diff --git a/js/widget.js b/js/widget.js
index 8be72e91..3a181efc 100644
--- a/js/widget.js
+++ b/js/widget.js
@@ -190,7 +190,7 @@ function render({ model, el }) {
     aladin.getOverlayImageLayer().setAlpha(model.get("overlay_survey_opacity"));
   });
 
-  model.on("msg:custom", (msg) => {
+  model.on("msg:custom", (msg, buffers) => {
     let options = {};
     switch (msg["event_name"]) {
       case "goto_ra_dec":
@@ -232,7 +232,7 @@ function render({ model, el }) {
         aladin.select();
         break;
       case "add_table":
-        let table_bytes = model.get("_table");
+        let table_bytes = buffers[0].buffer;
         let decoder = new TextDecoder("utf-8");
         let blob = new Blob([decoder.decode(table_bytes)]);
         let url = URL.createObjectURL(blob);
@@ -259,7 +259,6 @@ function render({ model, el }) {
     model.off("change:overlay_survey");
     model.off("change:overlay_survey_opacity");
     model.off("change:trigger_event");
-    model.off("change:_table");
     model.off("msg:custom");
 
     aladin.off("positionChanged");
diff --git a/src/ipyaladin/__init__.py b/src/ipyaladin/__init__.py
index 6c9fbe99..d589fd18 100644
--- a/src/ipyaladin/__init__.py
+++ b/src/ipyaladin/__init__.py
@@ -13,9 +13,7 @@
     List,
     Dict,
     Any,
-    Bytes,
     default,
-    Undefined,
 )
 
 from .coordinate_parser import parse_coordinate_string
@@ -87,9 +85,6 @@ class Aladin(anywidget.AnyWidget):
     overlay_survey = Unicode("").tag(sync=True, init_option=True)
     overlay_survey_opacity = Float(0.0).tag(sync=True, init_option=True)
 
-    # tables/catalogs
-    _table = Bytes(Undefined).tag(sync=True)
-
     init_options = List(trait=Any()).tag(sync=True)
 
     @default("init_options")
@@ -300,8 +295,10 @@ def add_table(self, table, **table_options):
 
         table_bytes = io.BytesIO()
         table.write(table_bytes, format="votable")
-        self._table = table_bytes.getvalue()
-        self.send({"event_name": "add_table", "options": table_options})
+        self.send(
+            {"event_name": "add_table", "options": table_options},
+            buffers=[table_bytes.getvalue()],
+        )
 
     def add_overlay_from_stcs(self, stc_string, **overlay_options):
         """Add an overlay layer defined by a STC-S string.