diff --git a/bwt.rs b/bwt.rs
index d8e4605..47071f3 100644
--- a/bwt.rs
+++ b/bwt.rs
@@ -167,7 +167,6 @@ pub fn encode_brute(input: &[u8], suf: &mut [Suffix], fn_out: |u8|) -> Suffix {
         }
     }
 
-    assert!( origin.is_some() );
     origin.unwrap()
 }
 
@@ -335,7 +334,7 @@ impl<R: Reader> Reader for Decoder<R> {
             self.header = true;
         }
         let mut amt = dst.len();
-        let len = amt;
+        let dst_len = amt;
 
         while amt > 0 {
             if self.output.len() == self.start {
@@ -344,19 +343,19 @@ impl<R: Reader> Reader for Decoder<R> {
                    break
                 }
             }
-            let n = num::min( amt, self.output.len() - self.start );
+            let n = num::min(amt, self.output.len() - self.start);
             vec::bytes::copy_memory(
-                dst.mut_slice_from(len - amt),
-                self.output.slice_from(self.start)
+                dst.mut_slice_from(dst_len - amt),
+                self.output.slice(self.start, self.start + n)
                 );
             self.start += n;
             amt -= n;
         }
 
-        if len == amt {
+        if dst_len == amt {
             Err(io::standard_error(io::EndOfFile))
         } else {
-            Ok(len - amt)
+            Ok(dst_len - amt)
         }
     }
 }
diff --git a/entropy/ari.rs b/entropy/ari.rs
index 74db340..851cde6 100644
--- a/entropy/ari.rs
+++ b/entropy/ari.rs
@@ -19,11 +19,11 @@ use compress::entropy::ari;
 let text = "some text";
 let mut e = ari::ByteEncoder::new(MemWriter::new());
 e.write_str(text);
-let (encoded, _) = e.encoder.finish();
+let (encoded, _) = e.finish();
 
 // Decode the encoded text
 let mut d = ari::ByteDecoder::new(MemReader::new(encoded.unwrap()));
-let decoded = d.read_bytes(text.len()).unwrap();
+let decoded = d.read_to_end().unwrap();
 ```
 
 # Credit
@@ -435,6 +435,7 @@ impl Model for FrequencyTable {
 
 
 /// A basic byte-encoding arithmetic
+/// uses a special terminator code to end the stream
 pub struct ByteEncoder<W> {
     /// A lower level encoder
     encoder: Encoder<W>,
@@ -448,9 +449,16 @@ impl<W: Writer> ByteEncoder<W> {
         let freq_max = range_default_threshold >> 2;
         ByteEncoder {
             encoder: Encoder::new(w),
-            freq: FrequencyTable::new_flat(symbol_total, freq_max),
+            freq: FrequencyTable::new_flat(symbol_total+1, freq_max),
         }
     }
+
+    /// Finish encoding & write the terminator symbol
+    pub fn finish(mut self) -> (W, io::IoResult<()>) {
+        let ret = self.encoder.encode(symbol_total, &self.freq);
+        let (w,r2) = self.encoder.finish();
+        (w, ret.and(r2))
+    }
 }
 
 impl<W: Writer> Writer for ByteEncoder<W> {
@@ -470,21 +478,24 @@ impl<W: Writer> Writer for ByteEncoder<W> {
 
 
 /// A basic byte-decoding arithmetic
+/// expects a special terminator code for the end of the stream
 pub struct ByteDecoder<R> {
     /// A lower level decoder
     decoder: Decoder<R>,
     /// A basic frequency table
     freq: FrequencyTable,
+    /// Remember if we found the terminator code
+    priv is_eof: bool,
 }
 
 impl<R: Reader> ByteDecoder<R> {
     /// Create a decoder on top of a given Reader
-    /// requires the output size to be known
     pub fn new(r: R) -> ByteDecoder<R> {
         let freq_max = range_default_threshold >> 2;
         ByteDecoder {
             decoder: Decoder::new(r),
-            freq: FrequencyTable::new_flat(symbol_total, freq_max),
+            freq: FrequencyTable::new_flat(symbol_total+1, freq_max),
+            is_eof: false,
         }
     }
 }
@@ -494,20 +505,21 @@ impl<R: Reader> Reader for ByteDecoder<R> {
         if self.decoder.tell() == 0 {
             if_ok!(self.decoder.start());
         }
-        let mut ret = Ok(dst.len());
+        if self.is_eof {
+            return Err(io::standard_error(io::EndOfFile))
+        }
+        let mut amount = 0u;
         for out_byte in dst.mut_iter() {
-            match self.decoder.decode(&self.freq) {
-                Ok(value) => {
-                    self.freq.update(value, 10, 1);
-                    *out_byte = value as u8;
-                },
-                Err(e) => {
-                    ret = Err(e);
-                    break
-                }
+            let value = if_ok!(self.decoder.decode(&self.freq));
+            if value == symbol_total {
+                self.is_eof = true;
+                break
             }
+            self.freq.update(value, 10, 1);
+            *out_byte = value as u8;
+            amount += 1;
         }
-        ret
+        Ok(amount)
     }
 }
 
@@ -523,12 +535,12 @@ mod test {
         info!("Roundtrip Ari of size {}", bytes.len());
         let mut e = ByteEncoder::new(MemWriter::new());
         e.write(bytes).unwrap();
-        let (e, r) = e.encoder.finish();
+        let (e, r) = e.finish();
         r.unwrap();
         let encoded = e.unwrap();
         debug!("Roundtrip input {:?} encoded {:?}", bytes, encoded);
         let mut d = ByteDecoder::new(BufReader::new(encoded));
-        let decoded = d.read_bytes(bytes.len()).unwrap();
+        let decoded = d.read_to_end().unwrap();
         assert_eq!(bytes.as_slice(), decoded.as_slice());
     }