diff --git a/ReactAndroid/src/main/jni/react/jni/JSLoader.cpp b/ReactAndroid/src/main/jni/react/jni/JSLoader.cpp
index 1c669181a51..16fcc43d4fa 100644
--- a/ReactAndroid/src/main/jni/react/jni/JSLoader.cpp
+++ b/ReactAndroid/src/main/jni/react/jni/JSLoader.cpp
@@ -9,14 +9,9 @@
 
 #include <android/asset_manager_jni.h>
 #include <cxxreact/JSBigString.h>
-#include <fb/log.h>
+#include <cxxreact/JSBundleType.h>
 #include <fbjni/fbjni.h>
 #include <folly/Conv.h>
-#include <fstream>
-#include <memory>
-#include <sstream>
-#include <streambuf>
-#include <string>
 
 #ifdef WITH_FBSYSTRACE
 #include <fbsystrace.h>
@@ -28,6 +23,31 @@ using namespace facebook::jni;
 namespace facebook {
 namespace react {
 
+class AssetManagerString : public JSBigString {
+ public:
+  AssetManagerString(AAsset *asset) : asset_(asset){};
+
+  virtual ~AssetManagerString() {
+    AAsset_close(asset_);
+  }
+
+  bool isAscii() const override {
+    return false;
+  }
+
+  const char *c_str() const override {
+    return (const char *)AAsset_getBuffer(asset_);
+  }
+
+  // Length of the c_str without the NULL byte.
+  size_t size() const override {
+    return AAsset_getLength(asset_);
+  }
+
+ private:
+  AAsset *asset_;
+};
+
 __attribute__((visibility("default"))) AAssetManager *extractAssetManager(
     alias_ref<JAssetManager::javaobject> assetManager) {
   auto env = Environment::current();
@@ -50,17 +70,21 @@ loadScriptFromAssets(AAssetManager *manager, const std::string &assetName) {
         AASSET_MODE_STREAMING); // Optimized for sequential read: see
                                 // AssetManager.java for docs
     if (asset) {
-      auto buf = std::make_unique<JSBigBufferString>(AAsset_getLength(asset));
-      size_t offset = 0;
-      int readbytes;
-      while ((readbytes = AAsset_read(
-                  asset, buf->data() + offset, buf->size() - offset)) > 0) {
-        offset += readbytes;
-      }
-      AAsset_close(asset);
-      if (offset == buf->size()) {
-        return std::move(buf);
+      auto script = std::make_unique<AssetManagerString>(asset);
+      if (script->size() >= sizeof(BundleHeader)) {
+        // When using bytecode, it's safe for the underlying buffer to not be \0
+        // terminated. In all other scenarios, we will force a copy of the
+        // script to ensure we have a terminator.
+        const BundleHeader *header =
+            reinterpret_cast<const BundleHeader *>(script->c_str());
+        if (parseTypeFromHeader(*header) == ScriptTag::HBCBundle) {
+          return script;
+        }
       }
+
+      auto buf = std::make_unique<JSBigBufferString>(script->size());
+      memcpy(buf->data(), script->c_str(), script->size());
+      return buf;
     }
   }