diff --git a/src/main/java/org/qortal/network/message/DataFileMessage.java b/src/main/java/org/qortal/network/message/DataFileMessage.java
index 06bace5f..e31dde67 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/qortal/network/message/DataFileMessage.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/qortal/network/message/DataFileMessage.java
@@ -1,7 +1,10 @@
 package org.qortal.network.message;
 
+import com.google.common.primitives.Ints;
 import org.qortal.storage.DataFile;
 
+import java.io.ByteArrayOutputStream;
+import java.io.IOException;
 import java.io.UnsupportedEncodingException;
 import java.nio.ByteBuffer;
 
@@ -26,19 +29,40 @@ public class DataFileMessage extends Message {
 	}
 
 	public static Message fromByteBuffer(int id, ByteBuffer byteBuffer) throws UnsupportedEncodingException {
-		byte[] bytes = new byte[byteBuffer.remaining()];
-		byteBuffer.get(bytes);
-		DataFile dataFile = new DataFile(bytes);
+		int dataLength = byteBuffer.getInt();
+
+		if (byteBuffer.remaining() != dataLength)
+			return null;
+
+		byte[] data = new byte[dataLength];
+		byteBuffer.get(data);
+		DataFile dataFile = new DataFile(data);
 
 		return new DataFileMessage(id, dataFile);
 	}
 
 	@Override
 	protected byte[] toData() {
-		if (this.dataFile == null)
+		if (this.dataFile == null) {
+			return null;
+		}
+
+		byte[] data = this.dataFile.getBytes();
+		if (data == null) {
 			return null;
+		}
 
-		return this.dataFile.getBytes();
+		try {
+			ByteArrayOutputStream bytes = new ByteArrayOutputStream();
+
+			bytes.write(Ints.toByteArray(data.length));
+
+			bytes.write(data);
+
+			return bytes.toByteArray();
+		} catch (IOException e) {
+			return null;
+		}
 	}
 
 	public DataFileMessage cloneWithNewId(int newId) {