diff --git a/fs_mgr/libsnapshot/include/libsnapshot/cow_compress.h b/fs_mgr/libsnapshot/include/libsnapshot/cow_compress.h
index 8191d61..ac04245 100644
--- a/fs_mgr/libsnapshot/include/libsnapshot/cow_compress.h
+++ b/fs_mgr/libsnapshot/include/libsnapshot/cow_compress.h
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@
 #pragma once
 
 #include <memory>
+#include <vector>
 #include "libsnapshot/cow_format.h"
 
 namespace android {
@@ -40,8 +41,7 @@
 
     uint32_t GetCompressionLevel() const { return compression_level_; }
     uint32_t GetBlockSize() const { return block_size_; }
-    [[nodiscard]] virtual std::basic_string<uint8_t> Compress(const void* data,
-                                                              size_t length) const = 0;
+    [[nodiscard]] virtual std::vector<uint8_t> Compress(const void* data, size_t length) const = 0;
 
   private:
     uint32_t compression_level_;
diff --git a/fs_mgr/libsnapshot/include/libsnapshot/cow_writer.h b/fs_mgr/libsnapshot/include/libsnapshot/cow_writer.h
index 89699dc..651083f 100644
--- a/fs_mgr/libsnapshot/include/libsnapshot/cow_writer.h
+++ b/fs_mgr/libsnapshot/include/libsnapshot/cow_writer.h
@@ -122,13 +122,13 @@
     CompressWorker(std::unique_ptr<ICompressor>&& compressor);
     bool RunThread();
     void EnqueueCompressBlocks(const void* buffer, size_t block_size, size_t num_blocks);
-    bool GetCompressedBuffers(std::vector<std::basic_string<uint8_t>>* compressed_buf);
+    bool GetCompressedBuffers(std::vector<std::vector<uint8_t>>* compressed_buf);
     void Finalize();
     static uint32_t GetDefaultCompressionLevel(CowCompressionAlgorithm compression);
 
     static bool CompressBlocks(ICompressor* compressor, size_t block_size, const void* buffer,
                                size_t num_blocks,
-                               std::vector<std::basic_string<uint8_t>>* compressed_data);
+                               std::vector<std::vector<uint8_t>>* compressed_data);
 
   private:
     struct CompressWork {
@@ -136,7 +136,7 @@
         size_t num_blocks;
         size_t block_size;
         bool compression_status = false;
-        std::vector<std::basic_string<uint8_t>> compressed_data;
+        std::vector<std::vector<uint8_t>> compressed_data;
     };
 
     std::unique_ptr<ICompressor> compressor_;
@@ -150,7 +150,7 @@
     size_t total_processed_ = 0;
 
     bool CompressBlocks(const void* buffer, size_t num_blocks, size_t block_size,
-                        std::vector<std::basic_string<uint8_t>>* compressed_data);
+                        std::vector<std::vector<uint8_t>>* compressed_data);
 };
 
 // Create an ICowWriter not backed by any file. This is useful for estimating
diff --git a/fs_mgr/libsnapshot/libsnapshot_cow/cow_compress.cpp b/fs_mgr/libsnapshot/libsnapshot_cow/cow_compress.cpp
index 577cdbd..0205f50 100644
--- a/fs_mgr/libsnapshot/libsnapshot_cow/cow_compress.cpp
+++ b/fs_mgr/libsnapshot/libsnapshot_cow/cow_compress.cpp
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@
 #include <limits>
 #include <memory>
 #include <queue>
+#include <vector>
 
 #include <android-base/file.h>
 #include <android-base/logging.h>
@@ -103,9 +104,9 @@
     GzCompressor(uint32_t compression_level, const uint32_t block_size)
         : ICompressor(compression_level, block_size){};
 
-    std::basic_string<uint8_t> Compress(const void* data, size_t length) const override {
+    std::vector<uint8_t> Compress(const void* data, size_t length) const override {
         const auto bound = compressBound(length);
-        std::basic_string<uint8_t> buffer(bound, '\0');
+        std::vector<uint8_t> buffer(bound, '\0');
 
         uLongf dest_len = bound;
         auto rv = compress2(buffer.data(), &dest_len, reinterpret_cast<const Bytef*>(data), length,
@@ -124,13 +125,13 @@
     Lz4Compressor(uint32_t compression_level, const uint32_t block_size)
         : ICompressor(compression_level, block_size){};
 
-    std::basic_string<uint8_t> Compress(const void* data, size_t length) const override {
+    std::vector<uint8_t> Compress(const void* data, size_t length) const override {
         const auto bound = LZ4_compressBound(length);
         if (!bound) {
             LOG(ERROR) << "LZ4_compressBound returned 0";
             return {};
         }
-        std::basic_string<uint8_t> buffer(bound, '\0');
+        std::vector<uint8_t> buffer(bound, '\0');
 
         const auto compressed_size =
                 LZ4_compress_default(static_cast<const char*>(data),
@@ -156,13 +157,13 @@
     BrotliCompressor(uint32_t compression_level, const uint32_t block_size)
         : ICompressor(compression_level, block_size){};
 
-    std::basic_string<uint8_t> Compress(const void* data, size_t length) const override {
+    std::vector<uint8_t> Compress(const void* data, size_t length) const override {
         const auto bound = BrotliEncoderMaxCompressedSize(length);
         if (!bound) {
             LOG(ERROR) << "BrotliEncoderMaxCompressedSize returned 0";
             return {};
         }
-        std::basic_string<uint8_t> buffer(bound, '\0');
+        std::vector<uint8_t> buffer(bound, '\0');
 
         size_t encoded_size = bound;
         auto rv = BrotliEncoderCompress(
@@ -186,8 +187,8 @@
         ZSTD_CCtx_setParameter(zstd_context_.get(), ZSTD_c_windowLog, log2(GetBlockSize()));
     };
 
-    std::basic_string<uint8_t> Compress(const void* data, size_t length) const override {
-        std::basic_string<uint8_t> buffer(ZSTD_compressBound(length), '\0');
+    std::vector<uint8_t> Compress(const void* data, size_t length) const override {
+        std::vector<uint8_t> buffer(ZSTD_compressBound(length), '\0');
         const auto compressed_size =
                 ZSTD_compress2(zstd_context_.get(), buffer.data(), buffer.size(), data, length);
         if (compressed_size <= 0) {
@@ -209,13 +210,13 @@
 };
 
 bool CompressWorker::CompressBlocks(const void* buffer, size_t num_blocks, size_t block_size,
-                                    std::vector<std::basic_string<uint8_t>>* compressed_data) {
+                                    std::vector<std::vector<uint8_t>>* compressed_data) {
     return CompressBlocks(compressor_.get(), block_size, buffer, num_blocks, compressed_data);
 }
 
 bool CompressWorker::CompressBlocks(ICompressor* compressor, size_t block_size, const void* buffer,
                                     size_t num_blocks,
-                                    std::vector<std::basic_string<uint8_t>>* compressed_data) {
+                                    std::vector<std::vector<uint8_t>>* compressed_data) {
     const uint8_t* iter = reinterpret_cast<const uint8_t*>(buffer);
     while (num_blocks) {
         auto data = compressor->Compress(iter, block_size);
@@ -289,7 +290,7 @@
     cv_.notify_all();
 }
 
-bool CompressWorker::GetCompressedBuffers(std::vector<std::basic_string<uint8_t>>* compressed_buf) {
+bool CompressWorker::GetCompressedBuffers(std::vector<std::vector<uint8_t>>* compressed_buf) {
     while (true) {
         std::unique_lock<std::mutex> lock(lock_);
         while ((total_submitted_ != total_processed_) && compressed_queue_.empty() && !stopped_) {
diff --git a/fs_mgr/libsnapshot/libsnapshot_cow/test_v2.cpp b/fs_mgr/libsnapshot/libsnapshot_cow/test_v2.cpp
index 1d1d24c..ce80cd7 100644
--- a/fs_mgr/libsnapshot/libsnapshot_cow/test_v2.cpp
+++ b/fs_mgr/libsnapshot/libsnapshot_cow/test_v2.cpp
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@
 #include <iostream>
 #include <memory>
 #include <string_view>
+#include <vector>
 
 #include <android-base/file.h>
 #include <android-base/logging.h>
@@ -429,7 +430,7 @@
 template <typename T>
 class HorribleStream : public IByteStream {
   public:
-    HorribleStream(const std::basic_string<T>& input) : input_(input) {}
+    HorribleStream(const std::vector<T>& input) : input_(input) {}
 
     ssize_t Read(void* buffer, size_t length) override {
         if (pos_ >= input_.size()) {
@@ -444,16 +445,17 @@
     size_t Size() const override { return input_.size(); }
 
   private:
-    std::basic_string<T> input_;
+    std::vector<T> input_;
     size_t pos_ = 0;
 };
 
 TEST(HorribleStream, ReadFully) {
-    std::string expected = "this is some data";
+    std::string expected_str = "this is some data";
+    std::vector<char> expected{expected_str.begin(), expected_str.end()};
 
     HorribleStream<char> stream(expected);
 
-    std::string buffer(expected.size(), '\0');
+    std::vector<char> buffer(expected.size(), '\0');
     ASSERT_TRUE(stream.ReadFully(buffer.data(), buffer.size()));
     ASSERT_EQ(buffer, expected);
 }
diff --git a/fs_mgr/libsnapshot/libsnapshot_cow/writer_v2.h b/fs_mgr/libsnapshot/libsnapshot_cow/writer_v2.h
index 05de2ad..6a37aa7 100644
--- a/fs_mgr/libsnapshot/libsnapshot_cow/writer_v2.h
+++ b/fs_mgr/libsnapshot/libsnapshot_cow/writer_v2.h
@@ -81,8 +81,8 @@
     int num_compress_threads_ = 1;
     std::vector<std::unique_ptr<CompressWorker>> compress_threads_;
     std::vector<std::future<bool>> threads_;
-    std::vector<std::basic_string<uint8_t>> compressed_buf_;
-    std::vector<std::basic_string<uint8_t>>::iterator buf_iter_;
+    std::vector<std::vector<uint8_t>> compressed_buf_;
+    std::vector<std::vector<uint8_t>>::iterator buf_iter_;
 
     std::vector<std::unique_ptr<CowOperationV2>> opbuffer_vec_;
     std::vector<std::unique_ptr<uint8_t[]>> databuffer_vec_;
diff --git a/fs_mgr/libsnapshot/libsnapshot_cow/writer_v3.cpp b/fs_mgr/libsnapshot/libsnapshot_cow/writer_v3.cpp
index c92460a..22e6f2c 100644
--- a/fs_mgr/libsnapshot/libsnapshot_cow/writer_v3.cpp
+++ b/fs_mgr/libsnapshot/libsnapshot_cow/writer_v3.cpp
@@ -512,8 +512,7 @@
         }
         bytes_written += op.data_length;
     }
-    if (!WriteOperation({cached_ops_.data(), cached_ops_.size()},
-                        {data_vec_.data(), data_vec_.size()})) {
+    if (!WriteOperation(cached_ops_, data_vec_)) {
         LOG(ERROR) << "Failed to flush " << cached_ops_.size() << " ops to disk";
         return false;
     }
@@ -632,7 +631,7 @@
     }
 
     // Fetch compressed buffers from the threads
-    std::vector<std::basic_string<uint8_t>> compressed_buf;
+    std::vector<std::vector<uint8_t>> compressed_buf;
     compressed_buf.clear();
     for (size_t i = 0; i < num_threads; i++) {
         CompressWorker* worker = compress_threads_[i].get();
@@ -684,8 +683,8 @@
     return ProcessBlocksWithThreadedCompression(num_blocks, data, type);
 }
 
-bool CowWriterV3::WriteOperation(std::basic_string_view<CowOperationV3> ops,
-                                 std::basic_string_view<struct iovec> data) {
+bool CowWriterV3::WriteOperation(std::span<const CowOperationV3> ops,
+                                 std::span<const struct iovec> data) {
     const auto total_data_size =
             std::transform_reduce(data.begin(), data.end(), 0, std::plus<size_t>{},
                                   [](const struct iovec& a) { return a.iov_len; });
diff --git a/fs_mgr/libsnapshot/libsnapshot_cow/writer_v3.h b/fs_mgr/libsnapshot/libsnapshot_cow/writer_v3.h
index 4915e9c..48eb67b 100644
--- a/fs_mgr/libsnapshot/libsnapshot_cow/writer_v3.h
+++ b/fs_mgr/libsnapshot/libsnapshot_cow/writer_v3.h
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@
 #pragma once
 
 #include <android-base/logging.h>
+#include <span>
 #include <string_view>
 #include <thread>
 #include <vector>
@@ -49,15 +50,14 @@
   private:
     struct CompressedBuffer {
         size_t compression_factor;
-        std::basic_string<uint8_t> compressed_data;
+        std::vector<uint8_t> compressed_data;
     };
     void SetupHeaders();
     bool NeedsFlush() const;
     bool ParseOptions();
     bool OpenForWrite();
     bool OpenForAppend(uint64_t label);
-    bool WriteOperation(std::basic_string_view<CowOperationV3> op,
-                        std::basic_string_view<struct iovec> data);
+    bool WriteOperation(std::span<const CowOperationV3> op, std::span<const struct iovec> data);
     bool EmitBlocks(uint64_t new_block_start, const void* data, size_t size, uint64_t old_block,
                     uint16_t offset, CowOperationType type);
     bool ConstructCowOpCompressedBuffers(uint64_t new_block_start, const void* data,
@@ -111,7 +111,7 @@
     int num_compress_threads_ = 1;
     size_t batch_size_ = 1;
     std::vector<CowOperationV3> cached_ops_;
-    std::vector<std::basic_string<uint8_t>> cached_data_;
+    std::vector<std::vector<uint8_t>> cached_data_;
     std::vector<struct iovec> data_vec_;
 
     std::vector<std::thread> threads_;
diff --git a/fs_mgr/libsnapshot/snapuserd/user-space-merge/read_worker.h b/fs_mgr/libsnapshot/snapuserd/user-space-merge/read_worker.h
index 43e896a..04b2736 100644
--- a/fs_mgr/libsnapshot/snapuserd/user-space-merge/read_worker.h
+++ b/fs_mgr/libsnapshot/snapuserd/user-space-merge/read_worker.h
@@ -69,7 +69,7 @@
     std::shared_ptr<IBlockServerOpener> block_server_opener_;
     std::unique_ptr<IBlockServer> block_server_;
 
-    std::basic_string<uint8_t> xor_buffer_;
+    std::vector<uint8_t> xor_buffer_;
     std::unique_ptr<void, decltype(&::free)> aligned_buffer_;
     std::unique_ptr<uint8_t[]> decompressed_buffer_;
 };
diff --git a/fs_mgr/libsnapshot/tools/cow_benchmark.cpp b/fs_mgr/libsnapshot/tools/cow_benchmark.cpp
index 4d5e346..fb463c8 100644
--- a/fs_mgr/libsnapshot/tools/cow_benchmark.cpp
+++ b/fs_mgr/libsnapshot/tools/cow_benchmark.cpp
@@ -78,7 +78,7 @@
 
     for (size_t i = 0; i < compressors.size(); i++) {
         const auto start = std::chrono::steady_clock::now();
-        std::basic_string<uint8_t> compressed_data =
+        std::vector<uint8_t> compressed_data =
                 compressors[i]->Compress(buffer.data(), buffer.size());
         const auto end = std::chrono::steady_clock::now();
         const auto latency =
@@ -141,13 +141,13 @@
     std::vector<std::pair<double, std::string>> ratios;
 
     for (size_t i = 0; i < compressors.size(); i++) {
-        std::vector<std::basic_string<uint8_t>> compressed_data_vec;
+        std::vector<std::vector<uint8_t>> compressed_data_vec;
         int num_blocks = buffer.size() / BLOCK_SZ;
         const uint8_t* iter = reinterpret_cast<const uint8_t*>(buffer.data());
 
         const auto start = std::chrono::steady_clock::now();
         while (num_blocks > 0) {
-            std::basic_string<uint8_t> compressed_data = compressors[i]->Compress(iter, BLOCK_SZ);
+            std::vector<uint8_t> compressed_data = compressors[i]->Compress(iter, BLOCK_SZ);
             compressed_data_vec.emplace_back(compressed_data);
             num_blocks--;
             iter += BLOCK_SZ;