diff --git a/packages/php-wasm/util/src/lib/php-vars.spec.ts b/packages/php-wasm/util/src/lib/php-vars.spec.ts
index d5d088d628..16fc10f682 100644
--- a/packages/php-wasm/util/src/lib/php-vars.spec.ts
+++ b/packages/php-wasm/util/src/lib/php-vars.spec.ts
@@ -3,13 +3,13 @@ import { phpVar } from './php-vars';
 describe('phpVar', () => {
 	test('translates strings', () => {
 		const result = phpVar('Hello, World!');
-		expect(result).toBe(`json_decode('"Hello, World!"')`);
+		expect(result).toBe(`base64_decode('SGVsbG8sIFdvcmxkIQ==')`);
 	});
 
 	test('escapes single quotes in strings (simple)', () => {
 		const result = phpVar(`This is Playground's test suite`);
 		expect(result).toBe(
-			`json_decode('"This is Playground\\'s test suite"')`
+			`base64_decode('VGhpcyBpcyBQbGF5Z3JvdW5kJ3MgdGVzdCBzdWl0ZQ==')`
 		);
 	});
 
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ describe('phpVar', () => {
 			`This is an escaped quot: \\'. This is an escaped backslash and a quot: \\\\'. This is an evil terminating backslash: \\`
 		);
 		expect(result).toBe(
-			`json_decode('"This is an escaped quot: \\\\\\\\\\'. This is an escaped backslash and a quot: \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'. This is an evil terminating backslash: \\\\\\\\"')`
+			`base64_decode('VGhpcyBpcyBhbiBlc2NhcGVkIHF1b3Q6IFwnLiBUaGlzIGlzIGFuIGVzY2FwZWQgYmFja3NsYXNoIGFuZCBhIHF1b3Q6IFxcJy4gVGhpcyBpcyBhbiBldmlsIHRlcm1pbmF0aW5nIGJhY2tzbGFzaDogXA==')`
 		);
 	});
 
@@ -29,42 +29,42 @@ describe('phpVar', () => {
 
 	test('translates arrays', () => {
 		const result = phpVar([5, 'test']);
-		expect(result).toBe(`array(5, json_decode('"test"'))`);
+		expect(result).toBe(`array(5, base64_decode('dGVzdA=='))`);
 	});
 
 	test('translates objects', () => {
 		const result = phpVar({ a: 5, b: 'test' });
 		expect(result).toBe(
-			`array(json_decode('"a"') => 5, json_decode('"b"') => json_decode('"test"'))`
+			`array(base64_decode('YQ==') => 5, base64_decode('Yg==') => base64_decode('dGVzdA=='))`
 		);
 	});
 
 	test('translate nested arrays', () => {
 		const result = phpVar([1, ['a', 'b'], 3]);
 		expect(result).toBe(
-			`array(1, array(json_decode('"a"'), json_decode('"b"')), 3)`
+			`array(1, array(base64_decode('YQ=='), base64_decode('Yg==')), 3)`
 		);
 	});
 
 	test('translate nested objects', () => {
 		const result = phpVar({ outer: { inner: 'value' } });
 		expect(result).toBe(
-			`array(json_decode('"outer"') => array(json_decode('"inner"') => json_decode('"value"')))`
+			`array(base64_decode('b3V0ZXI=') => array(base64_decode('aW5uZXI=') => base64_decode('dmFsdWU=')))`
 		);
 	});
 
 	test('properly encodes strings', () => {
 		const result = phpVar('Hello, "World!"');
-		expect(result).toBe(`json_decode('"Hello, \\\\"World!\\\\""')`);
+		expect(result).toBe(`base64_decode('SGVsbG8sICJXb3JsZCEi')`);
 	});
 
 	test('properly encodes strings with special characters', () => {
 		const result = phpVar('Hello,\nWorld!');
-		expect(result).toBe(`json_decode('"Hello,\\\\nWorld!"')`);
+		expect(result).toBe(`base64_decode('SGVsbG8sCldvcmxkIQ==')`);
 	});
 
 	test('properly enchodes strings with uniresult characters', () => {
 		const result = phpVar('こんにちは');
-		expect(result).toBe(`json_decode('"こんにちは"')`);
+		expect(result).toBe(`base64_decode('44GT44KT44Gr44Gh44Gv')`);
 	});
 });
diff --git a/packages/php-wasm/util/src/lib/php-vars.ts b/packages/php-wasm/util/src/lib/php-vars.ts
index 59b36938df..c39f5d3e7b 100644
--- a/packages/php-wasm/util/src/lib/php-vars.ts
+++ b/packages/php-wasm/util/src/lib/php-vars.ts
@@ -2,10 +2,7 @@ const literal = Symbol('literal');
 
 export function phpVar(value: unknown): string {
 	if (typeof value === 'string') {
-		const escapedValue = JSON.stringify(value)
-			.replace(/\\/g, '\\\\')
-			.replace(/'/g, "\\'");
-		return `json_decode('${escapedValue}')`;
+		return `base64_decode('${stringToBase64(value)}')`;
 	} else if (typeof value === 'number') {
 		return value.toString();
 	} else if (Array.isArray(value)) {
@@ -24,6 +21,10 @@ export function phpVar(value: unknown): string {
 		}
 	} else if (typeof value === 'function') {
 		return value();
+	} else if (ArrayBuffer.isView(value)) {
+		return `base64_decode("'${bytesToBase64(
+			new Uint8Array(value as any)
+		)}'")`;
 	}
 	throw new Error(`Unsupported value: ${value}`);
 }
@@ -37,3 +38,12 @@ export function phpVars<T extends Record<string, unknown>>(
 	}
 	return result as Record<keyof T, string>;
 }
+
+function stringToBase64(str: string) {
+	return bytesToBase64(new TextEncoder().encode(str));
+}
+
+function bytesToBase64(bytes: Uint8Array) {
+	const binString = String.fromCodePoint(...bytes);
+	return btoa(binString);
+}