diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 33670819a0d6..541ed5f02918 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@
 * [6179](https://github.com/grafana/loki/pull/6179) **chaudum**: Add new HTTP endpoint to delete ingester ring token file and shutdown process gracefully
 * [5997](https://github.com/grafana/loki/pull/5997) **simonswine**: Querier: parallize label queries to both stores.
 * [5406](https://github.com/grafana/loki/pull/5406) **ctovena**: Revise the configuration parameters that configure the usage report to grafana.com.
+* [7264](https://github.com/grafana/loki/pull/7264) **bboreham**: Chunks: decode varints directly from byte buffer, for speed.
 * [7263](https://github.com/grafana/loki/pull/7263) **bboreham**: Dependencies: klauspost/compress package to v1.15.11; improves performance.
 
 ##### Fixes
diff --git a/pkg/chunkenc/memchunk.go b/pkg/chunkenc/memchunk.go
index 4dec0ca13301..0bc622c03876 100644
--- a/pkg/chunkenc/memchunk.go
+++ b/pkg/chunkenc/memchunk.go
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 package chunkenc
 
 import (
-	"bufio"
 	"bytes"
 	"context"
 	"encoding/binary"
@@ -1114,12 +1113,14 @@ type bufferedIterator struct {
 	origBytes []byte
 	stats     *stats.Context
 
-	bufReader *bufio.Reader
-	reader    io.Reader
-	pool      ReaderPool
+	reader io.Reader
+	pool   ReaderPool
 
 	err error
 
+	readBuf      [20]byte // Enough bytes to store two varints.
+	readBufValid int      // How many bytes are left in readBuf from previous read.
+
 	buf      []byte // The buffer for a single entry.
 	currLine []byte // the current line, this is the same as the buffer but sliced the the line size.
 	currTs   int64
@@ -1134,7 +1135,6 @@ func newBufferedIterator(ctx context.Context, pool ReaderPool, b []byte) *buffer
 		stats:     stats,
 		origBytes: b,
 		reader:    nil, // will be initialized later
-		bufReader: nil, // will be initialized later
 		pool:      pool,
 	}
 }
@@ -1146,8 +1146,12 @@ func (si *bufferedIterator) Next() bool {
 
 	if !si.closed && si.reader == nil {
 		// initialize reader now, hopefully reusing one of the previous readers
-		si.reader = si.pool.GetReader(bytes.NewBuffer(si.origBytes))
-		si.bufReader = BufReaderPool.Get(si.reader)
+		var err error
+		si.reader, err = si.pool.GetReader(bytes.NewBuffer(si.origBytes))
+		if err != nil {
+			si.err = err
+			return false
+		}
 	}
 
 	ts, line, ok := si.moveNext()
@@ -1166,22 +1170,30 @@ func (si *bufferedIterator) Next() bool {
 
 // moveNext moves the buffer to the next entry
 func (si *bufferedIterator) moveNext() (int64, []byte, bool) {
-	ts, err := binary.ReadVarint(si.bufReader)
-	if err != nil {
-		if err != io.EOF {
-			si.err = err
-		}
-		return 0, nil, false
-	}
-
-	l, err := binary.ReadUvarint(si.bufReader)
-	if err != nil {
-		if err != io.EOF {
-			si.err = err
-			return 0, nil, false
+	var ts int64
+	var tWidth, lWidth, lineSize, lastAttempt int
+	for lWidth == 0 { // Read until both varints have enough bytes.
+		n, err := si.reader.Read(si.readBuf[si.readBufValid:])
+		si.readBufValid += n
+		if err != nil {
+			if err != io.EOF {
+				si.err = err
+				return 0, nil, false
+			}
+			if si.readBufValid == 0 { // Got EOF and no data in the buffer.
+				return 0, nil, false
+			}
+			if si.readBufValid == lastAttempt { // Got EOF and could not parse same data last time.
+				si.err = fmt.Errorf("invalid data in chunk")
+				return 0, nil, false
+			}
 		}
+		var l uint64
+		ts, tWidth = binary.Varint(si.readBuf[:si.readBufValid])
+		l, lWidth = binary.Uvarint(si.readBuf[tWidth:si.readBufValid])
+		lineSize = int(l)
+		lastAttempt = si.readBufValid
 	}
-	lineSize := int(l)
 
 	if lineSize >= maxLineLength {
 		si.err = fmt.Errorf("line too long %d, maximum %d", lineSize, maxLineLength)
@@ -1199,19 +1211,25 @@ func (si *bufferedIterator) moveNext() (int64, []byte, bool) {
 			return 0, nil, false
 		}
 	}
+	si.buf = si.buf[:lineSize]
+	// Take however many bytes are left in the read buffer.
+	n := copy(si.buf, si.readBuf[tWidth+lWidth:si.readBufValid])
+	// Shift down what is still left in the fixed-size read buffer, if any.
+	si.readBufValid = copy(si.readBuf[:], si.readBuf[tWidth+lWidth+n:si.readBufValid])
+
 	// Then process reading the line.
-	n, err := si.bufReader.Read(si.buf[:lineSize])
-	if err != nil && err != io.EOF {
-		si.err = err
-		return 0, nil, false
-	}
 	for n < lineSize {
-		r, err := si.bufReader.Read(si.buf[n:lineSize])
-		if err != nil && err != io.EOF {
+		r, err := si.reader.Read(si.buf[n:lineSize])
+		n += r
+		if err != nil {
+			// We might get EOF after reading enough bytes to fill the buffer, which is OK.
+			// EOF and zero bytes read when the buffer isn't full is an error.
+			if err == io.EOF && r != 0 {
+				continue
+			}
 			si.err = err
 			return 0, nil, false
 		}
-		n += r
 	}
 	return ts, si.buf[:lineSize], true
 }
@@ -1231,10 +1249,6 @@ func (si *bufferedIterator) close() {
 		si.pool.PutReader(si.reader)
 		si.reader = nil
 	}
-	if si.bufReader != nil {
-		BufReaderPool.Put(si.bufReader)
-		si.bufReader = nil
-	}
 
 	if si.buf != nil {
 		BytesBufferPool.Put(si.buf)
diff --git a/pkg/chunkenc/memchunk_test.go b/pkg/chunkenc/memchunk_test.go
index 11d02384f386..613185cd6ec1 100644
--- a/pkg/chunkenc/memchunk_test.go
+++ b/pkg/chunkenc/memchunk_test.go
@@ -178,6 +178,38 @@ func TestBlock(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
+func TestCorruptChunk(t *testing.T) {
+	for _, enc := range testEncoding {
+		t.Run(enc.String(), func(t *testing.T) {
+			t.Parallel()
+
+			chk := NewMemChunk(enc, DefaultHeadBlockFmt, testBlockSize, testTargetSize)
+			cases := []struct {
+				data []byte
+			}{
+				// Data that should not decode as lines from a chunk in any encoding.
+				{data: []byte{0}},
+				{data: []byte{1}},
+				{data: []byte("asdfasdfasdfqwyteqwtyeq")},
+			}
+
+			ctx, start, end := context.Background(), time.Unix(0, 0), time.Unix(0, math.MaxInt64)
+			for i, c := range cases {
+				chk.blocks = []block{{b: c.data}}
+				it, err := chk.Iterator(ctx, start, end, logproto.FORWARD, noopStreamPipeline)
+				require.NoError(t, err, "case %d", i)
+
+				idx := 0
+				for it.Next() {
+					idx++
+				}
+				require.Error(t, it.Error(), "case %d", i)
+				require.NoError(t, it.Close())
+			}
+		})
+	}
+}
+
 func TestReadFormatV1(t *testing.T) {
 	t.Parallel()
 
diff --git a/pkg/chunkenc/pool.go b/pkg/chunkenc/pool.go
index b73dd6b805bb..c8f5359b78a5 100644
--- a/pkg/chunkenc/pool.go
+++ b/pkg/chunkenc/pool.go
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ type WriterPool interface {
 
 // ReaderPool similar to WriterPool but for reading chunks.
 type ReaderPool interface {
-	GetReader(io.Reader) io.Reader
+	GetReader(io.Reader) (io.Reader, error)
 	PutReader(io.Reader)
 }
 
@@ -44,13 +44,6 @@ var (
 	// Noop is the no compression pool
 	Noop NoopPool
 
-	// BufReaderPool is bufio.Reader pool
-	BufReaderPool = &BufioReaderPool{
-		pool: sync.Pool{
-			New: func() interface{} { return bufio.NewReader(nil) },
-		},
-	}
-
 	// BytesBufferPool is a bytes buffer used for lines decompressed.
 	// Buckets [0.5KB,1KB,2KB,4KB,8KB]
 	BytesBufferPool = pool.New(1<<9, 1<<13, 2, func(size int) interface{} { return make([]byte, 0, size) })
@@ -117,21 +110,32 @@ type GzipPool struct {
 	level   int
 }
 
+// Gzip needs buffering to read efficiently.
+// We need to be able to see the underlying gzip.Reader to Reset it.
+type gzipBufferedReader struct {
+	*bufio.Reader
+	gzipReader *gzip.Reader
+}
+
 // GetReader gets or creates a new CompressionReader and reset it to read from src
-func (pool *GzipPool) GetReader(src io.Reader) io.Reader {
+func (pool *GzipPool) GetReader(src io.Reader) (io.Reader, error) {
 	if r := pool.readers.Get(); r != nil {
-		reader := r.(*gzip.Reader)
-		err := reader.Reset(src)
+		reader := r.(*gzipBufferedReader)
+		err := reader.gzipReader.Reset(src)
 		if err != nil {
-			panic(err)
+			return nil, err
 		}
-		return reader
+		reader.Reader.Reset(reader.gzipReader)
+		return reader, nil
 	}
-	reader, err := gzip.NewReader(src)
+	gzipReader, err := gzip.NewReader(src)
 	if err != nil {
-		panic(err)
+		return nil, err
 	}
-	return reader
+	return &gzipBufferedReader{
+		gzipReader: gzipReader,
+		Reader:     bufio.NewReaderSize(gzipReader, 4*1024),
+	}, nil
 }
 
 // PutReader places back in the pool a CompressionReader
@@ -171,16 +175,16 @@ type FlatePool struct {
 }
 
 // GetReader gets or creates a new CompressionReader and reset it to read from src
-func (pool *FlatePool) GetReader(src io.Reader) io.Reader {
+func (pool *FlatePool) GetReader(src io.Reader) (io.Reader, error) {
 	if r := pool.readers.Get(); r != nil {
 		reader := r.(flate.Resetter)
 		err := reader.Reset(src, nil)
 		if err != nil {
 			panic(err)
 		}
-		return reader.(io.Reader)
+		return reader.(io.Reader), nil
 	}
-	return flate.NewReader(src)
+	return flate.NewReader(src), nil
 }
 
 // PutReader places back in the pool a CompressionReader
@@ -219,21 +223,21 @@ type ZstdPool struct {
 }
 
 // GetReader gets or creates a new CompressionReader and reset it to read from src
-func (pool *ZstdPool) GetReader(src io.Reader) io.Reader {
+func (pool *ZstdPool) GetReader(src io.Reader) (io.Reader, error) {
 	if r := pool.readers.Get(); r != nil {
 		reader := r.(*zstd.Decoder)
 		err := reader.Reset(src)
 		if err != nil {
-			panic(err)
+			return nil, err
 		}
-		return reader
+		return reader, nil
 	}
 	reader, err := zstd.NewReader(src)
 	if err != nil {
-		panic(err)
+		return nil, err
 	}
 	runtime.SetFinalizer(reader, (*zstd.Decoder).Close)
-	return reader
+	return reader, nil
 }
 
 // PutReader places back in the pool a CompressionReader
@@ -267,16 +271,27 @@ type LZ4Pool struct {
 	bufferSize uint32 // available values: 1<<16 (64k), 1<<18 (256k), 1<<20 (1M), 1<<22 (4M). Defaults to 4MB, if not set.
 }
 
+// We need to be able to see the underlying lz4.Reader to Reset it.
+type lz4BufferedReader struct {
+	*bufio.Reader
+	lz4Reader *lz4.Reader
+}
+
 // GetReader gets or creates a new CompressionReader and reset it to read from src
-func (pool *LZ4Pool) GetReader(src io.Reader) io.Reader {
-	var r *lz4.Reader
+func (pool *LZ4Pool) GetReader(src io.Reader) (io.Reader, error) {
+	var r *lz4BufferedReader
 	if pooled := pool.readers.Get(); pooled != nil {
-		r = pooled.(*lz4.Reader)
-		r.Reset(src)
+		r = pooled.(*lz4BufferedReader)
+		r.lz4Reader.Reset(src)
+		r.Reader.Reset(r.lz4Reader)
 	} else {
-		r = lz4.NewReader(src)
+		lz4Reader := lz4.NewReader(src)
+		r = &lz4BufferedReader{
+			lz4Reader: lz4Reader,
+			Reader:    bufio.NewReaderSize(lz4Reader, 4*1024),
+		}
 	}
-	return r
+	return r, nil
 }
 
 // PutReader places back in the pool a CompressionReader
@@ -315,13 +330,13 @@ type SnappyPool struct {
 }
 
 // GetReader gets or creates a new CompressionReader and reset it to read from src
-func (pool *SnappyPool) GetReader(src io.Reader) io.Reader {
+func (pool *SnappyPool) GetReader(src io.Reader) (io.Reader, error) {
 	if r := pool.readers.Get(); r != nil {
 		reader := r.(*snappy.Reader)
 		reader.Reset(src)
-		return reader
+		return reader, nil
 	}
-	return snappy.NewReader(src)
+	return snappy.NewReader(src), nil
 }
 
 // PutReader places back in the pool a CompressionReader
@@ -347,8 +362,8 @@ func (pool *SnappyPool) PutWriter(writer io.WriteCloser) {
 type NoopPool struct{}
 
 // GetReader gets or creates a new CompressionReader and reset it to read from src
-func (pool *NoopPool) GetReader(src io.Reader) io.Reader {
-	return src
+func (pool *NoopPool) GetReader(src io.Reader) (io.Reader, error) {
+	return src, nil
 }
 
 // PutReader places back in the pool a CompressionReader
@@ -367,23 +382,3 @@ func (pool *NoopPool) GetWriter(dst io.Writer) io.WriteCloser {
 
 // PutWriter places back in the pool a CompressionWriter
 func (pool *NoopPool) PutWriter(writer io.WriteCloser) {}
-
-// BufioReaderPool is a bufio reader that uses sync.Pool.
-type BufioReaderPool struct {
-	pool sync.Pool
-}
-
-// Get returns a bufio.Reader which reads from r. The buffer size is that of the pool.
-func (bufPool *BufioReaderPool) Get(r io.Reader) *bufio.Reader {
-	buf := bufPool.pool.Get().(*bufio.Reader)
-	if buf == nil {
-		return bufio.NewReaderSize(r, 4*1024)
-	}
-	buf.Reset(r)
-	return buf
-}
-
-// Put puts the bufio.Reader back into the pool.
-func (bufPool *BufioReaderPool) Put(b *bufio.Reader) {
-	bufPool.pool.Put(b)
-}
diff --git a/pkg/chunkenc/pool_test.go b/pkg/chunkenc/pool_test.go
index 6b15b5496b86..978945006719 100644
--- a/pkg/chunkenc/pool_test.go
+++ b/pkg/chunkenc/pool_test.go
@@ -36,7 +36,8 @@ func TestPool(t *testing.T) {
 				require.NoError(t, w.Close())
 
 				require.True(t, buf.Len() != 0, enc)
-				r := rpool.GetReader(bytes.NewBuffer(buf.Bytes()))
+				r, err := rpool.GetReader(bytes.NewBuffer(buf.Bytes()))
+				require.NoError(t, err)
 				defer rpool.PutReader(r)
 				n, err := r.Read(res)
 				if err != nil {
diff --git a/pkg/storage/stores/tsdb/single_file_index.go b/pkg/storage/stores/tsdb/single_file_index.go
index 42c2c2eeddce..d3106b1852e8 100644
--- a/pkg/storage/stores/tsdb/single_file_index.go
+++ b/pkg/storage/stores/tsdb/single_file_index.go
@@ -95,10 +95,12 @@ func NewTSDBIndexFromFile(location string, gzip bool) (*TSDBIndex, []byte, error
 
 	// decompress if needed
 	if gzip {
-		r := chunkenc.Gzip.GetReader(bytes.NewReader(raw))
+		r, err := chunkenc.Gzip.GetReader(bytes.NewReader(raw))
+		if err != nil {
+			return nil, nil, err
+		}
 		defer chunkenc.Gzip.PutReader(r)
 
-		var err error
 		cleaned, err = io.ReadAll(r)
 		if err != nil {
 			return nil, nil, err