhoCorasick } from "../src/index";
+
+const SENTENCE =
+  "the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog and " +
+  "the cat watches as the sun sets over the hills, " +
+  "the wind blows softly and the trees sway in the " +
+  "breeze, the river flows and the world turns. ";
+
+// Sized so `findIter` reports ~140k matches with the
+// pattern set below (matches audit reference scale).
+const haystack = SENTENCE.repeat(2000);
+const buffer = Buffer.from(haystack);
+
+const patterns = [
+  "the",
+  "and",
+  "over",
+  "fox",
+  "cat",
+  "dog",
+  "sun",
+  "sets",
+  "wind",
+  "river",
+];
+
+const ac = new AhoCorasick(patterns);
+
+const stringMatches = ac.findIter(haystack);
+const bufMatches = ac.findIterBuf(buffer);
+
+if (stringMatches.length !== bufMatches.length) {
+  console.error(
+    `Match-count mismatch: findIter=${stringMatches.length} ` +
+      `findIterBuf=${bufMatches.length}`,
+  );
+  process.exit(1);
+}
+
+const N = 10;
+const WARMUP = 3;
+
+const time = (
+  name: string,
+  fn: () => number,
+): { ms: number; count: number } => {
+  for (let i = 0; i < WARMUP; i++) fn();
+  const t = performance.now();
+  let count = 0;
+  for (let i = 0; i < N; i++) count = fn();
+  const ms = (performance.now() - t) / N;
+  console.log(
+    `  ${name.padEnd(20)}${ms.toFixed(2).padStart(8)} ms` +
+      `   ${String(count).padStart(8)} matches`,
+  );
+  return { ms, count };
+};
+
+console.log("=".repeat(62));
+console.log(" findIter vs findIterBuf");
+console.log(
+  ` haystack: ${(haystack.length / 1e6).toFixed(2)} MB, ` +
+    `${patterns.length} patterns, ` +
+    `${stringMatches.length} matches/run`,
+);
+console.log("=".repeat(62) + "\n");
+
+const stringResult = time(
+  "findIter (string)",
+  () => ac.findIter(haystack).length,
+);
+const bufResult = time(
+  "findIterBuf (buf)",
+  () => ac.findIterBuf(buffer).length,
+);
+
+const ratio = bufResult.ms / stringResult.ms;
+const THRESHOLD = 2;
+
+console.log(
+  `\n  findIterBuf / findIter = ${ratio.toFixed(2)}x`,
+);
+
+if (ratio > THRESHOLD) {
+  console.error(
+    `\nFAIL: findIterBuf is ${ratio.toFixed(2)}x ` +
+      `findIter (limit ${THRESHOLD}x).`,
+  );
+  console.error(
+    "Check that the buffer path is still routed " +
+      "through the packed Uint32Array transport " +
+      "(see _findIterPackedBuf in src/lib.rs and " +
+      "the unpackBuf path in src/core.ts).",
+  );
+  process.exit(1);
+}
+
+console.log(
+  `OK: findIterBuf within ${THRESHOLD}x of findIter.`,
+);
diff --git a/__test__/index.spec.ts b/__test__/index.spec.ts
index 875c867..24740b5 100644
--- a/__test__/index.spec.ts
+++ b/__test__/index.spec.ts
@@ -1362,6 +1362,44 @@ describe("findIterBuf", () => {
     const matches = ac.findIterBuf(buf);
     expect(matches).toHaveLength(1);
   });
+
+  test("agrees with findIter on ASCII (byte == UTF-16)", () => {
+    const ac = new AhoCorasick(["the", "and", "or"]);
+    const text = "the cat and the dog or the bird";
+    const str = ac.findIter(text);
+    const buf = ac.findIterBuf(Buffer.from(text));
+
+    expect(buf).toHaveLength(str.length);
+    for (const [i, b] of buf.entries()) {
+      expect(b.pattern).toBe(str[i]!.pattern);
+      expect(b.start).toBe(str[i]!.start);
+      expect(b.end).toBe(str[i]!.end);
+    }
+  });
+
+  test("handles large match counts via packed transport", () => {
+    // Stresses the packed Uint32Array path: must
+    // unpack thousands of matches without losing
+    // any. Mismatch here indicates a transport bug.
+    const ac = new AhoCorasick(["the"]);
+    const text = "the ".repeat(10000);
+    const matches = ac.findIterBuf(Buffer.from(text));
+    expect(matches).toHaveLength(10000);
+    expect(matches[0]).toEqual({
+      pattern: 0,
+      start: 0,
+      end: 3,
+    });
+    const last = matches.at(-1)!;
+    expect(last.pattern).toBe(0);
+    expect(last.end - last.start).toBe(3);
+  });
+
+  test("returns empty array when there are no matches", () => {
+    const ac = new AhoCorasick(["needle"]);
+    const matches = ac.findIterBuf(Buffer.from("haystack"));
+    expect(matches).toEqual([]);
+  });
 });
 
 describe("isMatchBuf", () => {
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 7824125..c55cd87 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -58,7 +58,8 @@
     "bench:speed": "bun __bench__/speed.ts",
     "bench:unicode": "bun __bench__/unicode.ts",
     "bench:correctness": "bun __bench__/correctness.ts",
-    "bench:all": "bun __bench__/speed.ts && bun __bench__/unicode.ts && bun __bench__/correctness.ts",
+    "bench:buf": "bun __bench__/buf-vs-string.ts",
+    "bench:all": "bun __bench__/speed.ts && bun __bench__/unicode.ts && bun __bench__/correctness.ts && bun __bench__/buf-vs-string.ts",
     "bench:install": "cd __bench__ && bun install",
     "bench:download": "bash __bench__/download-corpus.sh"
   },
diff --git a/src/core.ts b/src/core.ts
index cd361f6..ab4947c 100644
--- a/src/core.ts
+++ b/src/core.ts
@@ -24,6 +24,9 @@ type NativeAhoCorasickInstance = {
     haystack: string,
     replacements: string[],
   ): string;
+  _findIterPackedBuf(
+    haystack: Buffer | Uint8Array,
+  ): Uint32Array;
   findIterBuf(haystack: Buffer | Uint8Array): ByteMatch[];
   isMatchBuf(haystack: Buffer | Uint8Array): boolean;
 };
@@ -137,8 +140,13 @@ function unpack(
   names: (string | undefined)[] | null,
 ): Match[] {
   const len = packed.length;
+  // `Math.floor` is defensive: if the native side
+  // ever returned a length that is not a multiple of
+  // 3, `new Array(non-integer)` would throw a cryptic
+  // `RangeError` before the per-triple guard could
+  // surface a descriptive error.
   // eslint-disable-next-line unicorn/no-new-array
-  const matches = new Array<Match>(len / 3);
+  const matches = new Array<Match>(Math.floor(len / 3));
   for (let i = 0, j = 0; i < len; i += 3, j++) {
     const idx = packed[i];
     const start = packed[i + 1];
@@ -165,6 +173,37 @@ function unpack(
   return matches;
 }
 
+/** Unpack a buffer-mode packed result. Offsets are
+ *  bytes (the buffer path does not translate to
+ *  UTF-16 code units), and `ByteMatch` has no
+ *  `text` field. */
+function unpackBuf(packed: Uint32Array): ByteMatch[] {
+  const len = packed.length;
+  // `Math.floor` is defensive: if the native side
+  // ever returned a length that is not a multiple of
+  // 3, `new Array(non-integer)` would throw a cryptic
+  // `RangeError` before the per-triple guard could
+  // surface a descriptive error.
+  // eslint-disable-next-line unicorn/no-new-array
+  const matches = new Array<ByteMatch>(Math.floor(len / 3));
+  for (let i = 0, j = 0; i < len; i += 3, j++) {
+    const idx = packed[i];
+    const start = packed[i + 1];
+    const end = packed[i + 2];
+    if (
+      idx === undefined ||
+      start === undefined ||
+      end === undefined
+    ) {
+      throw new Error(
+        `Malformed packed matches at offset ${String(i)}`,
+      );
+    }
+    matches[j] = { pattern: idx, start, end };
+  }
+  return matches;
+}
+
 // ── Word boundary helpers ───────────────────────
 
 function isWordCharUnicode(ch: string): boolean {
@@ -361,7 +400,9 @@ export class AhoCorasick {
    * Returns **byte offsets** (not UTF-16).
    */
   findIterBuf(haystack: Buffer | Uint8Array): ByteMatch[] {
-    return this._inner.findIterBuf(haystack);
+    return unpackBuf(
+      this._inner._findIterPackedBuf(haystack),
+    );
   }
 
   /**