diff --git a/Project.toml b/Project.toml
index 6a100113..bfe105a0 100644
--- a/Project.toml
+++ b/Project.toml
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@ CodecLz4 = "5ba52731-8f18-5e0d-9241-30f10d1ec561"
 CodecZstd = "6b39b394-51ab-5f42-8807-6242bab2b4c2"
 DataAPI = "9a962f9c-6df0-11e9-0e5d-c546b8b5ee8a"
 Dates = "ade2ca70-3891-5945-98fb-dc099432e06a"
+InlineStrings = "842dd82b-1e85-43dc-bf29-5d0ee9dffc48"
 LoggingExtras = "e6f89c97-d47a-5376-807f-9c37f3926c36"
 Mmap = "a63ad114-7e13-5084-954f-fe012c677804"
 PooledArrays = "2dfb63ee-cc39-5dd5-95bd-886bf059d720"
@@ -42,8 +43,9 @@ BitIntegers = "0.2"
 CodecLz4 = "0.4"
 CodecZstd = "0.7"
 DataAPI = "1"
-LoggingExtras = "0.4, 1"
 FilePathsBase = "0.9"
+InlineStrings = "1.4"
+LoggingExtras = "0.4, 1"
 PooledArrays = "0.5, 1.0"
 SentinelArrays = "1"
 Tables = "1.1"
diff --git a/src/Arrow.jl b/src/Arrow.jl
index 01c7993c..0ab28e70 100644
--- a/src/Arrow.jl
+++ b/src/Arrow.jl
@@ -71,8 +71,23 @@ include("write.jl")
 include("append.jl")
 include("show.jl")
 
+using InlineStrings
+export InlineString, inlinestrings
+include("inlinestrings.jl")
+
+const TS = CodecLz4.TranscodingStreams
+include("dirtyhacks.jl")
+
+
 const LZ4_FRAME_COMPRESSOR = LZ4FrameCompressor[]
 const ZSTD_COMPRESSOR = ZstdCompressor[]
+const LZ4_FRAME_DECOMPRESSOR = LZ4FrameDecompressor[]
+const ZSTD_DECOMPRESSOR = ZstdDecompressor[]
+# add locks for multithreaded (de/)compression (because we index by threadid which might not be safe under Julia >1.8)
+const LZ4_FRAME_COMPRESSOR_LOCK = ReentrantLock[]
+const ZSTD_COMPRESSOR_LOCK = ReentrantLock[]
+const LZ4_FRAME_DECOMPRESSOR_LOCK = ReentrantLock[]
+const ZSTD_DECOMPRESSOR_LOCK = ReentrantLock[]
 
 function __init__()
     for _ = 1:Threads.nthreads()
@@ -82,6 +97,19 @@ function __init__()
         lz4 = LZ4FrameCompressor(; compressionlevel=4)
         CodecLz4.TranscodingStreams.initialize(lz4)
         push!(LZ4_FRAME_COMPRESSOR, lz4)
+        # Locks
+        push!(LZ4_FRAME_COMPRESSOR_LOCK, ReentrantLock())
+        push!(ZSTD_COMPRESSOR_LOCK, ReentrantLock())
+        # Decompressors
+        zstdd = ZstdDecompressor()
+        CodecZstd.TranscodingStreams.initialize(zstdd)
+        push!(ZSTD_DECOMPRESSOR, zstdd)
+        lz4d = LZ4FrameDecompressor()
+        CodecLz4.TranscodingStreams.initialize(lz4d)
+        push!(LZ4_FRAME_DECOMPRESSOR, lz4d)
+        # Locks
+        push!(LZ4_FRAME_DECOMPRESSOR_LOCK, ReentrantLock())
+        push!(ZSTD_DECOMPRESSOR_LOCK, ReentrantLock())
     end
     return
 end
diff --git a/src/arraytypes/arraytypes.jl b/src/arraytypes/arraytypes.jl
index 355a0341..686d1e36 100644
--- a/src/arraytypes/arraytypes.jl
+++ b/src/arraytypes/arraytypes.jl
@@ -35,14 +35,19 @@ function toarrowvector(x, i=1, de=Dict{Int64, Any}(), ded=DictEncoding[], meta=g
     @debugv 2 "converting top-level column to arrow format: col = $(typeof(x)), compression = $compression, kw = $(kw.data)"
     @debugv 3 x
     A = arrowvector(x, i, 0, 0, de, ded, meta; compression=compression, kw...)
+    tid=Threads.threadid()
     if compression isa LZ4FrameCompressor
         A = compress(Meta.CompressionTypes.LZ4_FRAME, compression, A)
     elseif compression isa Vector{LZ4FrameCompressor}
-        A = compress(Meta.CompressionTypes.LZ4_FRAME, compression[Threads.threadid()], A)
+        A = lock(LZ4_FRAME_COMPRESSOR_LOCK[tid]) do
+            compress(Meta.CompressionTypes.LZ4_FRAME, compression[tid], A)
+        end
     elseif compression isa ZstdCompressor
         A = compress(Meta.CompressionTypes.ZSTD, compression, A)
     elseif compression isa Vector{ZstdCompressor}
-        A = compress(Meta.CompressionTypes.ZSTD, compression[Threads.threadid()], A)
+        A = lock(ZSTD_COMPRESSOR_LOCK[tid]) do
+            compress(Meta.CompressionTypes.ZSTD, compression[tid], A)
+        end
     end
     @debugv 2 "converted top-level column to arrow format: $(typeof(A))"
     @debugv 3 A
diff --git a/src/dirtyhacks.jl b/src/dirtyhacks.jl
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..f4a982e6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/dirtyhacks.jl
@@ -0,0 +1,47 @@
+# The following change needs to be upstreamed to TranscodingStreams.jl:
+
+# We know the size of each output buffer (saved within Arrow metadata)
+# The below functions mutates the provided output buffer.
+function _transcode!(codec::Union{LZ4FrameDecompressor,ZstdDecompressor}, data::TS.ByteData,output::TS.Buffer)
+    input = TS.Buffer(data)
+    error = TS.Error()
+    code = TS.startproc(codec, :write, error)
+    if code === :error
+        @goto error
+    end
+    # n = TS.minoutsize(codec, buffermem(input))
+    @label process
+    # makemargin!(output, n)
+    Δin, Δout, code = TS.process(codec, TS.buffermem(input), TS.marginmem(output), error)
+    @debug(
+        "called process()",
+        code = code,
+        input_size = buffersize(input),
+        output_size = marginsize(output),
+        input_delta = Δin,
+        output_delta = Δout,
+    )
+    TS.consumed!(input, Δin)
+    TS.supplied!(output, Δout)
+    if code === :error
+        @goto error
+    elseif code === :end
+        if TS.buffersize(input) > 0
+            if TS.startproc(codec, :write, error) === :error
+                @goto error
+            end
+            # n = minoutsize(codec, buffermem(input))
+            @goto process
+        end
+        resize!(output.data, output.marginpos - 1)
+        return output.data
+    else
+        # n = max(Δout, minoutsize(codec, buffermem(input)))
+        @goto process
+    end
+    @label error
+    if !(TS.haserror)(error)
+        TS.set_default_error!(error)
+    end
+    throw(error[])
+end
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/inlinestrings.jl b/src/inlinestrings.jl
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..02de432d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/inlinestrings.jl
@@ -0,0 +1,89 @@
+# This code should be moved into InlineStrings extensions
+
+### Type extensions
+# Use InlineStrings to get data from pointers (for getindex and similar)
+ArrowTypes.fromarrow(::Type{T}, ptr::Ptr{UInt8}, len::Int) where {T<:InlineString} =ArrowTypes.fromarrow(T, T(ptr, len))
+ArrowTypes.fromarrow(::Type{Union{T,Missing}}, ptr::Ptr{UInt8}, len::Int) where {T<:InlineString} =ArrowTypes.fromarrow(T, T(ptr, len))
+
+### Utilities for inlining strings
+# determines the maximum string length necessary for the offsets 
+# calculates difference between offsets as a proxy for string size
+function _maximum_diff(v::AbstractVector{<:Integer})
+    mx = first(v)
+    prev = mx
+    @inbounds if length(v) > 1
+        mx = max(mx, v[2] - prev)
+        prev = v[2]
+        for i in firstindex(v)+2:lastindex(v)
+            diff = v[i] - prev
+            mx < diff && (mx = diff)
+            prev = v[i]
+        end
+    end
+    mx
+end
+# extract offsets from Arrow.List
+_offsetsints(arrowlist::Arrow.List) = arrowlist.offsets.offsets
+
+# convert strings to InlineStrings, does not check validity (hence unsafe!) - simply swaps the type
+function _unsafe_convert(::Type{Arrow.List{S, O, A}}, vect::Arrow.List{T,O,A}) where {S<:Union{InlineString, Union{Missing, InlineString}},T<:Union{AbstractString, Union{Missing, AbstractString}},O,A}
+    Arrow.List{S,O,A}(vect.arrow, vect.validity, vect.offsets, vect.data, vect.ℓ, vect.metadata)
+end
+
+# passthrough for non-strings
+pick_string_type(::Type{T}, offsets) where {T} = T
+pick_string_type(::Type{Union{Missing,T}}, offsets) where {T<:AbstractString} = Union{Missing,pick_string_type(T, offsets)}
+function pick_string_type(::Type{T}, offsets::AbstractVector{<:Integer}) where {T<:AbstractString}
+    max_size = _maximum_diff(offsets)
+    # if the maximum string length is less than 255, we can use InlineStrings
+    return max_size < 255 ? InlineStringType(max_size) : T
+end
+# find one joint string type for all chained arrays - vector of vectors
+function pick_string_type(::Type{T}, vectoffsets::AbstractVector{<:AbstractVector{<:Integer}}) where {T<:AbstractString}
+    max_size = _maximum_diff.(vectoffsets)|>maximum
+    # if the maximum string length is less than 255, we can use InlineStrings
+    return max_size < 255 ? InlineStringType(max_size) : T
+end
+
+# extend inlinestrings to pass through Arrow.Lists
+_inlinestrings(vect::AbstractVector) = vect
+
+## methods for SentinelArrays.ChainedVector (if we have many RecordBatches / partitions)
+# if it's already an InlineString, we can pass it through
+_inlinestrings(vect::SentinelArrays.ChainedVector{<:Union{T,Union{T,Missing}}}) where {T<:InlineString} = vect
+# if we detect a String type, try to inline it -- we need to find one unified type across all chained arrays
+function _inlinestrings(vectofvect::SentinelArrays.ChainedVector{T, Arrow.List{T,O,A}}) where {T<:Union{AbstractString,Union{Missing,AbstractString}},O,A}
+    # find the smallest common denominator string type for all chained arrays
+    S = pick_string_type(T, _offsetsints.(vectofvect.arrays))
+    if S == T
+        # if the type is the same, we can pass it through
+        return vectofvect
+    else 
+        # otherwise, we need to reconstruct the ChainedVector with the new string type
+        # TODO: look into in-place conversion
+        return SentinelArrays.ChainedVector(_unsafe_convert.(Arrow.List{S,O,A},vectofvect.arrays))
+    end
+end
+
+# TODO: check that we handle ChainedVector that contains something else than Arrow.List with Strings
+
+# if we detect that the strings are small enough, we can inline them
+function _inlinestrings(vect::Arrow.List{T,O,A}) where {T<:Union{AbstractString,Union{AbstractString,Missing}},O,A}
+    S = pick_string_type(T, _offsetsints(vect))
+    if S == T
+        return vect
+    else
+        # reconstruct the Arrow.List with the new string type
+        return _unsafe_convert(Arrow.List{S,O,A}, vect)
+    end 
+end
+
+## methods for Arrow.List (if we have only 1 RecordBatch, ie, unpartitioned)
+# if it's already an InlineString, we can pass it through
+_inlinestrings(vect::Arrow.List{T,O,A}) where {T<:InlineString,O,A} = vect
+# if we detect that the strings are small enough, we can inline them
+function _inlinestrings(vect::Arrow.List{T,O,A}) where {T<:Union{AbstractString,Union{AbstractString,Missing}},O,A}
+    S = pick_string_type(T, vect.offsets.offsets)
+    # reconstruct the Arrow.List with the new string type
+    Arrow.List{S,O,A}(vect.arrow, vect.validity, vect.offsets, vect.data, vect.ℓ, vect.metadata)
+end
diff --git a/src/table.jl b/src/table.jl
index c4a2e3d6..4f88bb3a 100644
--- a/src/table.jl
+++ b/src/table.jl
@@ -270,7 +270,7 @@ Table(input::Vector{UInt8}, pos::Integer=1, len=nothing; kw...) = Table([ArrowBl
 Table(inputs::Vector; kw...) = Table([ArrowBlob(tobytes(x), 1, nothing) for x in inputs]; kw...)
 
 # will detect whether we're reading a Table from a file or stream
-function Table(blobs::Vector{ArrowBlob}; convert::Bool=true)
+function Table(blobs::Vector{ArrowBlob}; convert::Bool=true, useinlinestrings::Bool=true)
     t = Table()
     sch = nothing
     dictencodings = Dict{Int64, DictEncoding}() # dictionary id => DictEncoding
@@ -362,6 +362,8 @@ function Table(blobs::Vector{ArrowBlob}; convert::Bool=true)
     end
     close(tsks)
     wait(tsk)
+    # apply inlinestrings to each column if requested
+    convert && useinlinestrings && (columns(t) .= _inlinestrings.(columns(t)))
     lu = lookup(t)
     ty = types(t)
     # 158; some implementations may send 0 record batches
@@ -499,10 +501,20 @@ function uncompress(ptr::Ptr{UInt8}, buffer, compression)
     len = unsafe_load(convert(Ptr{Int64}, ptr))
     ptr += 8 # skip past uncompressed length as Int64
     encodedbytes = unsafe_wrap(Array, ptr, buffer.length - 8)
+    tid=Threads.threadid()
+    output=TS.Buffer(len) # pre-allocate for output
     if compression.codec === Meta.CompressionTypes.LZ4_FRAME
-        decodedbytes = transcode(LZ4FrameDecompressor, encodedbytes)
+        # decodedbytes = transcode(LZ4FrameDecompressor, encodedbytes)
+        lock(LZ4_FRAME_DECOMPRESSOR_LOCK[tid]) do
+            _transcode!(LZ4_FRAME_DECOMPRESSOR[tid], encodedbytes, output)
+        end
+        decodedbytes = output.data
     elseif compression.codec === Meta.CompressionTypes.ZSTD
-        decodedbytes = transcode(ZstdDecompressor, encodedbytes)
+        # decodedbytes = transcode(ZstdDecompressor, encodedbytes)
+        lock(ZSTD_DECOMPRESSOR_LOCK[tid]) do
+            _transcode!(ZSTD_DECOMPRESSOR[tid], encodedbytes, output)
+        end
+        decodedbytes = output.data
     else
         error("unsupported compression type when reading arrow buffers: $(typeof(compression.codec))")
     end
diff --git a/src/write.jl b/src/write.jl
index 5c965cac..77f90bd7 100644
--- a/src/write.jl
+++ b/src/write.jl
@@ -53,9 +53,14 @@ function write end
 
 write(io_or_file; kw...) = x -> write(io_or_file, x; kw...)
 
-function write(file_path, tbl; kwargs...)
+function write(file_path, tbl; chunksize::Union{Nothing,Integer}=64000, kwargs...)
+    if !isnothing(chunksize) && Tables.istable(tbl)
+        tbl_source = Iterators.partition(Tables.rows(tbl),chunksize)
+    else
+        tbl_source = tbl 
+    end
     open(Writer, file_path; file=true, kwargs...) do writer
-        write(writer, tbl)
+        write(writer, tbl_source)
     end
     file_path
 end
@@ -278,9 +283,14 @@ function Base.close(writer::Writer)
     nothing
 end
 
-function write(io::IO, tbl; kwargs...)
+function write(io::IO, tbl; chunksize::Union{Nothing,Integer}=64000, kwargs...)
+    if !isnothing(chunksize) && Tables.istable(tbl)
+        tbl_source = Iterators.partition(Tables.rows(tbl),chunksize)
+    else
+        tbl_source = tbl 
+    end
     open(Writer, io; file=false, kwargs...) do writer
-        write(writer, tbl)
+        write(writer, tbl_source)
     end
     io
 end