diff --git a/src/main/java/org/jboss/netty/handler/codec/protobuf/ProtobufDecoder.java b/src/main/java/org/jboss/netty/handler/codec/protobuf/ProtobufDecoder.java
index af406486de..37ea9ba30b 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/jboss/netty/handler/codec/protobuf/ProtobufDecoder.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/jboss/netty/handler/codec/protobuf/ProtobufDecoder.java
@@ -29,14 +29,15 @@ import org.jboss.netty.handler.codec.oneone.OneToOneDecoder;
 
 import com.google.protobuf.ExtensionRegistry;
 import com.google.protobuf.Message;
+import com.google.protobuf.MessageLite;
 
 /**
  * Decodes a received {@link ChannelBuffer} into a
  * <a href="http://code.google.com/p/protobuf/">Google Protocol Buffers</a>
- * {@link Message}.  Please note that this decoder must be used with a proper
- * {@link FrameDecoder} such as {@link LengthFieldBasedFrameDecoder} if you are
- * using a stream-based transport such as TCP/IP.  A typical setup for TCP/IP
- * would be:
+ * {@link Message} and {@link MessageLite}.  Please note that this decoder must
+ * be used with a proper {@link FrameDecoder} such as {@link ProtobufVarint32FrameDecoder}
+ * or {@link LengthFieldBasedFrameDecoder} if you are using a stream-based
+ * transport such as TCP/IP.  A typical setup for TCP/IP would be:
  * <pre>
  * {@link ChannelPipeline} pipeline = ...;
  *
@@ -71,17 +72,17 @@ import com.google.protobuf.Message;
 @Sharable
 public class ProtobufDecoder extends OneToOneDecoder {
 
-    private final Message prototype;
+    private final MessageLite prototype;
     private final ExtensionRegistry extensionRegistry;
 
     /**
      * Creates a new instance.
      */
-    public ProtobufDecoder(Message prototype) {
+    public ProtobufDecoder(MessageLite prototype) {
         this(prototype, null);
     }
 
-    public ProtobufDecoder(Message prototype, ExtensionRegistry extensionRegistry) {
+    public ProtobufDecoder(MessageLite prototype, ExtensionRegistry extensionRegistry) {
         if (prototype == null) {
             throw new NullPointerException("prototype");
         }
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/jboss/netty/handler/codec/protobuf/ProtobufEncoder.java b/src/main/java/org/jboss/netty/handler/codec/protobuf/ProtobufEncoder.java
index 14443957c5..f5e50ce929 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/jboss/netty/handler/codec/protobuf/ProtobufEncoder.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/jboss/netty/handler/codec/protobuf/ProtobufEncoder.java
@@ -28,11 +28,12 @@ import org.jboss.netty.handler.codec.frame.LengthFieldPrepender;
 import org.jboss.netty.handler.codec.oneone.OneToOneEncoder;
 
 import com.google.protobuf.Message;
+import com.google.protobuf.MessageLite;
 
 /**
  * Encodes the requested <a href="http://code.google.com/p/protobuf/">Google
- * Protocol Buffers</a> {@link Message} into a {@link ChannelBuffer}.
- * A typical setup for TCP/IP would be:
+ * Protocol Buffers</a> {@link Message} and {@link MessageLite} into a
+ * {@link ChannelBuffer}. A typical setup for TCP/IP would be:
  * <pre>
  * {@link ChannelPipeline} pipeline = ...;
  *
@@ -77,9 +78,9 @@ public class ProtobufEncoder extends OneToOneEncoder {
     @Override
     protected Object encode(
             ChannelHandlerContext ctx, Channel channel, Object msg) throws Exception {
-        if (!(msg instanceof Message)) {
+        if (!(msg instanceof MessageLite)) {
             return msg;
         }
-        return wrappedBuffer(((Message) msg).toByteArray());
+        return wrappedBuffer(((MessageLite) msg).toByteArray());
     }
 }