diff --git a/.changeset/long-geese-suffer.md b/.changeset/long-geese-suffer.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..4d3396ff9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/long-geese-suffer.md
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+---
+'@livekit/components-core': patch
+'@livekit/components-react': patch
+---
+
+Expose custom message encoder/decoder from video conference
diff --git a/packages/core/etc/components-core.api.md b/packages/core/etc/components-core.api.md
index 12e1ab644..aa1c18579 100644
--- a/packages/core/etc/components-core.api.md
+++ b/packages/core/etc/components-core.api.md
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ import { Observable } from 'rxjs';
 import type { Participant } from 'livekit-client';
 import { ParticipantEvent } from 'livekit-client';
 import type { ParticipantEventCallbacks } from 'livekit-client/dist/src/room/participant/Participant';
-import { ParticipantPermission } from 'livekit-client/dist/src/proto/livekit_models';
+import { ParticipantPermission } from 'livekit-client/dist/src/proto/livekit_models_pb';
 import { RemoteParticipant } from 'livekit-client';
 import { Room } from 'livekit-client';
 import { RoomEvent } from 'livekit-client';
@@ -347,7 +347,10 @@ export type SetMediaDeviceOptions = {
 };
 
 // @public (undocumented)
-export function setupChat(room: Room): {
+export function setupChat(room: Room, options?: {
+    messageEncoder?: (message: ChatMessage) => Uint8Array;
+    messageDecoder?: (message: Uint8Array) => ReceivedChatMessage;
+}): {
     messageObservable: Observable<ReceivedChatMessage[]>;
     isSendingObservable: BehaviorSubject<boolean>;
     send: (message: string) => Promise<void>;
diff --git a/packages/core/src/components/chat.ts b/packages/core/src/components/chat.ts
index bb4b7c0d5..5063ee1a9 100644
--- a/packages/core/src/components/chat.ts
+++ b/packages/core/src/components/chat.ts
@@ -16,7 +16,18 @@ export interface ReceivedChatMessage extends ChatMessage {
 const encoder = new TextEncoder();
 const decoder = new TextDecoder();
 
-export function setupChat(room: Room) {
+const encode = (message: ChatMessage) =>
+  encoder.encode(JSON.stringify({ message: message.message, timestamp: message.timestamp }));
+
+const decode = (message: Uint8Array) => JSON.parse(decoder.decode(message)) as ReceivedChatMessage;
+
+export function setupChat(
+  room: Room,
+  options?: {
+    messageEncoder?: (message: ChatMessage) => Uint8Array;
+    messageDecoder?: (message: Uint8Array) => ReceivedChatMessage;
+  },
+) {
   const onDestroyObservable = new Subject<void>();
   const messageSubject = new Subject<{
     payload: Uint8Array;
@@ -28,10 +39,14 @@ export function setupChat(room: Room) {
   const { messageObservable } = setupDataMessageHandler(room, DataTopic.CHAT);
   messageObservable.pipe(takeUntil(onDestroyObservable)).subscribe(messageSubject);
 
+  const { messageDecoder, messageEncoder } = options ?? {};
+
+  const finalMessageDecoder = messageDecoder ?? decode;
+
   /** Build up the message array over time. */
   const messagesObservable = messageSubject.pipe(
     map((msg) => {
-      const parsedMessage = JSON.parse(decoder.decode(msg.payload)) as ChatMessage;
+      const parsedMessage = finalMessageDecoder(msg.payload);
       const newMessage: ReceivedChatMessage = { ...parsedMessage, from: msg.from };
       return newMessage;
     }),
@@ -41,9 +56,11 @@ export function setupChat(room: Room) {
 
   const isSending$ = new BehaviorSubject<boolean>(false);
 
+  const finalMessageEncoder = messageEncoder ?? encode;
+
   const send = async (message: string) => {
     const timestamp = Date.now();
-    const encodedMsg = encoder.encode(JSON.stringify({ timestamp, message }));
+    const encodedMsg = finalMessageEncoder({ message, timestamp });
     isSending$.next(true);
     try {
       await sendMessage(room.localParticipant, encodedMsg, DataTopic.CHAT, {
diff --git a/packages/react/etc/components-react.api.md b/packages/react/etc/components-react.api.md
index e2b2504a3..7d153acc4 100644
--- a/packages/react/etc/components-react.api.md
+++ b/packages/react/etc/components-react.api.md
@@ -101,7 +101,7 @@ export interface CarouselViewProps extends React_2.HTMLAttributes<HTMLMediaEleme
 }
 
 // @public
-export function Chat({ messageFormatter, ...props }: ChatProps): React_2.JSX.Element;
+export function Chat({ messageFormatter, messageDecoder, messageEncoder, ...props }: ChatProps): React_2.JSX.Element;
 
 // @public
 export function ChatEntry({ entry, hideName, hideTimestamp, messageFormatter, ...props }: ChatEntryProps): React_2.JSX.Element;
@@ -118,6 +118,10 @@ export { ChatMessage }
 
 // @public (undocumented)
 export interface ChatProps extends React_2.HTMLAttributes<HTMLDivElement> {
+    // (undocumented)
+    messageDecoder?: MessageDecoder;
+    // (undocumented)
+    messageEncoder?: MessageEncoder;
     // (undocumented)
     messageFormatter?: MessageFormatter;
 }
@@ -336,6 +340,12 @@ export interface MediaDeviceSelectProps extends React_2.HTMLAttributes<HTMLUList
     track?: LocalAudioTrack | LocalVideoTrack;
 }
 
+// @public (undocumented)
+export type MessageDecoder = (message: Uint8Array) => ReceivedChatMessage;
+
+// @public (undocumented)
+export type MessageEncoder = (message: ChatMessage) => Uint8Array;
+
 // @public (undocumented)
 export type MessageFormatter = (message: string) => React_2.ReactNode;
 
@@ -476,7 +486,10 @@ export function useAudioPlayback(room?: Room): {
 };
 
 // @public (undocumented)
-export function useChat(): {
+export function useChat(options?: {
+    messageEncoder?: MessageEncoder;
+    messageDecoder?: MessageDecoder;
+}): {
     send: ((message: string) => Promise<void>) | undefined;
     chatMessages: ReceivedChatMessage[];
     isSending: boolean;
@@ -902,10 +915,14 @@ export interface UseVisualStableUpdateOptions {
 }
 
 // @public
-export function VideoConference({ chatMessageFormatter, ...props }: VideoConferenceProps): React_2.JSX.Element;
+export function VideoConference({ chatMessageFormatter, chatMessageDecoder, chatMessageEncoder, ...props }: VideoConferenceProps): React_2.JSX.Element;
 
 // @public (undocumented)
 export interface VideoConferenceProps extends React_2.HTMLAttributes<HTMLDivElement> {
+    // (undocumented)
+    chatMessageDecoder?: MessageDecoder;
+    // (undocumented)
+    chatMessageEncoder?: MessageEncoder;
     // (undocumented)
     chatMessageFormatter?: MessageFormatter;
 }
diff --git a/packages/react/src/components/ChatEntry.tsx b/packages/react/src/components/ChatEntry.tsx
index 16b4f2e47..c1103e5a2 100644
--- a/packages/react/src/components/ChatEntry.tsx
+++ b/packages/react/src/components/ChatEntry.tsx
@@ -1,10 +1,15 @@
-import type { ReceivedChatMessage } from '@livekit/components-core';
+import type { ReceivedChatMessage, ChatMessage } from '@livekit/components-core';
 import { tokenize, createDefaultGrammar } from '@livekit/components-core';
 import * as React from 'react';
 
 /** @public */
 export type MessageFormatter = (message: string) => React.ReactNode;
 
+/** @public */
+export type MessageEncoder = (message: ChatMessage) => Uint8Array;
+/** @public */
+export type MessageDecoder = (message: Uint8Array) => ReceivedChatMessage;
+
 /**
  * ChatEntry composes the HTML div element under the hood, so you can pass all its props.
  * These are the props specific to the ChatEntry component:
diff --git a/packages/react/src/prefabs/Chat.tsx b/packages/react/src/prefabs/Chat.tsx
index 1154e5f27..b2ca5f5e7 100644
--- a/packages/react/src/prefabs/Chat.tsx
+++ b/packages/react/src/prefabs/Chat.tsx
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ import * as React from 'react';
 import { useMaybeLayoutContext, useRoomContext } from '../context';
 import { useObservableState } from '../hooks/internal/useObservableState';
 import { cloneSingleChild } from '../utils';
-import type { MessageFormatter } from '../components/ChatEntry';
+import type { MessageDecoder, MessageEncoder, MessageFormatter } from '../components/ChatEntry';
 import { ChatEntry } from '../components/ChatEntry';
 
 export type { ChatMessage, ReceivedChatMessage };
@@ -12,20 +12,25 @@ export type { ChatMessage, ReceivedChatMessage };
 /** @public */
 export interface ChatProps extends React.HTMLAttributes<HTMLDivElement> {
   messageFormatter?: MessageFormatter;
+  messageEncoder?: MessageEncoder;
+  messageDecoder?: MessageDecoder;
 }
 
 /** @public */
-export function useChat() {
+export function useChat(options?: {
+  messageEncoder?: MessageEncoder;
+  messageDecoder?: MessageDecoder;
+}) {
   const room = useRoomContext();
   const [setup, setSetup] = React.useState<ReturnType<typeof setupChat>>();
   const isSending = useObservableState(setup?.isSendingObservable, false);
   const chatMessages = useObservableState(setup?.messageObservable, []);
 
   React.useEffect(() => {
-    const setupChatReturn = setupChat(room);
+    const setupChatReturn = setupChat(room, options);
     setSetup(setupChatReturn);
     return setupChatReturn.destroy;
-  }, [room]);
+  }, [room, options]);
 
   return { send: setup?.send, chatMessages, isSending };
 }
@@ -42,10 +47,16 @@ export function useChat() {
  * ```
  * @public
  */
-export function Chat({ messageFormatter, ...props }: ChatProps) {
+export function Chat({ messageFormatter, messageDecoder, messageEncoder, ...props }: ChatProps) {
   const inputRef = React.useRef<HTMLInputElement>(null);
   const ulRef = React.useRef<HTMLUListElement>(null);
-  const { send, chatMessages, isSending } = useChat();
+
+  const chatOptions = React.useMemo(() => {
+    return { messageDecoder, messageEncoder };
+  }, [messageDecoder, messageEncoder]);
+
+  const { send, chatMessages, isSending } = useChat(chatOptions);
+
   const layoutContext = useMaybeLayoutContext();
   const lastReadMsgAt = React.useRef<ChatMessage['timestamp']>(0);
 
diff --git a/packages/react/src/prefabs/VideoConference.tsx b/packages/react/src/prefabs/VideoConference.tsx
index c48527c9b..144fced7a 100644
--- a/packages/react/src/prefabs/VideoConference.tsx
+++ b/packages/react/src/prefabs/VideoConference.tsx
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ import type { WidgetState } from '@livekit/components-core';
 import { isEqualTrackRef, isTrackReference, log, isWeb } from '@livekit/components-core';
 import { Chat } from './Chat';
 import { ConnectionStateToast } from '../components/Toast';
-import type { MessageFormatter } from '../components/ChatEntry';
+import type { MessageDecoder, MessageEncoder, MessageFormatter } from '../components/ChatEntry';
 import { RoomEvent, Track } from 'livekit-client';
 import { useTracks } from '../hooks/useTracks';
 import { usePinnedTracks } from '../hooks/usePinnedTracks';
@@ -22,6 +22,8 @@ import type { TrackReferenceOrPlaceholder } from '@livekit/components-core';
  */
 export interface VideoConferenceProps extends React.HTMLAttributes<HTMLDivElement> {
   chatMessageFormatter?: MessageFormatter;
+  chatMessageEncoder?: MessageEncoder;
+  chatMessageDecoder?: MessageDecoder;
 }
 
 /**
@@ -40,7 +42,12 @@ export interface VideoConferenceProps extends React.HTMLAttributes<HTMLDivElemen
  * ```
  * @public
  */
-export function VideoConference({ chatMessageFormatter, ...props }: VideoConferenceProps) {
+export function VideoConference({
+  chatMessageFormatter,
+  chatMessageDecoder,
+  chatMessageEncoder,
+  ...props
+}: VideoConferenceProps) {
   const [widgetState, setWidgetState] = React.useState<WidgetState>({
     showChat: false,
     unreadMessages: 0,
@@ -122,6 +129,8 @@ export function VideoConference({ chatMessageFormatter, ...props }: VideoConfere
           <Chat
             style={{ display: widgetState.showChat ? 'flex' : 'none' }}
             messageFormatter={chatMessageFormatter}
+            messageEncoder={chatMessageEncoder}
+            messageDecoder={chatMessageDecoder}
           />
         </LayoutContextProvider>
       )}