diff --git a/examples/chat/src/main.rs b/examples/chat/src/main.rs
index 0a261873f35..8fcf252b83c 100644
--- a/examples/chat/src/main.rs
+++ b/examples/chat/src/main.rs
@@ -93,7 +93,7 @@ async fn main() -> Result<(), Box<dyn Error>> {
             Ok(Some(line)) = stdin.next_line() => {
                 if let Err(e) = swarm
                     .behaviour_mut().gossipsub
-                    .publish(topic.clone(), line.as_bytes()) {
+                    .publish(topic.clone(), line.as_bytes().to_vec()) {
                     println!("Publish error: {e:?}");
                 }
             }
diff --git a/examples/ipfs-private/src/main.rs b/examples/ipfs-private/src/main.rs
index 861648fecdd..87263fe7598 100644
--- a/examples/ipfs-private/src/main.rs
+++ b/examples/ipfs-private/src/main.rs
@@ -177,7 +177,7 @@ async fn main() -> Result<(), Box<dyn Error>> {
                 if let Err(e) = swarm
                     .behaviour_mut()
                     .gossipsub
-                    .publish(gossipsub_topic.clone(), line.as_bytes())
+                    .publish(gossipsub_topic.clone(), line.as_bytes().to_vec())
                 {
                     println!("Publish error: {e:?}");
                 }
diff --git a/protocols/gossipsub/CHANGELOG.md b/protocols/gossipsub/CHANGELOG.md
index b86ec4de6d4..354dd19a929 100644
--- a/protocols/gossipsub/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/protocols/gossipsub/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 ## 0.46.0 - unreleased
 
+- Convert `publish` to require `data: impl Into<Bytes>`.
 - Remove `fast_message_id_fn` mechanism from `Config`.
   See [PR 4285](https://github.com/libp2p/rust-libp2p/pull/4285).
 - Remove deprecated `gossipsub::Config::idle_timeout` in favor of `SwarmBuilder::idle_connection_timeout`.
diff --git a/protocols/gossipsub/src/behaviour.rs b/protocols/gossipsub/src/behaviour.rs
index 2a3a13ea6e7..993c3b74b2e 100644
--- a/protocols/gossipsub/src/behaviour.rs
+++ b/protocols/gossipsub/src/behaviour.rs
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@ use std::{
     time::Duration,
 };
 
+use bytes::Bytes;
 use futures::StreamExt;
 use futures_ticker::Ticker;
 use log::{debug, error, trace, warn};
@@ -605,9 +606,10 @@ where
     pub fn publish(
         &mut self,
         topic: impl Into<TopicHash>,
-        data: impl Into<Vec<u8>>,
+        data: impl Into<Bytes>,
     ) -> Result<MessageId, PublishError> {
-        let data = data.into();
+        let data = Bytes::from(data.into());
+        // Convert the input topic into TopicHash
         let topic = topic.into();
 
         // Transform the data before building a raw_message.
@@ -2734,7 +2736,7 @@ where
     pub(crate) fn build_raw_message(
         &mut self,
         topic: TopicHash,
-        data: Vec<u8>,
+        data: Bytes,
     ) -> Result<RawMessage, PublishError> {
         match &mut self.publish_config {
             PublishConfig::Signing {
@@ -2748,7 +2750,7 @@ where
                 let signature = {
                     let message = proto::Message {
                         from: Some(author.to_bytes()),
-                        data: Some(data.clone()),
+                        data: Some(data.to_vec()),
                         seqno: Some(sequence_number.to_be_bytes().to_vec()),
                         topic: topic.clone().into_string(),
                         signature: None,
@@ -3672,7 +3674,7 @@ mod local_test {
     fn test_message() -> RawMessage {
         RawMessage {
             source: Some(PeerId::random()),
-            data: vec![0; 100],
+            data: Bytes::from(vec![0; 100]),
             sequence_number: None,
             topic: TopicHash::from_raw("test_topic"),
             signature: None,
diff --git a/protocols/gossipsub/src/behaviour/tests.rs b/protocols/gossipsub/src/behaviour/tests.rs
index dba5db4c01d..7544527695b 100644
--- a/protocols/gossipsub/src/behaviour/tests.rs
+++ b/protocols/gossipsub/src/behaviour/tests.rs
@@ -284,7 +284,7 @@ fn proto_to_message(rpc: &proto::RPC) -> Rpc {
     for message in rpc.publish.into_iter() {
         messages.push(RawMessage {
             source: message.from.map(|x| PeerId::from_bytes(&x).unwrap()),
-            data: message.data.unwrap_or_default(),
+            data: Bytes::from(message.data.unwrap_or_default()),
             sequence_number: message.seqno.map(|x| BigEndian::read_u64(&x)), // don't inform the application
             topic: TopicHash::from_raw(message.topic),
             signature: message.signature, // don't inform the application
@@ -1021,7 +1021,7 @@ fn test_handle_iwant_msg_cached() {
 
     let raw_message = RawMessage {
         source: Some(peers[11]),
-        data: vec![1, 2, 3, 4],
+        data: Bytes::from(vec![1, 2, 3, 4]),
         sequence_number: Some(1u64),
         topic: TopicHash::from_raw("topic"),
         signature: None,
@@ -1079,7 +1079,7 @@ fn test_handle_iwant_msg_cached_shifted() {
     for shift in 1..10 {
         let raw_message = RawMessage {
             source: Some(peers[11]),
-            data: vec![1, 2, 3, 4],
+            data: Bytes::from(vec![1, 2, 3, 4]),
             sequence_number: Some(shift),
             topic: TopicHash::from_raw("topic"),
             signature: None,
@@ -1552,7 +1552,7 @@ fn do_forward_messages_to_explicit_peers() {
 
     let message = RawMessage {
         source: Some(peers[1]),
-        data: vec![12],
+        data: Bytes::from(vec![12]),
         sequence_number: Some(0),
         topic: topic_hashes[0].clone(),
         signature: None,
@@ -1696,7 +1696,7 @@ fn no_gossip_gets_sent_to_explicit_peers() {
 
     let message = RawMessage {
         source: Some(peers[1]),
-        data: vec![],
+        data: Bytes::new(),
         sequence_number: Some(0),
         topic: topic_hashes[0].clone(),
         signature: None,
@@ -2166,7 +2166,7 @@ fn test_gossip_to_at_least_gossip_lazy_peers() {
     //receive message
     let raw_message = RawMessage {
         source: Some(PeerId::random()),
-        data: vec![],
+        data: Bytes::new(),
         sequence_number: Some(0),
         topic: topic_hashes[0].clone(),
         signature: None,
@@ -2211,7 +2211,7 @@ fn test_gossip_to_at_most_gossip_factor_peers() {
     //receive message
     let raw_message = RawMessage {
         source: Some(PeerId::random()),
-        data: vec![],
+        data: Bytes::new(),
         sequence_number: Some(0),
         topic: topic_hashes[0].clone(),
         signature: None,
@@ -2575,7 +2575,7 @@ fn test_do_not_gossip_to_peers_below_gossip_threshold() {
     // Receive message
     let raw_message = RawMessage {
         source: Some(PeerId::random()),
-        data: vec![],
+        data: Bytes::new(),
         sequence_number: Some(0),
         topic: topics[0].clone(),
         signature: None,
@@ -2652,7 +2652,7 @@ fn test_iwant_msg_from_peer_below_gossip_threshold_gets_ignored() {
     // Receive message
     let raw_message = RawMessage {
         source: Some(PeerId::random()),
-        data: vec![],
+        data: Bytes::new(),
         sequence_number: Some(0),
         topic: topics[0].clone(),
         signature: None,
@@ -2743,7 +2743,7 @@ fn test_ihave_msg_from_peer_below_gossip_threshold_gets_ignored() {
     //message that other peers have
     let raw_message = RawMessage {
         source: Some(PeerId::random()),
-        data: vec![],
+        data: Bytes::new(),
         sequence_number: Some(0),
         topic: topics[0].clone(),
         signature: None,
@@ -2928,7 +2928,7 @@ fn test_ignore_rpc_from_peers_below_graylist_threshold() {
 
     let raw_message1 = RawMessage {
         source: Some(PeerId::random()),
-        data: vec![1, 2, 3, 4],
+        data: Bytes::from(vec![1, 2, 3, 4]),
         sequence_number: Some(1u64),
         topic: topics[0].clone(),
         signature: None,
@@ -2938,7 +2938,7 @@ fn test_ignore_rpc_from_peers_below_graylist_threshold() {
 
     let raw_message2 = RawMessage {
         source: Some(PeerId::random()),
-        data: vec![1, 2, 3, 4, 5],
+        data: Bytes::from(vec![1, 2, 3, 4, 5]),
         sequence_number: Some(2u64),
         topic: topics[0].clone(),
         signature: None,
@@ -2948,7 +2948,7 @@ fn test_ignore_rpc_from_peers_below_graylist_threshold() {
 
     let raw_message3 = RawMessage {
         source: Some(PeerId::random()),
-        data: vec![1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6],
+        data: Bytes::from(vec![1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]),
         sequence_number: Some(3u64),
         topic: topics[0].clone(),
         signature: None,
@@ -2958,7 +2958,7 @@ fn test_ignore_rpc_from_peers_below_graylist_threshold() {
 
     let raw_message4 = RawMessage {
         source: Some(PeerId::random()),
-        data: vec![1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7],
+        data: Bytes::from(vec![1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7]),
         sequence_number: Some(4u64),
         topic: topics[0].clone(),
         signature: None,
diff --git a/protocols/gossipsub/src/config.rs b/protocols/gossipsub/src/config.rs
index 7e79912cc4a..47f7160031c 100644
--- a/protocols/gossipsub/src/config.rs
+++ b/protocols/gossipsub/src/config.rs
@@ -862,6 +862,7 @@ mod test {
     use crate::topic::IdentityHash;
     use crate::types::PeerKind;
     use crate::Topic;
+    use bytes::Bytes;
     use libp2p_core::UpgradeInfo;
     use libp2p_swarm::StreamProtocol;
     use std::collections::hash_map::DefaultHasher;
@@ -961,7 +962,7 @@ mod test {
     fn get_gossipsub_message() -> Message {
         Message {
             source: None,
-            data: vec![12, 34, 56],
+            data: Bytes::from(vec![12, 34, 56]),
             sequence_number: None,
             topic: Topic::<IdentityHash>::new("test").hash(),
         }
diff --git a/protocols/gossipsub/src/mcache.rs b/protocols/gossipsub/src/mcache.rs
index e85a5bf9c6a..bd8bc27ca58 100644
--- a/protocols/gossipsub/src/mcache.rs
+++ b/protocols/gossipsub/src/mcache.rs
@@ -224,6 +224,7 @@ mod tests {
     use super::*;
     use crate::types::RawMessage;
     use crate::{IdentTopic as Topic, TopicHash};
+    use bytes::Bytes;
     use libp2p_identity::PeerId;
 
     fn gen_testm(x: u64, topic: TopicHash) -> (MessageId, RawMessage) {
@@ -235,7 +236,7 @@ mod tests {
         };
         let u8x: u8 = x as u8;
         let source = Some(PeerId::random());
-        let data: Vec<u8> = vec![u8x];
+        let data = Bytes::from(vec![u8x]);
         let sequence_number = Some(x);
 
         let m = RawMessage {
diff --git a/protocols/gossipsub/src/peer_score/tests.rs b/protocols/gossipsub/src/peer_score/tests.rs
index 064e277eed7..91e57442714 100644
--- a/protocols/gossipsub/src/peer_score/tests.rs
+++ b/protocols/gossipsub/src/peer_score/tests.rs
@@ -18,6 +18,8 @@
 // FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER
 // DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.
 
+use bytes::Bytes;
+
 /// A collection of unit tests mostly ported from the go implementation.
 use super::*;
 
@@ -36,7 +38,7 @@ fn within_variance(value: f64, expected: f64, variance: f64) -> bool {
 fn make_test_message(seq: u64) -> (MessageId, RawMessage) {
     let raw_message = RawMessage {
         source: Some(PeerId::random()),
-        data: vec![12, 34, 56],
+        data: Bytes::from(vec![12, 34, 56]),
         sequence_number: Some(seq),
         topic: Topic::new("test").hash(),
         signature: None,
diff --git a/protocols/gossipsub/src/protocol.rs b/protocols/gossipsub/src/protocol.rs
index 15d2f59755a..df00da87edc 100644
--- a/protocols/gossipsub/src/protocol.rs
+++ b/protocols/gossipsub/src/protocol.rs
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ use crate::types::{
 use crate::ValidationError;
 use asynchronous_codec::{Decoder, Encoder, Framed};
 use byteorder::{BigEndian, ByteOrder};
-use bytes::BytesMut;
+use bytes::{Bytes, BytesMut};
 use futures::future;
 use futures::prelude::*;
 use libp2p_core::{InboundUpgrade, OutboundUpgrade, UpgradeInfo};
@@ -294,7 +294,7 @@ impl Decoder for GossipsubCodec {
             if let Some(validation_error) = invalid_kind.take() {
                 let message = RawMessage {
                     source: None, // don't bother inform the application
-                    data: message.data.unwrap_or_default(),
+                    data: Bytes::from(message.data.unwrap_or_default()),
                     sequence_number: None, // don't inform the application
                     topic: TopicHash::from_raw(message.topic),
                     signature: None, // don't inform the application
@@ -314,7 +314,7 @@ impl Decoder for GossipsubCodec {
                 // and source)
                 let message = RawMessage {
                     source: None, // don't bother inform the application
-                    data: message.data.unwrap_or_default(),
+                    data: Bytes::from(message.data.unwrap_or_default()),
                     sequence_number: None, // don't inform the application
                     topic: TopicHash::from_raw(message.topic),
                     signature: None, // don't inform the application
@@ -339,7 +339,7 @@ impl Decoder for GossipsubCodec {
                         );
                         let message = RawMessage {
                             source: None, // don't bother inform the application
-                            data: message.data.unwrap_or_default(),
+                            data: Bytes::from(message.data.unwrap_or_default()),
                             sequence_number: None, // don't inform the application
                             topic: TopicHash::from_raw(message.topic),
                             signature: message.signature, // don't inform the application
@@ -358,7 +358,7 @@ impl Decoder for GossipsubCodec {
                     debug!("Sequence number not present but expected");
                     let message = RawMessage {
                         source: None, // don't bother inform the application
-                        data: message.data.unwrap_or_default(),
+                        data: Bytes::from(message.data.unwrap_or_default()),
                         sequence_number: None, // don't inform the application
                         topic: TopicHash::from_raw(message.topic),
                         signature: message.signature, // don't inform the application
@@ -384,7 +384,7 @@ impl Decoder for GossipsubCodec {
                                 debug!("Message source has an invalid PeerId");
                                 let message = RawMessage {
                                     source: None, // don't bother inform the application
-                                    data: message.data.unwrap_or_default(),
+                                    data: Bytes::from(message.data.unwrap_or_default()),
                                     sequence_number,
                                     topic: TopicHash::from_raw(message.topic),
                                     signature: message.signature, // don't inform the application
@@ -408,7 +408,7 @@ impl Decoder for GossipsubCodec {
             // This message has passed all validation, add it to the validated messages.
             messages.push(RawMessage {
                 source,
-                data: message.data.unwrap_or_default(),
+                data: Bytes::from(message.data.unwrap_or_default()),
                 sequence_number,
                 topic: TopicHash::from_raw(message.topic),
                 signature: message.signature,
@@ -515,6 +515,7 @@ mod tests {
     use crate::config::Config;
     use crate::{Behaviour, ConfigBuilder};
     use crate::{IdentTopic as Topic, Version};
+    use bytes::Bytes;
     use libp2p_identity::Keypair;
     use quickcheck::*;
 
@@ -532,6 +533,7 @@ mod tests {
             let data = (0..g.gen_range(10..10024u32))
                 .map(|_| u8::arbitrary(g))
                 .collect::<Vec<_>>();
+            let data = Bytes::from(data);
             let topic_id = TopicId::arbitrary(g).0;
             Message(gs.build_raw_message(topic_id, data).unwrap())
         }
diff --git a/protocols/gossipsub/src/transform.rs b/protocols/gossipsub/src/transform.rs
index 6f57d9fc46b..7934eecf30f 100644
--- a/protocols/gossipsub/src/transform.rs
+++ b/protocols/gossipsub/src/transform.rs
@@ -25,6 +25,8 @@
 //! algorithms that can be topic-specific. Once the raw data is transformed the message-id is then
 //! calculated, allowing for applications to employ message-id functions post compression.
 
+use bytes::Bytes;
+
 use crate::{Message, RawMessage, TopicHash};
 
 /// A general trait of transforming a [`RawMessage`] into a [`Message`]. The
@@ -41,11 +43,7 @@ pub trait DataTransform {
 
     /// Takes the data to be published (a topic and associated data) transforms the data. The
     /// transformed data will then be used to create a [`crate::RawMessage`] to be sent to peers.
-    fn outbound_transform(
-        &self,
-        topic: &TopicHash,
-        data: Vec<u8>,
-    ) -> Result<Vec<u8>, std::io::Error>;
+    fn outbound_transform(&self, topic: &TopicHash, data: Bytes) -> Result<Bytes, std::io::Error>;
 }
 
 /// The default transform, the raw data is propagated as is to the application layer gossipsub.
@@ -62,11 +60,7 @@ impl DataTransform for IdentityTransform {
         })
     }
 
-    fn outbound_transform(
-        &self,
-        _topic: &TopicHash,
-        data: Vec<u8>,
-    ) -> Result<Vec<u8>, std::io::Error> {
+    fn outbound_transform(&self, _topic: &TopicHash, data: Bytes) -> Result<Bytes, std::io::Error> {
         Ok(data)
     }
 }
diff --git a/protocols/gossipsub/src/types.rs b/protocols/gossipsub/src/types.rs
index 196468b8d32..1936610cbe7 100644
--- a/protocols/gossipsub/src/types.rs
+++ b/protocols/gossipsub/src/types.rs
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@
 
 //! A collection of types using the Gossipsub system.
 use crate::TopicHash;
+use bytes::Bytes;
 use libp2p_identity::PeerId;
 use libp2p_swarm::ConnectionId;
 use prometheus_client::encoding::EncodeLabelValue;
@@ -99,7 +100,7 @@ pub struct RawMessage {
     pub source: Option<PeerId>,
 
     /// Content of the message. Its meaning is out of scope of this library.
-    pub data: Vec<u8>,
+    pub data: Bytes,
 
     /// A random sequence number.
     pub sequence_number: Option<u64>,
@@ -122,7 +123,7 @@ impl RawMessage {
     pub fn raw_protobuf_len(&self) -> usize {
         let message = proto::Message {
             from: self.source.map(|m| m.to_bytes()),
-            data: Some(self.data.clone()),
+            data: Some(self.data.to_vec()),
             seqno: self.sequence_number.map(|s| s.to_be_bytes().to_vec()),
             topic: TopicHash::into_string(self.topic.clone()),
             signature: self.signature.clone(),
@@ -140,7 +141,7 @@ pub struct Message {
     pub source: Option<PeerId>,
 
     /// Content of the message.
-    pub data: Vec<u8>,
+    pub data: Bytes,
 
     /// A random sequence number.
     pub sequence_number: Option<u64>,
@@ -248,7 +249,7 @@ impl From<Rpc> for proto::RPC {
         for message in rpc.messages.into_iter() {
             let message = proto::Message {
                 from: message.source.map(|m| m.to_bytes()),
-                data: Some(message.data),
+                data: Some(message.data.to_vec()),
                 seqno: message.sequence_number.map(|s| s.to_be_bytes().to_vec()),
                 topic: TopicHash::into_string(message.topic),
                 signature: message.signature,