diff --git a/zstd/blockdec.go b/zstd/blockdec.go
index da814715da..6b9929ddf5 100644
--- a/zstd/blockdec.go
+++ b/zstd/blockdec.go
@@ -82,8 +82,9 @@ type blockDec struct {
 
 	err error
 
-	// Check against this crc
-	checkCRC []byte
+	// Check against this crc, if hasCRC is true.
+	checkCRC uint32
+	hasCRC   bool
 
 	// Frame to use for singlethreaded decoding.
 	// Should not be used by the decoder itself since parent may be another frame.
diff --git a/zstd/decoder.go b/zstd/decoder.go
index 832d7b7ae1..e976de9a0e 100644
--- a/zstd/decoder.go
+++ b/zstd/decoder.go
@@ -5,7 +5,6 @@
 package zstd
 
 import (
-	"bytes"
 	"context"
 	"encoding/binary"
 	"io"
@@ -471,18 +470,16 @@ func (d *Decoder) nextBlock(blocking bool) (ok bool) {
 			}
 		}
 	}
-	if next.err == nil && next.d != nil && len(next.d.checkCRC) != 0 {
-		got := d.current.crc.Sum64()
-		var tmp [4]byte
-		binary.LittleEndian.PutUint32(tmp[:], uint32(got))
-		if !bytes.Equal(tmp[:], next.d.checkCRC) {
+	if next.err == nil && next.d != nil && next.d.hasCRC {
+		got := uint32(d.current.crc.Sum64())
+		if got != next.d.checkCRC {
 			if debugDecoder {
-				println("CRC Check Failed:", tmp[:], " (got) !=", next.d.checkCRC, "(on stream)")
+				printf("CRC Check Failed: %08x (got) != %08x (on stream)\n", got, next.d.checkCRC)
 			}
 			d.current.err = ErrCRCMismatch
 		} else {
 			if debugDecoder {
-				println("CRC ok", tmp[:])
+				printf("CRC ok %08x\n", got)
 			}
 		}
 	}
@@ -922,18 +919,18 @@ decodeStream:
 				println("next block returned error:", err)
 			}
 			dec.err = err
-			dec.checkCRC = nil
+			dec.hasCRC = false
 			if dec.Last && frame.HasCheckSum && err == nil {
 				crc, err := frame.rawInput.readSmall(4)
-				if err != nil {
+				if len(crc) < 4 {
 					println("CRC missing?", err)
 					dec.err = err
-				}
-				var tmp [4]byte
-				copy(tmp[:], crc)
-				dec.checkCRC = tmp[:]
-				if debugDecoder {
-					println("found crc to check:", dec.checkCRC)
+				} else {
+					dec.checkCRC = binary.LittleEndian.Uint32(crc)
+					dec.hasCRC = true
+					if debugDecoder {
+						printf("found crc to check: %08x\n", dec.checkCRC)
+					}
 				}
 			}
 			err = dec.err