diff --git a/src/link/Wasm.zig b/src/link/Wasm.zig
index a1cd642fcc..ee8e638080 100644
--- a/src/link/Wasm.zig
+++ b/src/link/Wasm.zig
@@ -1,39 +1,40 @@
 const Wasm = @This();
+const build_options = @import("build_options");
+
+const builtin = @import("builtin");
+const native_endian = builtin.cpu.arch.endian();
 
 const std = @import("std");
-
-const assert = std.debug.assert;
-const build_options = @import("build_options");
-const builtin = @import("builtin");
-const codegen = @import("../codegen.zig");
-const dev = @import("../dev.zig");
-const fs = std.fs;
-const leb = std.leb;
-const link = @import("../link.zig");
-const lldMain = @import("../main.zig").lldMain;
-const log = std.log.scoped(.link);
-const gc_log = std.log.scoped(.gc);
-const mem = std.mem;
-const trace = @import("../tracy.zig").trace;
-const wasi_libc = @import("../wasi_libc.zig");
-
-const Air = @import("../Air.zig");
 const Allocator = std.mem.Allocator;
-const Archive = @import("Wasm/Archive.zig");
 const Cache = std.Build.Cache;
 const Path = Cache.Path;
+const assert = std.debug.assert;
+const fs = std.fs;
+const gc_log = std.log.scoped(.gc);
+const leb = std.leb;
+const log = std.log.scoped(.link);
+const mem = std.mem;
+
+const Air = @import("../Air.zig");
+const Archive = @import("Wasm/Archive.zig");
 const CodeGen = @import("../arch/wasm/CodeGen.zig");
 const Compilation = @import("../Compilation.zig");
 const Dwarf = @import("Dwarf.zig");
 const InternPool = @import("../InternPool.zig");
 const Liveness = @import("../Liveness.zig");
 const LlvmObject = @import("../codegen/llvm.zig").Object;
-const Zcu = @import("../Zcu.zig");
 const Object = @import("Wasm/Object.zig");
 const Symbol = @import("Wasm/Symbol.zig");
 const Type = @import("../Type.zig");
 const Value = @import("../Value.zig");
+const Zcu = @import("../Zcu.zig");
 const ZigObject = @import("Wasm/ZigObject.zig");
+const codegen = @import("../codegen.zig");
+const dev = @import("../dev.zig");
+const link = @import("../link.zig");
+const lldMain = @import("../main.zig").lldMain;
+const trace = @import("../tracy.zig").trace;
+const wasi_libc = @import("../wasi_libc.zig");
 
 base: link.File,
 /// Null-terminated strings, indexes have type String and string_table provides
@@ -141,6 +142,9 @@ function_table: std.AutoHashMapUnmanaged(SymbolLoc, u32) = .empty,
 
 /// All archive files that are lazy loaded.
 /// e.g. when an undefined symbol references a symbol from the archive.
+/// None of this data is serialized to disk because it is trivially reloaded
+/// from unchanged archive files on the next start of the compiler process,
+/// or if those files have changed, the prelink phase needs to be restarted.
 lazy_archives: std.ArrayListUnmanaged(LazyArchive) = .empty,
 
 /// A map of global names to their symbol location
@@ -283,12 +287,15 @@ pub const OptionalObjectId = enum(u16) {
     }
 };
 
+/// None of this data is serialized since it can be re-loaded from disk, or if
+/// it has been changed, the data must be discarded.
 const LazyArchive = struct {
     path: Path,
     file_contents: []const u8,
     archive: Archive,
 
     fn deinit(la: *LazyArchive, gpa: Allocator) void {
+        la.archive.deinit(gpa);
         gpa.free(la.path.sub_path);
         gpa.free(la.file_contents);
         la.* = undefined;
diff --git a/src/link/Wasm/Archive.zig b/src/link/Wasm/Archive.zig
index 1ff36c5af8..c2078fa525 100644
--- a/src/link/Wasm/Archive.zig
+++ b/src/link/Wasm/Archive.zig
@@ -2,25 +2,25 @@
 /// This is stored as a single slice of bytes, as the header-names
 /// point to the character index of a file name, rather than the index
 /// in the list.
-long_file_names: []const u8,
+/// Points into `file_contents`.
+long_file_names: RelativeSlice,
 
 /// Parsed table of contents.
 /// Each symbol name points to a list of all definition
 /// sites within the current static archive.
 toc: Toc,
 
+/// Key points into `LazyArchive` `file_contents`.
+/// Value is allocated with gpa.
 const Toc = std.StringArrayHashMapUnmanaged(std.ArrayListUnmanaged(u32));
 
-// Archive files start with the ARMAG identifying string.  Then follows a
-// `struct Header', and as many bytes of member file data as its `size'
-// member indicates, for each member file.
-/// String that begins an archive file.
-const ARMAG: *const [SARMAG:0]u8 = "!<arch>\n";
-/// Size of that string.
-const SARMAG: u4 = 8;
+const ARMAG = std.elf.ARMAG;
+const ARFMAG = std.elf.ARFMAG;
 
-/// String in fmag at the end of each header.
-const ARFMAG: *const [2:0]u8 = "`\n";
+const RelativeSlice = struct {
+    off: u32,
+    len: u32,
+};
 
 const Header = extern struct {
     /// Member file name, sometimes / terminated.
@@ -70,31 +70,69 @@ const Header = extern struct {
 
 pub fn deinit(archive: *Archive, gpa: Allocator) void {
     deinitToc(gpa, &archive.toc);
-    gpa.free(archive.long_file_names);
     archive.* = undefined;
 }
 
 fn deinitToc(gpa: Allocator, toc: *Toc) void {
-    for (toc.keys()) |key| gpa.free(key);
     for (toc.values()) |*value| value.deinit(gpa);
     toc.deinit(gpa);
 }
 
 pub fn parse(gpa: Allocator, file_contents: []const u8) !Archive {
-    var fbs = std.io.fixedBufferStream(file_contents);
-    const reader = fbs.reader();
+    var pos: usize = 0;
 
-    const magic = try reader.readBytesNoEof(SARMAG);
-    if (!mem.eql(u8, &magic, ARMAG)) return error.BadArchiveMagic;
+    if (!mem.eql(u8, file_contents[0..ARMAG.len], ARMAG)) return error.BadArchiveMagic;
+    pos += ARMAG.len;
 
-    const header = try reader.readStruct(Header);
+    const header = mem.bytesAsValue(Header, file_contents[pos..][0..@sizeOf(Header)]);
     if (!mem.eql(u8, &header.fmag, ARFMAG)) return error.BadHeaderDelimiter;
+    pos += @sizeOf(Header);
 
-    var toc = try parseTableOfContents(gpa, header, reader);
+    // The size field can have extra spaces padded in front as well as
+    // the end, so we trim those first before parsing the ASCII value.
+    const size_trimmed = mem.trim(u8, &header.size, " ");
+    const sym_tab_size = try std.fmt.parseInt(u32, size_trimmed, 10);
+
+    const num_symbols = mem.readInt(u32, file_contents[pos..][0..4], .big);
+    pos += 4;
+
+    const symbol_positions_size = @sizeOf(u32) * num_symbols;
+    const symbol_positions_be = mem.bytesAsSlice(u32, file_contents[pos..][0..symbol_positions_size]);
+    pos += symbol_positions_size;
+
+    const sym_tab = file_contents[pos..][0 .. sym_tab_size - 4 - symbol_positions_size];
+    pos += sym_tab.len;
+
+    var toc: Toc = .empty;
     errdefer deinitToc(gpa, &toc);
 
-    const long_file_names = try parseNameTable(gpa, reader);
-    errdefer gpa.free(long_file_names);
+    var sym_tab_pos: usize = 0;
+    for (0..num_symbols) |i| {
+        const name = mem.sliceTo(sym_tab[sym_tab_pos..], 0);
+        sym_tab_pos += name.len + 1;
+        if (name.len == 0) continue;
+
+        const gop = try toc.getOrPut(gpa, name);
+        if (!gop.found_existing) gop.value_ptr.* = .empty;
+        try gop.value_ptr.append(gpa, switch (native_endian) {
+            .big => symbol_positions_be[i],
+            .little => @byteSwap(symbol_positions_be[i]),
+        });
+    }
+
+    const long_file_names: RelativeSlice = s: {
+        const sub_header = mem.bytesAsValue(Header, file_contents[pos..][0..@sizeOf(Header)]);
+        pos += @sizeOf(Header);
+
+        if (!mem.eql(u8, &header.fmag, ARFMAG)) return error.BadHeaderDelimiter;
+        if (!mem.eql(u8, sub_header.name[0..2], "//")) return error.MissingTableName;
+        const table_size = try sub_header.parsedSize();
+
+        break :s .{
+            .off = @intCast(pos),
+            .len = table_size,
+        };
+    };
 
     return .{
         .toc = toc,
@@ -102,98 +140,36 @@ pub fn parse(gpa: Allocator, file_contents: []const u8) !Archive {
     };
 }
 
-fn parseName(archive: *const Archive, header: Header) ![]const u8 {
-    const name_or_index = try header.nameOrIndex();
-    switch (name_or_index) {
-        .name => |name| return name,
-        .index => |index| {
-            const name = mem.sliceTo(archive.long_file_names[index..], 0x0a);
-            return mem.trimRight(u8, name, "/");
-        },
-    }
-}
-
-fn parseTableOfContents(gpa: Allocator, header: Header, reader: anytype) !Toc {
-    // size field can have extra spaces padded in front as well as the end,
-    // so we trim those first before parsing the ASCII value.
-    const size_trimmed = mem.trim(u8, &header.size, " ");
-    const sym_tab_size = try std.fmt.parseInt(u32, size_trimmed, 10);
-
-    const num_symbols = try reader.readInt(u32, .big);
-    const symbol_positions = try gpa.alloc(u32, num_symbols);
-    defer gpa.free(symbol_positions);
-    for (symbol_positions) |*index| {
-        index.* = try reader.readInt(u32, .big);
-    }
-
-    const sym_tab = try gpa.alloc(u8, sym_tab_size - 4 - (4 * num_symbols));
-    defer gpa.free(sym_tab);
-
-    reader.readNoEof(sym_tab) catch return error.IncompleteSymbolTable;
-
-    var toc: Toc = .empty;
-    errdefer deinitToc(gpa, &toc);
-
-    var i: usize = 0;
-    var pos: usize = 0;
-    while (i < num_symbols) : (i += 1) {
-        const string = mem.sliceTo(sym_tab[pos..], 0);
-        pos += string.len + 1;
-        if (string.len == 0) continue;
-
-        const name = try gpa.dupe(u8, string);
-        errdefer gpa.free(name);
-        const gop = try toc.getOrPut(gpa, name);
-        if (gop.found_existing) {
-            gpa.free(name);
-        } else {
-            gop.value_ptr.* = .{};
-        }
-        try gop.value_ptr.append(gpa, symbol_positions[i]);
-    }
-
-    return toc;
-}
-
-fn parseNameTable(gpa: Allocator, reader: anytype) ![]const u8 {
-    const header: Header = try reader.readStruct(Header);
-    if (!mem.eql(u8, &header.fmag, ARFMAG)) {
-        return error.InvalidHeaderDelimiter;
-    }
-    if (!mem.eql(u8, header.name[0..2], "//")) {
-        return error.MissingTableName;
-    }
-    const table_size = try header.parsedSize();
-    const long_file_names = try gpa.alloc(u8, table_size);
-    errdefer gpa.free(long_file_names);
-    try reader.readNoEof(long_file_names);
-
-    return long_file_names;
-}
-
 /// From a given file offset, starts reading for a file header.
 /// When found, parses the object file into an `Object` and returns it.
 pub fn parseObject(archive: Archive, wasm: *Wasm, file_contents: []const u8, path: Path) !Object {
-    var fbs = std.io.fixedBufferStream(file_contents);
-    const header = try fbs.reader().readStruct(Header);
+    const header = mem.bytesAsValue(Header, file_contents[0..@sizeOf(Header)]);
+    if (!mem.eql(u8, &header.fmag, ARFMAG)) return error.BadHeaderDelimiter;
 
-    if (!mem.eql(u8, &header.fmag, ARFMAG)) return error.BadArchiveHeaderDelimiter;
+    const name_or_index = try header.nameOrIndex();
+    const object_name = switch (name_or_index) {
+        .name => |name| name,
+        .index => |index| n: {
+            const long_file_names = file_contents[archive.long_file_names.off..][0..archive.long_file_names.len];
+            const name = mem.sliceTo(long_file_names[index..], 0x0a);
+            break :n mem.trimRight(u8, name, "/");
+        },
+    };
 
-    const object_name = try archive.parseName(header);
     const object_file_size = try header.parsedSize();
 
     return Object.create(wasm, file_contents[@sizeOf(Header)..][0..object_file_size], path, object_name);
 }
 
+const Archive = @This();
+
+const builtin = @import("builtin");
+const native_endian = builtin.cpu.arch.endian();
+
 const std = @import("std");
-const assert = std.debug.assert;
-const fs = std.fs;
-const log = std.log.scoped(.archive);
 const mem = std.mem;
+const Allocator = std.mem.Allocator;
 const Path = std.Build.Cache.Path;
 
-const Allocator = mem.Allocator;
-const Object = @import("Object.zig");
 const Wasm = @import("../Wasm.zig");
-
-const Archive = @This();
+const Object = @import("Object.zig");