diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 31327109..865997d8 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -71,7 +71,7 @@
     "lodash.uniqwith": "^4.5.0",
     "lodash.values": "^4.3.0",
     "multihashing-async": "~0.4.6",
-    "protocol-buffers": "^3.2.1",
+    "protons": "^1.0.0",
     "pull-defer": "^0.2.2",
     "pull-length-prefixed": "^1.3.0",
     "pull-pushable": "^2.1.1",
diff --git a/src/types/message/index.js b/src/types/message/index.js
index 88e118ff..53a7dfa6 100644
--- a/src/types/message/index.js
+++ b/src/types/message/index.js
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 'use strict'
 
-const protobuf = require('protocol-buffers')
+const protons = require('protons')
 const Block = require('ipfs-block')
 const isEqualWith = require('lodash.isequalwith')
 const assert = require('assert')
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ const codecName = require('multicodec/src/name-table')
 const vd = require('varint-decoder')
 const multihashing = require('multihashing-async')
 
-const pbm = protobuf(require('./message.proto'))
+const pbm = protons(require('./message.proto'))
 const Entry = require('./entry')
 
 class BitswapMessage {
diff --git a/test/types/message.spec.js b/test/types/message.spec.js
index f3b10890..9e155f70 100644
--- a/test/types/message.spec.js
+++ b/test/types/message.spec.js
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
 const chai = require('chai')
 chai.use(require('dirty-chai'))
 const expect = chai.expect
-const protobuf = require('protocol-buffers')
+const protons = require('protons')
 const map = require('async/map')
 const CID = require('cids')
 const isNode = require('detect-node')
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ const testDataPath = (isNode ? '../' : '') + 'fixtures/serialized-from-go'
 const rawMessageFullWantlist = loadFixture(__dirname, testDataPath + '/bitswap110-message-full-wantlist')
 const rawMessageOneBlock = loadFixture(__dirname, testDataPath + '/bitswap110-message-one-block')
 
-const pbm = protobuf(require('../../src/types/message/message.proto'))
+const pbm = protons(require('../../src/types/message/message.proto'))
 
 const BitswapMessage = require('../../src/types/message')
 const makeBlock = require('../utils/make-block')