diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index 2b14e63ad5..7b23b0acf5 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -2594,6 +2594,8 @@ dependencies = [
  "nix 0.28.0",
  "pkg-config",
  "remain",
+ "serde",
+ "serde_json",
  "thiserror",
  "winapi",
  "zerocopy",
diff --git a/rutabaga_gfx/Cargo.toml b/rutabaga_gfx/Cargo.toml
index 78ae2bcb0c..944dfd361c 100644
--- a/rutabaga_gfx/Cargo.toml
+++ b/rutabaga_gfx/Cargo.toml
@@ -20,6 +20,8 @@ x = []
 cfg-if = "1.0.0"
 libc = "0.2.116"
 remain = "0.2"
+serde = { version = "1", features = ["derive"] }
+serde_json = "1"
 thiserror = "1.0.23"
 zerocopy = { version = "0.7", features = ["derive"] }
 
diff --git a/rutabaga_gfx/src/rutabaga_core.rs b/rutabaga_gfx/src/rutabaga_core.rs
index 2cf2b1f5da..ebe3aa84e7 100644
--- a/rutabaga_gfx/src/rutabaga_core.rs
+++ b/rutabaga_gfx/src/rutabaga_core.rs
@@ -416,7 +416,7 @@ impl Rutabaga {
                     .collect::<RutabagaResult<_>>()?,
             };
 
-            return snapshot.serialize_to(w).map_err(RutabagaError::IoError);
+            serde_json::to_writer(w, &snapshot).map_err(|e| RutabagaError::IoError(e.into()))
         } else {
             Err(RutabagaError::Unsupported)
         }
@@ -452,7 +452,8 @@ impl Rutabaga {
 
             component.restore(directory)
         } else if self.default_component == RutabagaComponentType::Rutabaga2D {
-            let snapshot = RutabagaSnapshot::deserialize_from(r).map_err(RutabagaError::IoError)?;
+            let snapshot: RutabagaSnapshot =
+                serde_json::from_reader(r).map_err(|e| RutabagaError::IoError(e.into()))?;
 
             self.resources = snapshot
                 .resources
diff --git a/rutabaga_gfx/src/rutabaga_snapshot.rs b/rutabaga_gfx/src/rutabaga_snapshot.rs
index 355ff44c6d..45f35d2636 100644
--- a/rutabaga_gfx/src/rutabaga_snapshot.rs
+++ b/rutabaga_gfx/src/rutabaga_snapshot.rs
@@ -3,71 +3,18 @@
 // found in the LICENSE file.
 
 use std::collections::BTreeMap;
-use std::io::Read;
-use std::io::Write;
 
-use zerocopy::AsBytes;
-use zerocopy::FromBytes;
+use serde::Deserialize;
+use serde::Serialize;
 
+#[derive(Serialize, Deserialize)]
 pub struct RutabagaSnapshot {
     pub resources: BTreeMap<u32, RutabagaResourceSnapshot>,
 }
 
+#[derive(Serialize, Deserialize)]
 pub struct RutabagaResourceSnapshot {
     pub resource_id: u32,
     pub width: u32,
     pub height: u32,
 }
-
-impl RutabagaSnapshot {
-    // To avoid adding a build dependency, we use a custom serialization format. It is an internal
-    // detail, doesn't need to support host migration (e.g. we don't need to care about endianess
-    // or integer sizes), and isn't expected to be stable across releases.
-    pub fn serialize_to(&self, w: &mut impl Write) -> std::io::Result<()> {
-        fn write(w: &mut impl Write, v: impl AsBytes) -> std::io::Result<()> {
-            w.write_all(v.as_bytes())
-        }
-
-        write(w, self.resources.len())?;
-        for (id, resource) in self.resources.iter() {
-            assert_eq!(*id, resource.resource_id);
-            write(w, resource.resource_id)?;
-            write(w, resource.width)?;
-            write(w, resource.height)?;
-        }
-
-        Ok(())
-    }
-
-    pub fn deserialize_from(r: &mut impl Read) -> std::io::Result<Self> {
-        fn read<T: AsBytes + FromBytes + Default>(r: &mut impl Read) -> std::io::Result<T> {
-            let mut v: T = Default::default();
-            r.read_exact(v.as_bytes_mut())?;
-            Ok(v)
-        }
-
-        let num_resources: usize = read::<usize>(r)?;
-        let mut resources = BTreeMap::new();
-        for _ in 0..num_resources {
-            let resource_id = read(r)?;
-            let width = read(r)?;
-            let height = read(r)?;
-            resources.insert(
-                resource_id,
-                RutabagaResourceSnapshot {
-                    resource_id,
-                    width,
-                    height,
-                },
-            );
-        }
-
-        // Verify we have consumed the all the input by checking for EOF.
-        let mut buf = [0u8];
-        if r.read(&mut buf)? != 0 {
-            return Err(std::io::ErrorKind::InvalidData.into());
-        }
-
-        Ok(RutabagaSnapshot { resources })
-    }
-}