diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index 2fb2992..60bcbad 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@ source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 
 [[package]]
 name = "bech32"
-version = "0.6.0"
+version = "0.7.1"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 
 [[package]]
@@ -528,7 +528,7 @@ source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 name = "zcash_client_backend"
 version = "0.0.0"
 dependencies = [
- "bech32 0.6.0 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
+ "bech32 0.7.1 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
  "pairing 0.14.2",
  "rand_core 0.5.0 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
  "rand_xorshift 0.2.0 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
@@ -578,7 +578,7 @@ dependencies = [
 "checksum arrayref 0.3.5 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)" = "0d382e583f07208808f6b1249e60848879ba3543f57c32277bf52d69c2f0f0ee"
 "checksum arrayvec 0.4.10 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)" = "92c7fb76bc8826a8b33b4ee5bb07a247a81e76764ab4d55e8f73e3a4d8808c71"
 "checksum autocfg 0.1.4 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)" = "0e49efa51329a5fd37e7c79db4621af617cd4e3e5bc224939808d076077077bf"
-"checksum bech32 0.6.0 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)" = "58946044516aa9dc922182e0d6e9d124a31aafe6b421614654eb27cf90cec09c"
+"checksum bech32 0.7.1 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)" = "9e0089c35ab7c6f2bc55ab23f769913f0ac65b1023e7e74638a1f43128dd5df2"
 "checksum bit-vec 0.4.4 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)" = "02b4ff8b16e6076c3e14220b39fbc1fabb6737522281a388998046859400895f"
 "checksum blake2b_simd 0.5.1 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)" = "d909f9ef55928e57e7de9638828bc9407233b5cb0904066a7edebbaa9946db2f"
 "checksum blake2s_simd 0.5.1 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)" = "fa20660ff9f1e6d0a05444b5ebbbae13e4c018d4c66cc78c7e421e3396358a52"
diff --git a/zcash_client_backend/Cargo.toml b/zcash_client_backend/Cargo.toml
index 1d7848e..31fba49 100644
--- a/zcash_client_backend/Cargo.toml
+++ b/zcash_client_backend/Cargo.toml
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ authors = [
 edition = "2018"
 
 [dependencies]
-bech32 = "0.6"
+bech32 = "0.7"
 pairing = { path = "../pairing" }
 sapling-crypto = { path = "../sapling-crypto" }
 zcash_primitives = { path = "../zcash_primitives" }
diff --git a/zcash_client_backend/src/encoding.rs b/zcash_client_backend/src/encoding.rs
index d816201..0c0a50b 100644
--- a/zcash_client_backend/src/encoding.rs
+++ b/zcash_client_backend/src/encoding.rs
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 //! Human-Readable Prefixes (HRPs) for Bech32 encodings are located in the [`constants`]
 //! module.
 
-use bech32::{convert_bits, Bech32, Error};
+use bech32::{self, Error, FromBase32, ToBase32};
 use pairing::bls12_381::Bls12;
 use sapling_crypto::{
     jubjub::edwards,
@@ -21,21 +21,16 @@ where
 {
     let mut data: Vec<u8> = vec![];
     write(&mut data).expect("Should be able to write to a Vec");
-
-    let converted =
-        convert_bits(&data, 8, 5, true).expect("Should be able to convert Vec<u8> to Vec<u5>");
-    let encoded = Bech32::new_check_data(hrp.into(), converted).expect("hrp is not empty");
-
-    encoded.to_string()
+    bech32::encode(hrp, data.to_base32()).expect("hrp is invalid")
 }
 
 fn bech32_decode<T, F>(hrp: &str, s: &str, read: F) -> Result<Option<T>, Error>
 where
     F: Fn(Vec<u8>) -> Option<T>,
 {
-    let decoded = s.parse::<Bech32>()?;
-    if decoded.hrp() == hrp {
-        convert_bits(decoded.data(), 5, 8, false).map(|data| read(data))
+    let (decoded_hrp, data) = bech32::decode(s)?;
+    if decoded_hrp == hrp {
+        Vec::<u8>::from_base32(&data).map(|data| read(data))
     } else {
         Ok(None)
     }