diff --git a/core/crypto/_fiat/field_poly1305/field.odin b/core/crypto/_fiat/field_poly1305/field.odin
index 642949b02..bfb7cf1f9 100644
--- a/core/crypto/_fiat/field_poly1305/field.odin
+++ b/core/crypto/_fiat/field_poly1305/field.odin
@@ -11,25 +11,46 @@ fe_tighten_cast :: #force_inline proc "contextless" (arg1: ^Loose_Field_Element)
 	return transmute(^Tight_Field_Element)(arg1)
 }
 
-fe_from_bytes :: proc (out1: ^Tight_Field_Element, arg1: []byte, arg2: byte, sanitize: bool = true) {
-	// fiat-crypto's deserialization routine wants 256-bits of input, but
-	// r/s are 128-bits long, and block processing works on 128-bits plus a
-	// final bit.
+fe_from_bytes :: #force_inline proc (out1: ^Tight_Field_Element, arg1: []byte, arg2: byte, sanitize: bool = true) {
+	// fiat-crypto's deserialization routine effectively processes a
+	// single byte at a time, and wants 256-bits of input for a value
+	// that will be 128-bits or 129-bits.
 	//
-	// This is more ergonomic, and while the copy is unfortunate, this avoids
-	// having to alter the fiat-crypto derived code.
+	// This is somewhat cumbersome to use, so at a minimum a wrapper
+	// makes implementing the actual MAC block processing considerably
+	// neater.
 
 	assert(len(arg1) == 16)
 
-	tmp: [32]byte
-	copy_slice(tmp[0:16], arg1[:])
-	tmp[16] = arg2
+	when ODIN_ARCH == "386" || ODIN_ARCH == "amd64" {
+		// While it may be unwise to do deserialization here on our
+		// own when fiat-crypto provides equivalent functionality,
+		// doing it this way provides a little under 3x performance
+		// improvement when optimization is enabled.
+		src_p := transmute(^[2]u64)(&arg1[0])
+		lo := src_p[0]
+		hi := src_p[1]
 
-	_fe_from_bytes(out1, &tmp)
+		// This is inspired by poly1305-donna, though adjustments were
+		// made since a Tight_Field_Element's limbs are 44-bits, 43-bits,
+		// and 43-bits wide.
+		//
+		// Note: This could be transplated into fe_from_u64s, but that
+		// code is called once per MAC, and is non-criticial path.
+		hibit := u64(arg2) << 41 // arg2 << 128
+		out1[0] = lo & 0xfffffffffff
+		out1[1] = ((lo >> 44) | (hi << 20)) & 0x7ffffffffff
+		out1[2] = ((hi >> 23) & 0x7ffffffffff) | hibit
+	} else {
+		tmp: [32]byte
+		copy_slice(tmp[0:16], arg1[:])
+		tmp[16] = arg2
 
-	// Need to sanitize the temporary buffer when deserializing `s`.
-	if sanitize {
-		mem.zero_explicit(&tmp, size_of(tmp))
+		_fe_from_bytes(out1, &tmp)
+		if sanitize {
+			// This is used to deserialize `s` which is confidential.
+			mem.zero_explicit(&tmp, size_of(tmp))
+		}
 	}
 }