diff --git a/archiver.go b/archiver.go
index b4af3da5b..735ca3a23 100644
--- a/archiver.go
+++ b/archiver.go
@@ -98,13 +98,14 @@ func (arch *Archiver) Save(t backend.Type, id backend.ID, length uint, rd io.Rea
 func (arch *Archiver) SaveTreeJSON(item interface{}) (Blob, error) {
 	// convert to json
 	data, err := json.Marshal(item)
+	// append newline
+	data = append(data, '\n')
 	if err != nil {
 		return Blob{}, err
 	}
 
 	// check if tree has been saved before
-	buf := backend.Compress(data)
-	id := backend.Hash(buf)
+	id := backend.Hash(data)
 	blob, err := arch.m.FindID(id)
 
 	// return the blob if we found it
@@ -113,7 +114,7 @@ func (arch *Archiver) SaveTreeJSON(item interface{}) (Blob, error) {
 	}
 
 	// otherwise save the data
-	blob, err = arch.s.Save(backend.Tree, buf, id)
+	blob, err = arch.s.SaveJSON(backend.Tree, item)
 	if err != nil {
 		return Blob{}, err
 	}
diff --git a/backend/generic.go b/backend/generic.go
index a1f990bbf..07a7cde2e 100644
--- a/backend/generic.go
+++ b/backend/generic.go
@@ -2,11 +2,9 @@ package backend
 
 import (
 	"bytes"
-	"compress/zlib"
 	"crypto/sha256"
 	"encoding/hex"
 	"errors"
-	"io/ioutil"
 	"sort"
 )
 
@@ -65,38 +63,6 @@ func EachID(be Lister, t Type, f func(ID)) error {
 	return nil
 }
 
-// Compress applies zlib compression to data.
-func Compress(data []byte) []byte {
-	// apply zlib compression
-	var b bytes.Buffer
-	w := zlib.NewWriter(&b)
-	_, err := w.Write(data)
-	if err != nil {
-		panic(err)
-	}
-	w.Close()
-
-	return b.Bytes()
-}
-
-// Uncompress reverses zlib compression on data.
-func Uncompress(data []byte) []byte {
-	b := bytes.NewBuffer(data)
-	r, err := zlib.NewReader(b)
-	if err != nil {
-		panic(err)
-	}
-
-	buf, err := ioutil.ReadAll(r)
-	if err != nil {
-		panic(err)
-	}
-
-	r.Close()
-
-	return buf
-}
-
 // Hash returns the ID for data.
 func Hash(data []byte) ID {
 	h := hashData(data)