diff --git a/reftable/basics.c b/reftable/basics.c
index 3b5ea27bbdc..8c4a4433e41 100644
--- a/reftable/basics.c
+++ b/reftable/basics.c
@@ -147,25 +147,6 @@ char *reftable_buf_detach(struct reftable_buf *buf)
 	return result;
 }
 
-void put_be24(uint8_t *out, uint32_t i)
-{
-	out[0] = (uint8_t)((i >> 16) & 0xff);
-	out[1] = (uint8_t)((i >> 8) & 0xff);
-	out[2] = (uint8_t)(i & 0xff);
-}
-
-uint32_t get_be24(uint8_t *in)
-{
-	return (uint32_t)(in[0]) << 16 | (uint32_t)(in[1]) << 8 |
-	       (uint32_t)(in[2]);
-}
-
-void put_be16(uint8_t *out, uint16_t i)
-{
-	out[0] = (uint8_t)((i >> 8) & 0xff);
-	out[1] = (uint8_t)(i & 0xff);
-}
-
 size_t binsearch(size_t sz, int (*f)(size_t k, void *args), void *args)
 {
 	size_t lo = 0;
diff --git a/reftable/basics.h b/reftable/basics.h
index 646f8d67f2d..c1ddbaec3ff 100644
--- a/reftable/basics.h
+++ b/reftable/basics.h
@@ -76,9 +76,79 @@ char *reftable_buf_detach(struct reftable_buf *buf);
 
 /* Bigendian en/decoding of integers */
 
-void put_be24(uint8_t *out, uint32_t i);
-uint32_t get_be24(uint8_t *in);
-void put_be16(uint8_t *out, uint16_t i);
+static inline void reftable_put_be16(void *out, uint16_t i)
+{
+	unsigned char *p = out;
+	p[0] = (uint8_t)((i >> 8) & 0xff);
+	p[1] = (uint8_t)((i >> 0) & 0xff);
+}
+
+static inline void reftable_put_be24(void *out, uint32_t i)
+{
+	unsigned char *p = out;
+	p[0] = (uint8_t)((i >> 16) & 0xff);
+	p[1] = (uint8_t)((i >>  8) & 0xff);
+	p[2] = (uint8_t)((i >>  0) & 0xff);
+}
+
+static inline void reftable_put_be32(void *out, uint32_t i)
+{
+	unsigned char *p = out;
+	p[0] = (uint8_t)((i >> 24) & 0xff);
+	p[1] = (uint8_t)((i >> 16) & 0xff);
+	p[2] = (uint8_t)((i >>  8) & 0xff);
+	p[3] = (uint8_t)((i >>  0) & 0xff);
+}
+
+static inline void reftable_put_be64(void *out, uint64_t i)
+{
+	unsigned char *p = out;
+	p[0] = (uint8_t)((i >> 56) & 0xff);
+	p[1] = (uint8_t)((i >> 48) & 0xff);
+	p[2] = (uint8_t)((i >> 40) & 0xff);
+	p[3] = (uint8_t)((i >> 32) & 0xff);
+	p[4] = (uint8_t)((i >> 24) & 0xff);
+	p[5] = (uint8_t)((i >> 16) & 0xff);
+	p[6] = (uint8_t)((i >>  8) & 0xff);
+	p[7] = (uint8_t)((i >>  0) & 0xff);
+}
+
+static inline uint16_t reftable_get_be16(const void *in)
+{
+	const unsigned char *p = in;
+	return (uint16_t)(p[0]) << 8 |
+	       (uint16_t)(p[1]) << 0;
+}
+
+static inline uint32_t reftable_get_be24(const void *in)
+{
+	const unsigned char *p = in;
+	return (uint32_t)(p[0]) << 16 |
+	       (uint32_t)(p[1]) << 8 |
+	       (uint32_t)(p[2]) << 0;
+}
+
+static inline uint32_t reftable_get_be32(const void *in)
+{
+	const unsigned char *p = in;
+	return (uint32_t)(p[0]) << 24 |
+	       (uint32_t)(p[1]) << 16 |
+	       (uint32_t)(p[2]) <<  8|
+	       (uint32_t)(p[3]) <<  0;
+}
+
+static inline uint64_t reftable_get_be64(const void *in)
+{
+	const unsigned char *p = in;
+	return (uint64_t)(p[0]) << 56 |
+	       (uint64_t)(p[1]) << 48 |
+	       (uint64_t)(p[2]) << 40 |
+	       (uint64_t)(p[3]) << 32 |
+	       (uint64_t)(p[4]) << 24 |
+	       (uint64_t)(p[5]) << 16 |
+	       (uint64_t)(p[6]) <<  8 |
+	       (uint64_t)(p[7]) <<  0;
+}
 
 /*
  * find smallest index i in [0, sz) at which `f(i) > 0`, assuming that f is
diff --git a/reftable/block.c b/reftable/block.c
index 999876826d1..53b5e044690 100644
--- a/reftable/block.c
+++ b/reftable/block.c
@@ -147,13 +147,13 @@ int block_writer_add(struct block_writer *w, struct reftable_record *rec)
 int block_writer_finish(struct block_writer *w)
 {
 	for (uint32_t i = 0; i < w->restart_len; i++) {
-		put_be24(w->block + w->next, w->restarts[i]);
+		reftable_put_be24(w->block + w->next, w->restarts[i]);
 		w->next += 3;
 	}
 
-	put_be16(w->block + w->next, w->restart_len);
+	reftable_put_be16(w->block + w->next, w->restart_len);
 	w->next += 2;
-	put_be24(w->block + 1 + w->header_off, w->next);
+	reftable_put_be24(w->block + 1 + w->header_off, w->next);
 
 	/*
 	 * Log records are stored zlib-compressed. Note that the compression
@@ -215,7 +215,7 @@ int block_reader_init(struct block_reader *br, struct reftable_block *block,
 {
 	uint32_t full_block_size = table_block_size;
 	uint8_t typ = block->data[header_off];
-	uint32_t sz = get_be24(block->data + header_off + 1);
+	uint32_t sz = reftable_get_be24(block->data + header_off + 1);
 	int err = 0;
 	uint16_t restart_count = 0;
 	uint32_t restart_start = 0;
@@ -299,7 +299,7 @@ int block_reader_init(struct block_reader *br, struct reftable_block *block,
 		full_block_size = sz;
 	}
 
-	restart_count = get_be16(block->data + sz - 2);
+	restart_count = reftable_get_be16(block->data + sz - 2);
 	restart_start = sz - 2 - 3 * restart_count;
 	restart_bytes = block->data + restart_start;
 
@@ -354,7 +354,7 @@ int block_reader_first_key(const struct block_reader *br, struct reftable_buf *k
 
 static uint32_t block_reader_restart_offset(const struct block_reader *br, size_t idx)
 {
-	return get_be24(br->restart_bytes + 3 * idx);
+	return reftable_get_be24(br->restart_bytes + 3 * idx);
 }
 
 void block_iter_seek_start(struct block_iter *it, const struct block_reader *br)
diff --git a/reftable/reader.c b/reftable/reader.c
index 36a5633eded..bf07a0a586f 100644
--- a/reftable/reader.c
+++ b/reftable/reader.c
@@ -101,18 +101,18 @@ static int parse_footer(struct reftable_reader *r, uint8_t *footer,
 	}
 
 	f++;
-	r->block_size = get_be24(f);
+	r->block_size = reftable_get_be24(f);
 
 	f += 3;
-	r->min_update_index = get_be64(f);
+	r->min_update_index = reftable_get_be64(f);
 	f += 8;
-	r->max_update_index = get_be64(f);
+	r->max_update_index = reftable_get_be64(f);
 	f += 8;
 
 	if (r->version == 1) {
 		r->hash_id = REFTABLE_HASH_SHA1;
 	} else {
-		switch (get_be32(f)) {
+		switch (reftable_get_be32(f)) {
 		case REFTABLE_FORMAT_ID_SHA1:
 			r->hash_id = REFTABLE_HASH_SHA1;
 			break;
@@ -127,24 +127,24 @@ static int parse_footer(struct reftable_reader *r, uint8_t *footer,
 		f += 4;
 	}
 
-	r->ref_offsets.index_offset = get_be64(f);
+	r->ref_offsets.index_offset = reftable_get_be64(f);
 	f += 8;
 
-	r->obj_offsets.offset = get_be64(f);
+	r->obj_offsets.offset = reftable_get_be64(f);
 	f += 8;
 
 	r->object_id_len = r->obj_offsets.offset & ((1 << 5) - 1);
 	r->obj_offsets.offset >>= 5;
 
-	r->obj_offsets.index_offset = get_be64(f);
+	r->obj_offsets.index_offset = reftable_get_be64(f);
 	f += 8;
-	r->log_offsets.offset = get_be64(f);
+	r->log_offsets.offset = reftable_get_be64(f);
 	f += 8;
-	r->log_offsets.index_offset = get_be64(f);
+	r->log_offsets.index_offset = reftable_get_be64(f);
 	f += 8;
 
 	computed_crc = crc32(0, footer, f - footer);
-	file_crc = get_be32(f);
+	file_crc = reftable_get_be32(f);
 	f += 4;
 	if (computed_crc != file_crc) {
 		err = REFTABLE_FORMAT_ERROR;
@@ -214,7 +214,7 @@ static int32_t extract_block_size(uint8_t *data, uint8_t *typ, uint64_t off,
 
 	*typ = data[0];
 	if (reftable_is_block_type(*typ)) {
-		result = get_be24(data + 1);
+		result = reftable_get_be24(data + 1);
 	}
 	return result;
 }
diff --git a/reftable/record.c b/reftable/record.c
index b39d99fcc75..3552bafa994 100644
--- a/reftable/record.c
+++ b/reftable/record.c
@@ -689,7 +689,7 @@ static int reftable_log_record_key(const void *r, struct reftable_buf *dest)
 		return err;
 
 	ts = (~ts) - rec->update_index;
-	put_be64(&i64[0], ts);
+	reftable_put_be64(&i64[0], ts);
 
 	err = reftable_buf_add(dest, i64, sizeof(i64));
 	if (err < 0)
@@ -814,7 +814,7 @@ static int reftable_log_record_encode(const void *rec, struct string_view s,
 	if (s.len < 2)
 		return -1;
 
-	put_be16(s.buf, r->value.update.tz_offset);
+	reftable_put_be16(s.buf, r->value.update.tz_offset);
 	string_view_consume(&s, 2);
 
 	n = encode_string(
@@ -846,7 +846,7 @@ static int reftable_log_record_decode(void *rec, struct reftable_buf key,
 	}
 
 	memcpy(r->refname, key.buf, key.len - 8);
-	ts = get_be64(key.buf + key.len - 8);
+	ts = reftable_get_be64((unsigned char *)key.buf + key.len - 8);
 
 	r->update_index = (~max) - ts;
 
@@ -937,7 +937,7 @@ static int reftable_log_record_decode(void *rec, struct reftable_buf key,
 		goto done;
 	}
 
-	r->value.update.tz_offset = get_be16(in.buf);
+	r->value.update.tz_offset = reftable_get_be16(in.buf);
 	string_view_consume(&in, 2);
 
 	n = decode_string(scratch, in);
diff --git a/reftable/writer.c b/reftable/writer.c
index 239573ade24..913b971b591 100644
--- a/reftable/writer.c
+++ b/reftable/writer.c
@@ -99,9 +99,9 @@ static int writer_write_header(struct reftable_writer *w, uint8_t *dest)
 
 	dest[4] = writer_version(w);
 
-	put_be24(dest + 5, w->opts.block_size);
-	put_be64(dest + 8, w->min_update_index);
-	put_be64(dest + 16, w->max_update_index);
+	reftable_put_be24(dest + 5, w->opts.block_size);
+	reftable_put_be64(dest + 8, w->min_update_index);
+	reftable_put_be64(dest + 16, w->max_update_index);
 	if (writer_version(w) == 2) {
 		uint32_t hash_id;
 
@@ -116,7 +116,7 @@ static int writer_write_header(struct reftable_writer *w, uint8_t *dest)
 			return -1;
 		}
 
-		put_be32(dest + 24, hash_id);
+		reftable_put_be32(dest + 24, hash_id);
 	}
 
 	return header_size(writer_version(w));
@@ -730,19 +730,19 @@ int reftable_writer_close(struct reftable_writer *w)
 	}
 
 	p += writer_write_header(w, footer);
-	put_be64(p, w->stats.ref_stats.index_offset);
+	reftable_put_be64(p, w->stats.ref_stats.index_offset);
 	p += 8;
-	put_be64(p, (w->stats.obj_stats.offset) << 5 | w->stats.object_id_len);
+	reftable_put_be64(p, (w->stats.obj_stats.offset) << 5 | w->stats.object_id_len);
 	p += 8;
-	put_be64(p, w->stats.obj_stats.index_offset);
+	reftable_put_be64(p, w->stats.obj_stats.index_offset);
 	p += 8;
 
-	put_be64(p, w->stats.log_stats.offset);
+	reftable_put_be64(p, w->stats.log_stats.offset);
 	p += 8;
-	put_be64(p, w->stats.log_stats.index_offset);
+	reftable_put_be64(p, w->stats.log_stats.index_offset);
 	p += 8;
 
-	put_be32(p, crc32(0, footer, p - footer));
+	reftable_put_be32(p, crc32(0, footer, p - footer));
 	p += 4;
 
 	err = w->flush(w->write_arg);
diff --git a/t/unit-tests/t-reftable-basics.c b/t/unit-tests/t-reftable-basics.c
index 9ba7eb05ada..c9e751e49e9 100644
--- a/t/unit-tests/t-reftable-basics.c
+++ b/t/unit-tests/t-reftable-basics.c
@@ -128,12 +128,30 @@ int cmd_main(int argc UNUSED, const char *argv[] UNUSED)
 		reftable_buf_release(&b);
 	}
 
-	if_test ("put_be24 and get_be24 work") {
+	if_test ("reftable_put_be64 and reftable_get_be64 work") {
+		uint64_t in = 0x1122334455667788;
+		uint8_t dest[8];
+		uint64_t out;
+		reftable_put_be64(dest, in);
+		out = reftable_get_be64(dest);
+		check_int(in, ==, out);
+	}
+
+	if_test ("reftable_put_be32 and reftable_get_be32 work") {
+		uint32_t in = 0x11223344;
+		uint8_t dest[4];
+		uint32_t out;
+		reftable_put_be32(dest, in);
+		out = reftable_get_be32(dest);
+		check_int(in, ==, out);
+	}
+
+	if_test ("reftable_put_be24 and reftable_get_be24 work") {
 		uint32_t in = 0x112233;
 		uint8_t dest[3];
 		uint32_t out;
-		put_be24(dest, in);
-		out = get_be24(dest);
+		reftable_put_be24(dest, in);
+		out = reftable_get_be24(dest);
 		check_int(in, ==, out);
 	}
 
@@ -141,8 +159,8 @@ int cmd_main(int argc UNUSED, const char *argv[] UNUSED)
 		uint32_t in = 0xfef1;
 		uint8_t dest[3];
 		uint32_t out;
-		put_be16(dest, in);
-		out = get_be16(dest);
+		reftable_put_be16(dest, in);
+		out = reftable_get_be16(dest);
 		check_int(in, ==, out);
 	}
 
