diff --git a/reftable/basics.h b/reftable/basics.h
index 96a2f0d3829..d8888c12629 100644
--- a/reftable/basics.h
+++ b/reftable/basics.h
@@ -18,13 +18,6 @@
 
 #define REFTABLE_UNUSED __attribute__((__unused__))
 
-struct reftable_buf {
-	size_t alloc;
-	size_t len;
-	char *buf;
-};
-#define REFTABLE_BUF_INIT { 0 }
-
 /*
  * Initialize the buffer such that it is ready for use. This is equivalent to
  * using REFTABLE_BUF_INIT for stack-allocated variables.
diff --git a/reftable/block.h b/reftable/block.h
index 75bc10f63a3..4f7f29028c4 100644
--- a/reftable/block.h
+++ b/reftable/block.h
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@
 
 #include "basics.h"
 #include "record.h"
+#include "reftable-block.h"
 #include "reftable-blocksource.h"
 
 /*
@@ -62,53 +63,6 @@ int block_writer_finish(struct block_writer *w);
 /* clears out internally allocated block_writer members. */
 void block_writer_release(struct block_writer *bw);
 
-/*
- * A block part of a reftable. Contains records as well as some metadata
- * describing them.
- */
-struct reftable_block {
-	/* offset of the block header; nonzero for the first block in a
-	 * reftable. */
-	uint32_t header_off;
-
-	/* the memory block */
-	struct reftable_block_data block;
-	uint32_t hash_size;
-
-	/* Uncompressed data for log entries. */
-	struct z_stream_s *zstream;
-	unsigned char *uncompressed_data;
-	size_t uncompressed_cap;
-
-	/*
-	 * Restart point data. Restart points are located after the block's
-	 * record data.
-	 */
-	uint16_t restart_count;
-	uint32_t restart_off;
-
-	/* size of the data in the file. For log blocks, this is the compressed
-	 * size. */
-	uint32_t full_block_size;
-	uint8_t block_type;
-};
-
-/*
- * Initialize a reftable block from the given block source.
- */
-int reftable_block_init(struct reftable_block *b,
-			struct reftable_block_source *source,
-			uint32_t offset, uint32_t header_size,
-			uint32_t table_block_size, uint32_t hash_size);
-
-void reftable_block_release(struct reftable_block *b);
-
-/* Returns the block type (eg. 'r' for refs) */
-uint8_t reftable_block_type(const struct reftable_block *b);
-
-/* Decodes the first key in the block */
-int reftable_block_first_key(const struct reftable_block *b, struct reftable_buf *key);
-
 /* Iterate over entries in a block */
 struct block_iter {
 	/* offset within the block of the next entry to read. */
diff --git a/reftable/reftable-basics.h b/reftable/reftable-basics.h
index ed7c7c9ac2c..6d73f19c85b 100644
--- a/reftable/reftable-basics.h
+++ b/reftable/reftable-basics.h
@@ -11,6 +11,14 @@
 
 #include <stddef.h>
 
+/* A buffer that contains arbitrary byte slices. */
+struct reftable_buf {
+	size_t alloc;
+	size_t len;
+	char *buf;
+};
+#define REFTABLE_BUF_INIT { 0 }
+
 /*
  * Hash functions understood by the reftable library. Note that the values are
  * arbitrary and somewhat random such that we can easily detect cases where the
diff --git a/reftable/reftable-block.h b/reftable/reftable-block.h
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..ce1d9d3ce79
--- /dev/null
+++ b/reftable/reftable-block.h
@@ -0,0 +1,69 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2020 Google LLC
+ *
+ * Use of this source code is governed by a BSD-style
+ * license that can be found in the LICENSE file or at
+ * https://developers.google.com/open-source/licenses/bsd
+ */
+
+#ifndef REFTABLE_BLOCK_H
+#define REFTABLE_BLOCK_H
+
+#include <stdint.h>
+
+#include "reftable-basics.h"
+#include "reftable-blocksource.h"
+
+struct z_stream_s;
+
+/*
+ * A block part of a reftable. Contains records as well as some metadata
+ * describing them.
+ */
+struct reftable_block {
+	/*
+	 * Offset of the block header; nonzero for the first block in a
+	 * reftable.
+	 */
+	uint32_t header_off;
+
+	/* The memory block. */
+	struct reftable_block_data block;
+	uint32_t hash_size;
+
+	/* Uncompressed data for log entries. */
+	struct z_stream_s *zstream;
+	unsigned char *uncompressed_data;
+	size_t uncompressed_cap;
+
+	/*
+	 * Restart point data. Restart points are located after the block's
+	 * record data.
+	 */
+	uint16_t restart_count;
+	uint32_t restart_off;
+
+	/*
+	 * Size of the data in the file. For log blocks, this is the compressed
+	 * size.
+	 */
+	uint32_t full_block_size;
+	uint8_t block_type;
+};
+
+/* Initialize a reftable block from the given block source. */
+int reftable_block_init(struct reftable_block *b,
+			struct reftable_block_source *source,
+			uint32_t offset, uint32_t header_size,
+			uint32_t table_block_size, uint32_t hash_size);
+
+/* Release resources allocated by the block. */
+void reftable_block_release(struct reftable_block *b);
+
+/* Returns the block type (eg. 'r' for refs). */
+uint8_t reftable_block_type(const struct reftable_block *b);
+
+/* Decodes the first key in the block. */
+int reftable_block_first_key(const struct reftable_block *b, struct reftable_buf *key);
+
+#endif /* REFTABLE_BLOCK_H */
