diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index f0c854ec..84864de7 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -2656,6 +2656,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "async-recursion",
  "axum",
  "axum-extra",
+ "base64 0.22.1",
  "chrono",
  "dataloader",
  "deadpool",
diff --git a/lexica/src/com_atproto/label.rs b/lexica/src/com_atproto/label.rs
index 9f5fbf3b..ef97033e 100644
--- a/lexica/src/com_atproto/label.rs
+++ b/lexica/src/com_atproto/label.rs
@@ -145,5 +145,5 @@ pub struct Label {
     #[serde(skip_serializing_if = "Option::is_none")]
     pub exp: Option<NaiveDateTime>,
     #[serde(skip_serializing_if = "Option::is_none")]
-    pub sig: Option<Vec<u8>>,
+    pub sig: Option<crate::JsonBytes>,
 }
diff --git a/lexica/src/lib.rs b/lexica/src/lib.rs
index 16f69b66..5242c85a 100644
--- a/lexica/src/lib.rs
+++ b/lexica/src/lib.rs
@@ -1,2 +1,10 @@
+use serde::Serialize;
+
 pub mod app_bsky;
 pub mod com_atproto;
+
+#[derive(Clone, Debug, Serialize)]
+pub struct JsonBytes {
+    #[serde(rename = "$bytes")]
+    pub bytes: String,
+}
diff --git a/parakeet/Cargo.toml b/parakeet/Cargo.toml
index f61ae6ea..035fcc9f 100644
--- a/parakeet/Cargo.toml
+++ b/parakeet/Cargo.toml
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ edition = "2021"
 async-recursion = "1.1.1"
 axum = { version = "0.8", features = ["json"] }
 axum-extra = { version = "0.10.0", features = ["query", "typed-header"] }
+base64 = "0.22"
 chrono = { version = "0.4.39", features = ["serde"] }
 dataloader = { path = "../dataloader-rs", default-features = false, features = ["runtime-tokio"] }
 deadpool = { version = "0.12.1", features = ["managed"] }
diff --git a/parakeet/src/hydration/mod.rs b/parakeet/src/hydration/mod.rs
index e2f8f641..d37afd86 100644
--- a/parakeet/src/hydration/mod.rs
+++ b/parakeet/src/hydration/mod.rs
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 use crate::loaders::Dataloaders;
 use crate::xrpc::cdn::BskyCdn;
 use crate::xrpc::extract::LabelConfigItem;
+use base64::{prelude::BASE64_STANDARD, Engine};
 use std::collections::HashMap;
 use std::sync::Arc;
 
@@ -17,6 +18,10 @@ pub mod starter_packs;
 pub use profile::*;
 
 fn db_to_atp_label(input: parakeet_db::models::Label) -> lexica::com_atproto::label::Label {
+    let sig = input.sig.map(|sig| lexica::JsonBytes {
+        bytes: BASE64_STANDARD.encode(&sig),
+    });
+
     lexica::com_atproto::label::Label {
         ver: 1,
         src: input.labeler,
@@ -25,7 +30,7 @@ fn db_to_atp_label(input: parakeet_db::models::Label) -> lexica::com_atproto::la
         val: input.label,
         cts: input.created_at,
         exp: input.expires,
-        sig: input.sig,
+        sig,
     }
 }