diff --git a/src/main/java/it/cavallium/strangedb/database/references/DatabaseReferencesMetadata.java b/src/main/java/it/cavallium/strangedb/database/references/DatabaseReferencesMetadata.java
index b12cec1..5d4a04f 100644
--- a/src/main/java/it/cavallium/strangedb/database/references/DatabaseReferencesMetadata.java
+++ b/src/main/java/it/cavallium/strangedb/database/references/DatabaseReferencesMetadata.java
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ public class DatabaseReferencesMetadata implements IReferencesMetadata {
 	public static final byte ERRORED_CLEANER = (byte) -1;
 	public static final byte BLANK_DATA_CLEANER = (byte) -2;
 	public static final ReferenceInfo NONEXISTENT_REFERENCE_INFO = new ReferenceInfo(ERRORED_CLEANER, ERROR_BLOCK_ID);
-	private static final int REF_META_BYTES_COUNT = Long.BYTES + Integer.BYTES;
+	private static final int REF_META_BYTES_COUNT = Long.BYTES + Byte.BYTES;
 	public static final int REF_META_READS_AT_EVERY_READ = (DISK_BLOCK_SIZE - DISK_BLOCK_SIZE % REF_META_BYTES_COUNT) / REF_META_BYTES_COUNT;
 
 	private final AsynchronousFileChannel metaFileChannel;
@@ -91,7 +91,7 @@ public class DatabaseReferencesMetadata implements IReferencesMetadata {
 		for (int delta = 0; delta < referencesCount; delta++) {
 			long referenceToLoad = reference + delta;
 			long currentBlock = buffer.getLong();
-			byte cleanerId = (byte) buffer.getInt();
+			byte cleanerId = buffer.get();
 			if (buffer.limit() != 0 && currentBlock != 0xFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFL) {
 				allReferences[delta] = referenceToLoad;
 				allCleaners[delta] = cleanerId;
@@ -191,7 +191,7 @@ public class DatabaseReferencesMetadata implements IReferencesMetadata {
 		}
 		ByteBuffer data = ByteBuffer.allocate(REF_META_BYTES_COUNT);
 		data.putLong(blockId);
-		data.putInt(cleanerId & 0xFF);
+		data.put(cleanerId);
 		data.flip();
 		try {
 			metaFileChannel.write(data, reference * REF_META_BYTES_COUNT).get();