diff --git a/daemon/helpers.c b/daemon/helpers.c
index 7e640967a..b77835f53 100644
--- a/daemon/helpers.c
+++ b/daemon/helpers.c
@@ -254,7 +254,7 @@ static void *thread_detach_func(void *d) {
 					dt->priority, strerror(errno));
 	}
 
-	media_bufferpool = bufferpool_new(g_malloc, g_free, 64 * 65536);
+	media_bufferpool = bufferpool_new(bufferpool_aligned_alloc, bufferpool_aligned_free, 64 * 65536);
 #ifdef HAVE_LIBURING
 	if (rtpe_config.common.io_uring)
 		uring_thread_init();
diff --git a/daemon/main.c b/daemon/main.c
index 528055dd5..3cc0ba518 100644
--- a/daemon/main.c
+++ b/daemon/main.c
@@ -1458,7 +1458,7 @@ static void early_init(void) {
 
 #ifdef WITH_TRANSCODING
 static void clib_init(void) {
-	media_bufferpool = bufferpool_new(g_malloc, g_free, 64 * 65536);
+	media_bufferpool = bufferpool_new(bufferpool_aligned_alloc, bufferpool_aligned_free, 64 * 65536);
 #ifdef HAVE_LIBURING
 	if (rtpe_config.common.io_uring)
 		uring_thread_init();
@@ -1506,7 +1506,7 @@ static void kernel_setup(void) {
 	return;
 
 fallback:
-	shm_bufferpool = bufferpool_new(g_malloc, g_free, 4096); // fallback userspace bufferpool
+	shm_bufferpool = bufferpool_new(bufferpool_aligned_alloc, bufferpool_aligned_free, 4096); // fallback userspace bufferpool
 }
 
 
diff --git a/lib/bufferpool.c b/lib/bufferpool.c
index baa8a1076..08e0cfbaa 100644
--- a/lib/bufferpool.c
+++ b/lib/bufferpool.c
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ struct bufferpool {
 	void (*dealloc)(void *);
 	void (*dealloc2)(void *, size_t);
 	size_t shard_size;
+	size_t address_mask;
 	mutex_t lock;
 	GQueue empty_shards;
 	GQueue full_shards;
@@ -36,6 +37,8 @@ static struct bufferpool *bufferpool_new_common(void *(*alloc)(size_t), size_t s
 	struct bufferpool *ret = g_new0(__typeof(*ret), 1);
 	ret->alloc = alloc;
 	ret->shard_size = shard_size;
+	ret->address_mask = shard_size - 1;
+	assert((ret->address_mask & shard_size) == 0); // must be a power of two
 	mutex_init(&ret->lock);
 	g_queue_init(&ret->empty_shards);
 	g_queue_init(&ret->full_shards);
@@ -103,6 +106,8 @@ static struct bpool_shard *bufferpool_new_shard(struct bufferpool *bp) {
 	if (!buf)
 		return NULL;
 
+	assert(((size_t) buf & bp->address_mask) == 0);
+
 	struct bpool_shard *ret = g_new0(__typeof(*ret), 1);
 	ret->bp = bp;
 	ret->buf = buf;
@@ -316,3 +321,13 @@ void bufferpool_cleanup(void) {
 	assert(bpool_shards->len == 0);
 	g_ptr_array_free(bpool_shards, true);
 }
+
+void *bufferpool_aligned_alloc(size_t len) {
+	void *m = aligned_alloc(len, len);
+	assert(m != NULL);
+	return m;
+}
+
+void bufferpool_aligned_free(void *p) {
+	free(p);
+}
diff --git a/lib/bufferpool.h b/lib/bufferpool.h
index c28615bf6..aef2e87e4 100644
--- a/lib/bufferpool.h
+++ b/lib/bufferpool.h
@@ -27,6 +27,9 @@ INLINE void *bufferpool_alloc0(struct bufferpool *bp, size_t len) {
 	return ret;
 }
 
+void *bufferpool_aligned_alloc(size_t);
+void bufferpool_aligned_free(void *);
+
 typedef char bp_char;
 G_DEFINE_AUTOPTR_CLEANUP_FUNC(bp_char, bufferpool_unref);
 typedef char bp_void;
diff --git a/t/test-stats.c b/t/test-stats.c
index d739c58d7..f5778369d 100644
--- a/t/test-stats.c
+++ b/t/test-stats.c
@@ -68,7 +68,7 @@ static void __assert_metrics_eq(stats_metric_q *q, const char *b, unsigned int l
 int main(void) {
 	rtpe_common_config_ptr = &rtpe_config.common;
 	bufferpool_init();
-	shm_bufferpool = bufferpool_new(g_malloc, g_free, 4096);
+	shm_bufferpool = bufferpool_new(bufferpool_aligned_alloc, bufferpool_aligned_free, 4096);
 
 	endpoint_parse_any(&rtpe_config.graphite_ep, "1.2.3.4:4567");
 
diff --git a/t/test-transcode.c b/t/test-transcode.c
index aa83ebced..11876828a 100644
--- a/t/test-transcode.c
+++ b/t/test-transcode.c
@@ -418,8 +418,8 @@ static void dtmf(const char *s) {
 int main(void) {
 	rtpe_common_config_ptr = &rtpe_config.common;
 	bufferpool_init();
-	media_bufferpool = bufferpool_new(g_malloc, g_free, 4096);
-	shm_bufferpool = bufferpool_new(g_malloc, g_free, 4096);
+	media_bufferpool = bufferpool_new(bufferpool_aligned_alloc, bufferpool_aligned_free, 4096);
+	shm_bufferpool = bufferpool_new(bufferpool_aligned_alloc, bufferpool_aligned_free, 4096);
 
 	unsigned long random_seed = 0;