diff --git a/domain-server/src/DomainServer.cpp b/domain-server/src/DomainServer.cpp
index 8136bf3b53..f90155c786 100644
--- a/domain-server/src/DomainServer.cpp
+++ b/domain-server/src/DomainServer.cpp
@@ -3411,20 +3411,11 @@ void DomainServer::maybeHandleReplacementEntityFile() {
 }
 
 void DomainServer::handleOctreeFileReplacement(QByteArray octreeFile) {
-    //Assume we have compressed data
-    auto compressedOctree = octreeFile;
-    QByteArray jsonOctree;
-
-    bool wasCompressed = gunzip(compressedOctree, jsonOctree);
-    if (!wasCompressed) {
-        // the source was not compressed, assume we were sent regular JSON data
-        jsonOctree = compressedOctree;
-    }
-
     OctreeUtils::RawEntityData data;
-    if (data.readOctreeDataInfoFromData(jsonOctree)) {
+    if (data.readOctreeDataInfoFromData(octreeFile)) {
         data.resetIdAndVersion();
 
+        QByteArray compressedOctree;
         gzip(data.toByteArray(), compressedOctree);
 
         // write the compressed octree data to a special file
diff --git a/libraries/octree/src/OctreeDataUtils.cpp b/libraries/octree/src/OctreeDataUtils.cpp
index 255933a783..8c6e45ae66 100644
--- a/libraries/octree/src/OctreeDataUtils.cpp
+++ b/libraries/octree/src/OctreeDataUtils.cpp
@@ -47,16 +47,6 @@ namespace {
 
 }  // Anon namespace.
 
-bool OctreeUtils::RawOctreeData::readOctreeDataInfoFromJSON(QJsonObject root) {
-    if (root.contains("Id") && root.contains("DataVersion") && root.contains("Version")) {
-        id = root["Id"].toVariant().toUuid();
-        dataVersion = root["DataVersion"].toInt();
-        version = root["Version"].toInt();
-    }
-    readSubclassData(root);
-    return true;
-}
-
 bool OctreeUtils::RawOctreeData::readOctreeDataInfoFromMap(const QVariantMap& map) {
     if (map.contains("Id") && map.contains("DataVersion") && map.contains("Version")) {
         id = map["Id"].toUuid();
@@ -94,28 +84,25 @@ bool OctreeUtils::RawOctreeData::readOctreeDataInfoFromFile(QString path) {
     }
 
     QByteArray data = file.readAll();
-    QByteArray jsonData;
 
-    if (!gunzip(data, jsonData)) {
-        jsonData = data;
-    }
-
-    return readOctreeDataInfoFromData(jsonData);
+    return readOctreeDataInfoFromData(data);
 }
 
 QByteArray OctreeUtils::RawOctreeData::toByteArray() {
-    QJsonObject obj {
-        { "DataVersion", QJsonValue((qint64)dataVersion) },
-        { "Id", QJsonValue(id.toString()) },
-        { "Version", QJsonValue((qint64)version) },
-    };
+    QByteArray jsonString;
 
-    writeSubclassData(obj);
+    jsonString += QString(R"({
+  "DataVersion": %1,
+)").arg(dataVersion);
 
-    QJsonDocument doc;
-    doc.setObject(obj);
+    writeSubclassData(jsonString);
 
-    return doc.toJson();
+    jsonString += QString(R"(,
+  "Id": "%1",
+  "Version": %2
+})").arg(id.toString()).arg(version);
+
+    return jsonString;
 }
 
 QByteArray OctreeUtils::RawOctreeData::toGzippedByteArray() {
@@ -142,24 +129,21 @@ void OctreeUtils::RawOctreeData::resetIdAndVersion() {
     qDebug() << "Reset octree data to: " << id << dataVersion;
 }
 
-void OctreeUtils::RawEntityData::readSubclassData(const QJsonObject& root) {
-    if (root.contains("Entities")) {
-        entityData = root["Entities"].toArray();
-    }
-}
-
 void OctreeUtils::RawEntityData::readSubclassData(const QVariantMap& root) {
     variantEntityData = root["Entities"].toList();
 }
 
-void OctreeUtils::RawEntityData::writeSubclassData(QJsonObject& root) const {
-    //root["Entities"] = entityData;
-    QJsonArray entitiesJsonArray;
+void OctreeUtils::RawEntityData::writeSubclassData(QByteArray& root) const {
+    root += "  \"Entities\": [";
     for (auto entityIter = variantEntityData.begin(); entityIter != variantEntityData.end(); ++entityIter) {
-        entitiesJsonArray += entityIter->toJsonObject();
+        if (entityIter != variantEntityData.begin()) {
+            root += ",";
+        }
+        root += "\n    ";
+        // Convert to string and remove trailing LF.
+        root += QJsonDocument(entityIter->toJsonObject()).toJson().chopped(1);
     }
-
-    root["Entities"] = entitiesJsonArray;
+    root += "]";
 }
 
 PacketType OctreeUtils::RawEntityData::dataPacketType() const { return PacketType::EntityData; }
diff --git a/libraries/octree/src/OctreeDataUtils.h b/libraries/octree/src/OctreeDataUtils.h
index 20092cd451..642c00a675 100644
--- a/libraries/octree/src/OctreeDataUtils.h
+++ b/libraries/octree/src/OctreeDataUtils.h
@@ -33,9 +33,8 @@ public:
 
     virtual PacketType dataPacketType() const;
 
-    virtual void readSubclassData(const QJsonObject& root) { }
     virtual void readSubclassData(const QVariantMap& root) { }
-    virtual void writeSubclassData(QJsonObject& root) const { }
+    virtual void writeSubclassData(QByteArray& root) const { }
 
     void resetIdAndVersion();
     QByteArray toByteArray();
@@ -43,18 +42,15 @@ public:
 
     bool readOctreeDataInfoFromData(QByteArray data);
     bool readOctreeDataInfoFromFile(QString path);
-    bool readOctreeDataInfoFromJSON(QJsonObject root);
     bool readOctreeDataInfoFromMap(const QVariantMap& map);
 };
 
 class RawEntityData : public RawOctreeData {
 public:
     PacketType dataPacketType() const override;
-    void readSubclassData(const QJsonObject& root) override;
     void readSubclassData(const QVariantMap& root) override;
-    void writeSubclassData(QJsonObject& root) const override;
+    void writeSubclassData(QByteArray& root) const override;
 
-    QJsonArray entityData;
     QVariantList variantEntityData;
 };