diff --git a/serialization/indexedstring.h b/serialization/indexedstring.h
--- a/serialization/indexedstring.h
+++ b/serialization/indexedstring.h
@@ -159,7 +159,14 @@
   QString str() const;
 
   /**
-   * Convenience function, avoid using it, it's relatively expensive (less expensive then str() though)
+   * Convenience function, cheap
+   *
+   * @note The bytes are *not* copied. The caller guarantees that this IndexedString is not deleted/modified as long as
+   * the returned QByteArray or any copies of it exist that have not been modified.
+   *
+   * @return Returns a QByteArray representing the underlying c string
+   *
+   * @sa QByteArray::fromRawData()
    */
   QByteArray byteArray() const;
 
diff --git a/serialization/indexedstring.cpp b/serialization/indexedstring.cpp
--- a/serialization/indexedstring.cpp
+++ b/serialization/indexedstring.cpp
@@ -103,7 +103,7 @@
 
 inline QByteArray arrayFromItem(const IndexedStringData* item) {
   const unsigned short* textPos = (unsigned short*)(item+1);
-  return QByteArray((char*)textPos, item->length);
+  return QByteArray::fromRawData((char*)textPos, item->length);
 }
 
 inline const char* c_strFromItem(const IndexedStringData* item) {