diff --git a/plugins/state_history_plugin/include/eosio/state_history_plugin/state_history_serialization.hpp b/plugins/state_history_plugin/include/eosio/state_history_plugin/state_history_serialization.hpp
index 07b241aeec6..6685eadadd5 100644
--- a/plugins/state_history_plugin/include/eosio/state_history_plugin/state_history_serialization.hpp
+++ b/plugins/state_history_plugin/include/eosio/state_history_plugin/state_history_serialization.hpp
@@ -89,10 +89,19 @@ datastream<ST>& operator<<(datastream<ST>& ds, const history_serial_big_vector_w
    return ds;
 }
 
+template <typename ST>
+inline void history_pack_varuint64(datastream<ST>& ds, uint64_t val) {
+   do {
+      uint8_t b = uint8_t(val) & 0x7f;
+      val >>= 7;
+      b |= ((val > 0) << 7);
+      ds.write((char*)&b, 1);
+   } while (val);
+}
+
 template <typename ST>
 void history_pack_big_bytes(datastream<ST>& ds, const eosio::chain::bytes& v) {
-   FC_ASSERT(v.size() <= 1024 * 1024 * 1024);
-   fc::raw::pack(ds, unsigned_int((uint32_t)v.size()));
+   history_pack_varuint64(ds, v.size());
    if (v.size())
       ds.write(&v.front(), (uint32_t)v.size());
 }
diff --git a/plugins/state_history_plugin/state_history_plugin.cpp b/plugins/state_history_plugin/state_history_plugin.cpp
index 0d6d33fb34a..27ace9718d3 100644
--- a/plugins/state_history_plugin/state_history_plugin.cpp
+++ b/plugins/state_history_plugin/state_history_plugin.cpp
@@ -53,6 +53,16 @@ static bytes zlib_compress_bytes(bytes in) {
    return out;
 }
 
+static bytes zlib_decompress(const bytes& in) {
+   bytes                  out;
+   bio::filtering_ostream decomp;
+   decomp.push(bio::zlib_decompressor());
+   decomp.push(bio::back_inserter(out));
+   bio::write(decomp, in.data(), in.size());
+   bio::close(decomp);
+   return out;
+}
+
 template <typename T>
 bool include_delta(const T& old, const T& curr) {
    return true;
@@ -126,10 +136,10 @@ struct state_history_plugin_impl : std::enable_shared_from_this<state_history_pl
       auto&                    stream = log.get_entry(block_num, header);
       uint32_t                 s;
       stream.read((char*)&s, sizeof(s));
-      result.emplace();
-      result->resize(s);
+      bytes compressed(s);
       if (s)
-         stream.read(result->data(), s);
+         stream.read(compressed.data(), s);
+      result = zlib_decompress(compressed);
    }
 
    void get_block(uint32_t block_num, fc::optional<bytes>& result) {
@@ -139,7 +149,8 @@ struct state_history_plugin_impl : std::enable_shared_from_this<state_history_pl
       } catch (...) {
          return;
       }
-      result = fc::raw::pack(*p);
+      if (p)
+         result = fc::raw::pack(*p);
    }
 
    fc::optional<chain::block_id_type> get_block_id(uint32_t block_num) {