diff --git a/axum/src/extract/path/de.rs b/axum/src/extract/path/de.rs
index 03ad2000..62236c6e 100644
--- a/axum/src/extract/path/de.rs
+++ b/axum/src/extract/path/de.rs
@@ -1,10 +1,10 @@
 use super::{ErrorKind, PathDeserializationError};
-use crate::util::{ByteStr, PercentDecodedByteStr};
+use crate::util::PercentDecodedStr;
 use serde::{
     de::{self, DeserializeSeed, EnumAccess, Error, MapAccess, SeqAccess, VariantAccess, Visitor},
     forward_to_deserialize_any, Deserializer,
 };
-use std::any::type_name;
+use std::{any::type_name, sync::Arc};
 
 macro_rules! unsupported_type {
     ($trait_fn:ident, $name:literal) => {
@@ -43,12 +43,12 @@ macro_rules! parse_single_value {
 }
 
 pub(crate) struct PathDeserializer<'de> {
-    url_params: &'de [(ByteStr, PercentDecodedByteStr)],
+    url_params: &'de [(Arc<str>, PercentDecodedStr)],
 }
 
 impl<'de> PathDeserializer<'de> {
     #[inline]
-    pub(crate) fn new(url_params: &'de [(ByteStr, PercentDecodedByteStr)]) -> Self {
+    pub(crate) fn new(url_params: &'de [(Arc<str>, PercentDecodedStr)]) -> Self {
         PathDeserializer { url_params }
     }
 }
@@ -210,7 +210,7 @@ impl<'de> Deserializer<'de> for PathDeserializer<'de> {
 }
 
 struct MapDeserializer<'de> {
-    params: &'de [(ByteStr, PercentDecodedByteStr)],
+    params: &'de [(Arc<str>, PercentDecodedStr)],
     key: Option<KeyOrIdx>,
     value: Option<&'de str>,
 }
@@ -293,7 +293,7 @@ macro_rules! parse_value {
                 if let Some(key) = self.key.take() {
                     let kind = match key {
                         KeyOrIdx::Key(key) => ErrorKind::ParseErrorAtKey {
-                            key: key.as_str().to_owned(),
+                            key: key.to_string(),
                             value: self.value.to_owned(),
                             expected_type: $ty,
                         },
@@ -514,7 +514,7 @@ impl<'de> VariantAccess<'de> for UnitVariant {
 }
 
 struct SeqDeserializer<'de> {
-    params: &'de [(ByteStr, PercentDecodedByteStr)],
+    params: &'de [(Arc<str>, PercentDecodedStr)],
     idx: usize,
 }
 
@@ -542,14 +542,13 @@ impl<'de> SeqAccess<'de> for SeqDeserializer<'de> {
 
 #[derive(Clone)]
 enum KeyOrIdx {
-    Key(ByteStr),
+    Key(Arc<str>),
     Idx(usize),
 }
 
 #[cfg(test)]
 mod tests {
     use super::*;
-    use crate::util::ByteStr;
     use serde::Deserialize;
     use std::collections::HashMap;
 
@@ -568,7 +567,7 @@ mod tests {
         a: i32,
     }
 
-    fn create_url_params<I, K, V>(values: I) -> Vec<(ByteStr, PercentDecodedByteStr)>
+    fn create_url_params<I, K, V>(values: I) -> Vec<(Arc<str>, PercentDecodedStr)>
     where
         I: IntoIterator<Item = (K, V)>,
         K: AsRef<str>,
@@ -576,7 +575,7 @@ mod tests {
     {
         values
             .into_iter()
-            .map(|(k, v)| (ByteStr::new(k), PercentDecodedByteStr::new(v).unwrap()))
+            .map(|(k, v)| (Arc::from(k.as_ref()), PercentDecodedStr::new(v).unwrap()))
             .collect()
     }
 
diff --git a/axum/src/extract/path/mod.rs b/axum/src/extract/path/mod.rs
index 5c0d331d..39fd3bb1 100644
--- a/axum/src/extract/path/mod.rs
+++ b/axum/src/extract/path/mod.rs
@@ -166,7 +166,7 @@ where
             Some(UrlParams::InvalidUtf8InPathParam { key }) => {
                 let err = PathDeserializationError {
                     kind: ErrorKind::InvalidUtf8InPathParam {
-                        key: key.as_str().to_owned(),
+                        key: key.to_string(),
                     },
                 };
                 let err = FailedToDeserializePathParams(err);
diff --git a/axum/src/routing/url_params.rs b/axum/src/routing/url_params.rs
index c24b08fc..c9f05bb6 100644
--- a/axum/src/routing/url_params.rs
+++ b/axum/src/routing/url_params.rs
@@ -1,10 +1,11 @@
-use crate::util::{ByteStr, PercentDecodedByteStr};
+use crate::util::PercentDecodedStr;
 use http::Extensions;
 use matchit::Params;
+use std::sync::Arc;
 
 pub(crate) enum UrlParams {
-    Params(Vec<(ByteStr, PercentDecodedByteStr)>),
-    InvalidUtf8InPathParam { key: ByteStr },
+    Params(Vec<(Arc<str>, PercentDecodedStr)>),
+    InvalidUtf8InPathParam { key: Arc<str> },
 }
 
 pub(super) fn insert_url_params(extensions: &mut Extensions, params: Params) {
@@ -19,10 +20,10 @@ pub(super) fn insert_url_params(extensions: &mut Extensions, params: Params) {
         .iter()
         .filter(|(key, _)| !key.starts_with(super::NEST_TAIL_PARAM))
         .map(|(k, v)| {
-            if let Some(decoded) = PercentDecodedByteStr::new(v) {
-                Ok((ByteStr::new(k), decoded))
+            if let Some(decoded) = PercentDecodedStr::new(v) {
+                Ok((Arc::from(k), decoded))
             } else {
-                Err(ByteStr::new(k))
+                Err(Arc::from(k))
             }
         })
         .collect::<Result<Vec<_>, _>>();
diff --git a/axum/src/util.rs b/axum/src/util.rs
index 9cb96c4a..b5805e07 100644
--- a/axum/src/util.rs
+++ b/axum/src/util.rs
@@ -1,46 +1,10 @@
-use crate::body::Bytes;
 use pin_project_lite::pin_project;
-use std::fmt;
-use std::ops::Deref;
-
-/// A string like type backed by `Bytes` making it cheap to clone.
-#[derive(Clone, Debug, PartialEq, Eq, Hash)]
-pub(crate) struct ByteStr(Bytes);
-
-impl Deref for ByteStr {
-    type Target = str;
-
-    #[inline]
-    fn deref(&self) -> &Self::Target {
-        self.as_str()
-    }
-}
-
-impl ByteStr {
-    pub(crate) fn new<S>(s: S) -> Self
-    where
-        S: AsRef<str>,
-    {
-        Self(Bytes::copy_from_slice(s.as_ref().as_bytes()))
-    }
-
-    pub(crate) fn as_str(&self) -> &str {
-        // `ByteStr` can only be constructed from strings which are always valid
-        // utf-8 so this wont panic.
-        std::str::from_utf8(&self.0).unwrap()
-    }
-}
-
-impl fmt::Display for ByteStr {
-    fn fmt(&self, f: &mut fmt::Formatter<'_>) -> fmt::Result {
-        write!(f, "{}", self.as_str())
-    }
-}
+use std::{ops::Deref, sync::Arc};
 
 #[derive(Clone, Debug, PartialEq, Eq, Hash)]
-pub(crate) struct PercentDecodedByteStr(ByteStr);
+pub(crate) struct PercentDecodedStr(Arc<str>);
 
-impl PercentDecodedByteStr {
+impl PercentDecodedStr {
     pub(crate) fn new<S>(s: S) -> Option<Self>
     where
         S: AsRef<str>,
@@ -48,15 +12,15 @@ impl PercentDecodedByteStr {
         percent_encoding::percent_decode(s.as_ref().as_bytes())
             .decode_utf8()
             .ok()
-            .map(|decoded| Self(ByteStr::new(decoded)))
+            .map(|decoded| Self(decoded.as_ref().into()))
     }
 
     pub(crate) fn as_str(&self) -> &str {
-        self.0.as_str()
+        &*self.0
     }
 }
 
-impl Deref for PercentDecodedByteStr {
+impl Deref for PercentDecodedStr {
     type Target = str;
 
     #[inline]