diff --git a/databases/backends/psycopg.py b/databases/backends/psycopg.py
index eb3cec16..527b2600 100644
--- a/databases/backends/psycopg.py
+++ b/databases/backends/psycopg.py
@@ -1,6 +1,5 @@
 import typing
 
-import orjson
 import psycopg
 import psycopg.adapt
 import psycopg.types
@@ -20,15 +19,33 @@
     TransactionBackend,
 )
 
+try:
+    import orjson
+
+    def load(data):
+        return orjson.loads(data)
+
+    def dump(data):
+        return orjson.dumps(data)
+
+except ImportError:
+    import json
+
+    def load(data):
+        return json.loads(data.decode("utf-8"))
+
+    def dump(data):
+        return json.dumps(data).encode("utf-8")
+
 
 class JsonLoader(psycopg.adapt.Loader):
     def load(self, data):
-        return orjson.loads(data)
+        return load(data)
 
 
 class JsonDumper(psycopg.adapt.Dumper):
     def dump(self, data):
-        return orjson.dumps(data)
+        return dump(data)
 
 
 class PsycopgBackend(DatabaseBackend):
diff --git a/databases/core.py b/databases/core.py
index cba06ced..32690fe6 100644
--- a/databases/core.py
+++ b/databases/core.py
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@ class Database:
         "postgresql+asyncpg": "databases.backends.asyncpg:AsyncpgBackend",
         "postgresql+psycopg": "databases.backends.psycopg:PsycopgBackend",
         "mysql": "databases.backends.mysql:MySQLBackend",
-        "mysql+aiomysql": "databases.backends.asyncmy:MySQLBackend",
+        "mysql+aiomysql": "databases.backends.mysql:MySQLBackend",
         "mysql+asyncmy": "databases.backends.asyncmy:AsyncMyBackend",
         "sqlite": "databases.backends.sqlite:SQLiteBackend",
         "sqlite+aiosqlite": "databases.backends.sqlite:SQLiteBackend",
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index 785c998b..450b1c63 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -1,5 +1,8 @@
 -e .
 
+# Speedups
+orjson==3.9.15
+
 # Async database drivers
 asyncmy==0.2.9
 aiomysql==0.2.0
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 4ad4fc5b..33b6f137 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -58,6 +58,7 @@ def get_packages(package):
         "psycopg3": ["psycopg", "psycopg-pool"],
         "sqlite": ["aiosqlite"],
         "aiosqlite": ["aiosqlite"],
+        "orjson": ["orjson"],
     },
     classifiers=[
         "Development Status :: 3 - Alpha",