diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index 59673e3a22..5103573897 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -79,7 +79,6 @@ half = { "version" = "2.4.1", default-features = false, features = [
     "num-traits",
     "std",
 ] }
-hex = "0.4"
 bitvec = "1"
 bytes = "1.4"
 byteorder = "1.5"
diff --git a/rust/lance-index/Cargo.toml b/rust/lance-index/Cargo.toml
index d21d9691af..2f88fa684f 100644
--- a/rust/lance-index/Cargo.toml
+++ b/rust/lance-index/Cargo.toml
@@ -28,7 +28,6 @@ datafusion.workspace = true
 deepsize.workspace = true
 futures.workspace = true
 half.workspace = true
-hex.workspace = true
 itertools.workspace = true
 lance-arrow.workspace = true
 lance-core.workspace = true
diff --git a/rust/lance-index/src/vector/storage.rs b/rust/lance-index/src/vector/storage.rs
index 8c40844cc9..a515f5473d 100644
--- a/rust/lance-index/src/vector/storage.rs
+++ b/rust/lance-index/src/vector/storage.rs
@@ -172,16 +172,20 @@ impl<Q: Quantization> IvfQuantizationStorage<Q> {
                 .as_str(),
         )?;
 
-        let ivf_pb_bytes =
-            hex::decode(schema.metadata.get(IVF_METADATA_KEY).ok_or(Error::Index {
+        let ivf_pos = schema
+            .metadata
+            .get(IVF_METADATA_KEY)
+            .ok_or(Error::Index {
                 message: format!("{} not found", IVF_METADATA_KEY),
                 location: location!(),
-            })?)
+            })?
+            .parse()
             .map_err(|e| Error::Index {
                 message: format!("Failed to decode IVF metadata: {}", e),
                 location: location!(),
             })?;
-        let ivf = IvfData::try_from(pb::Ivf::decode(ivf_pb_bytes.as_ref())?)?;
+        let ivf_bytes = reader.read_global_buffer(ivf_pos).await?;
+        let ivf = IvfData::try_from(pb::Ivf::decode(ivf_bytes)?)?;
 
         let quantizer_metadata: Q::Metadata = serde_json::from_str(
             schema
diff --git a/rust/lance/Cargo.toml b/rust/lance/Cargo.toml
index daa5ab44ec..f5f78a0b2d 100644
--- a/rust/lance/Cargo.toml
+++ b/rust/lance/Cargo.toml
@@ -44,7 +44,6 @@ dashmap = "5"
 deepsize.workspace = true
 # matches arrow-rs use
 half.workspace = true
-hex.workspace = true
 itertools.workspace = true
 object_store = { workspace = true, features = ["aws", "gcp", "azure"] }
 aws-credential-types.workspace = true
diff --git a/rust/lance/src/index/vector/builder.rs b/rust/lance/src/index/vector/builder.rs
index 248b472cbc..8085342038 100644
--- a/rust/lance/src/index/vector/builder.rs
+++ b/rust/lance/src/index/vector/builder.rs
@@ -303,10 +303,10 @@ impl<S: IvfSubIndex, Q: Quantization + Clone> IvfIndexBuilder<S, Q> {
         let mut storage_writer = storage_writer.unwrap();
         let storage_ivf_pb = pb::Ivf::try_from(&storage_ivf)?;
         storage_writer.add_schema_metadata(DISTANCE_TYPE_KEY, self.distance_type.to_string());
-        storage_writer.add_schema_metadata(
-            IVF_METADATA_KEY,
-            hex::encode(storage_ivf_pb.encode_to_vec()),
-        );
+        let ivf_buffer_pos = storage_writer
+            .add_global_buffer(storage_ivf_pb.encode_to_vec().into())
+            .await?;
+        storage_writer.add_schema_metadata(IVF_METADATA_KEY, ivf_buffer_pos.to_string());
         storage_writer.add_schema_metadata(
             Q::metadata_key(),
             self.quantizer.metadata(None)?.to_string(),
@@ -314,8 +314,10 @@ impl<S: IvfSubIndex, Q: Quantization + Clone> IvfIndexBuilder<S, Q> {
 
         let index_ivf_pb = pb::Ivf::try_from(&index_ivf)?;
         index_writer.add_schema_metadata(DISTANCE_TYPE_KEY, self.distance_type.to_string());
-        index_writer
-            .add_schema_metadata(IVF_METADATA_KEY, hex::encode(index_ivf_pb.encode_to_vec()));
+        let ivf_buffer_pos = index_writer
+            .add_global_buffer(index_ivf_pb.encode_to_vec().into())
+            .await?;
+        index_writer.add_schema_metadata(IVF_METADATA_KEY, ivf_buffer_pos.to_string());
 
         storage_writer.finish().await?;
         index_writer.finish().await?;
diff --git a/rust/lance/src/index/vector/ivf/v2.rs b/rust/lance/src/index/vector/ivf/v2.rs
index 63a01d32b9..3b5ef10bb3 100644
--- a/rust/lance/src/index/vector/ivf/v2.rs
+++ b/rust/lance/src/index/vector/ivf/v2.rs
@@ -107,18 +107,21 @@ impl<I: IvfSubIndex + 'static, Q: Quantization> IVFIndex<I, Q> {
                 .as_str(),
         )?;
 
-        let ivf_pb_bytes =
-            hex::decode(index_reader.schema().metadata.get(IVF_METADATA_KEY).ok_or(
-                Error::Index {
-                    message: format!("{} not found", IVF_METADATA_KEY),
-                    location: location!(),
-                },
-            )?)
+        let ivf_pos = index_reader
+            .schema()
+            .metadata
+            .get(IVF_METADATA_KEY)
+            .ok_or(Error::Index {
+                message: format!("{} not found", IVF_METADATA_KEY),
+                location: location!(),
+            })?
+            .parse()
             .map_err(|e| Error::Index {
-                message: format!("Failed to decode IVF metadata: {}", e),
+                message: format!("Failed to decode IVF position: {}", e),
                 location: location!(),
             })?;
-        let ivf = Ivf::try_from(&pb::Ivf::decode(ivf_pb_bytes.as_ref())?)?;
+        let ivf_pb_bytes = index_reader.read_global_buffer(ivf_pos).await?;
+        let ivf = Ivf::try_from(&pb::Ivf::decode(ivf_pb_bytes)?)?;
 
         let storage_reader = FileReader::try_open(
             scheduler