diff --git a/backend/sync_lib/src/errors.rs b/backend/sync_lib/src/errors.rs
index d8809ee..68bc71c 100644
--- a/backend/sync_lib/src/errors.rs
+++ b/backend/sync_lib/src/errors.rs
@@ -1,16 +1,29 @@
+use std::str::Utf8Error;
+
 use base64::DecodeError;
 use thiserror::Error;
 use wasm_bindgen::JsValue;
 
 #[derive(Error, Debug)]
 pub enum SyncLibError {
-    #[error("Base64 decoding error: {}", .reason)]
-    DecodingError { reason: String },
+    #[error("Base64 decoding error because of {}", .reason)]
+    Base64DecodingError { reason: String },
+
+    #[error("Bytes cannot be decoded as UTF-8 string because of {}", .reason)]
+    StringDecodingError { reason: String },
 }
 
 impl From<DecodeError> for SyncLibError {
     fn from(e: DecodeError) -> Self {
-        SyncLibError::DecodingError {
+        SyncLibError::Base64DecodingError {
+            reason: e.to_string(),
+        }
+    }
+}
+
+impl From<Utf8Error> for SyncLibError {
+    fn from(e: Utf8Error) -> Self {
+        SyncLibError::StringDecodingError {
             reason: e.to_string(),
         }
     }
@@ -18,7 +31,7 @@ impl From<DecodeError> for SyncLibError {
 
 impl From<std::string::FromUtf8Error> for SyncLibError {
     fn from(e: std::string::FromUtf8Error) -> Self {
-        SyncLibError::DecodingError {
+        SyncLibError::Base64DecodingError {
             reason: e.to_string(),
         }
     }
diff --git a/backend/sync_lib/src/lib.rs b/backend/sync_lib/src/lib.rs
index 7a913c8..ff374ac 100644
--- a/backend/sync_lib/src/lib.rs
+++ b/backend/sync_lib/src/lib.rs
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+use core::str;
+
 use base64::{engine::general_purpose::STANDARD_NO_PAD, Engine as _};
 use errors::SyncLibError;
 use wasm_bindgen::prelude::*;
@@ -27,6 +29,20 @@ pub fn base64_to_string(input: &str) -> Result<String, SyncLibError> {
     String::from_utf8(bytes).map_err(SyncLibError::from)
 }
 
+#[wasm_bindgen]
+pub fn merge(parent: &[u8], left: &[u8], right: &[u8]) -> Result<Vec<u8>, SyncLibError> {
+    Ok(if is_binary(right) {
+        right.to_vec()
+    } else {
+        reconcile::reconcile(
+            str::from_utf8(parent).map_err(SyncLibError::from)?,
+            str::from_utf8(left).map_err(SyncLibError::from)?,
+            str::from_utf8(right).map_err(SyncLibError::from)?,
+        )
+        .into_bytes()
+    })
+}
+
 #[wasm_bindgen]
 pub fn is_binary(data: &[u8]) -> bool { data.iter().any(|&b| b == 0) }
 
diff --git a/backend/sync_server/src/database.rs b/backend/sync_server/src/database.rs
index 5373f56..a5ae9e9 100644
--- a/backend/sync_server/src/database.rs
+++ b/backend/sync_server/src/database.rs
@@ -70,7 +70,6 @@ impl Database {
                 created_date as "created_date: chrono::DateTime<Utc>",
                 updated_date as "updated_date: chrono::DateTime<Utc>",
                 relative_path,
-                is_binary,
                 is_deleted
             from latest_documents
             where is_deleted = false and vault_id = ?
@@ -103,7 +102,6 @@ impl Database {
                 updated_date as "updated_date: chrono::DateTime<Utc>",
                 relative_path,
                 content,
-                is_binary,
                 is_deleted
             from latest_documents
             where vault_id = ? and document_id = ?
@@ -137,7 +135,6 @@ impl Database {
                 updated_date as "updated_date: chrono::DateTime<Utc>",
                 relative_path,
                 content,
-                is_binary,
                 is_deleted
             from latest_documents
             where vault_id = ? and relative_path = ? and is_deleted = false
@@ -172,7 +169,6 @@ impl Database {
                 updated_date as "updated_date: chrono::DateTime<Utc>",
                 relative_path,
                 content,
-                is_binary,
                 is_deleted
             from documents
             where vault_id = ? and document_id = ? and version_id = ?"#,
@@ -204,10 +200,9 @@ impl Database {
                 updated_date,
                 relative_path,
                 content,
-                is_binary,
                 is_deleted
             )
-            values (?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?)
+            values (?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?)
             "#,
             version.vault_id,
             version.document_id,
@@ -216,7 +211,6 @@ impl Database {
             version.updated_date,
             version.relative_path,
             version.content,
-            version.is_binary,
             version.is_deleted
         );
 
diff --git a/backend/sync_server/src/database/models.rs b/backend/sync_server/src/database/models.rs
index 71e431e..32dc169 100644
--- a/backend/sync_server/src/database/models.rs
+++ b/backend/sync_server/src/database/models.rs
@@ -16,14 +16,9 @@ pub struct StoredDocumentVersion {
     pub updated_date: DateTime<Utc>,
     pub relative_path: String,
     pub content: Vec<u8>,
-    pub is_binary: bool,
     pub is_deleted: bool,
 }
 
-impl StoredDocumentVersion {
-    pub fn content_as_string(&self) -> String { String::from_utf8_lossy(&self.content).to_string() }
-}
-
 #[derive(Debug, Clone, Serialize, JsonSchema)]
 #[serde(rename_all = "camelCase")]
 pub struct DocumentVersionWithoutContent {
@@ -33,7 +28,6 @@ pub struct DocumentVersionWithoutContent {
     pub created_date: DateTime<Utc>,
     pub updated_date: DateTime<Utc>,
     pub relative_path: String,
-    pub is_binary: bool,
     pub is_deleted: bool,
 }
 
@@ -46,7 +40,6 @@ impl From<StoredDocumentVersion> for DocumentVersionWithoutContent {
             created_date: value.created_date,
             updated_date: value.updated_date,
             relative_path: value.relative_path,
-            is_binary: value.is_binary,
             is_deleted: value.is_deleted,
         }
     }
@@ -69,7 +62,6 @@ pub struct DocumentVersion {
     pub updated_date: DateTime<Utc>,
     pub relative_path: String,
     pub content_base64: String,
-    pub is_binary: bool,
     pub is_deleted: bool,
 }
 
@@ -83,7 +75,6 @@ impl From<StoredDocumentVersion> for DocumentVersion {
             updated_date: value.updated_date,
             relative_path: value.relative_path,
             content_base64: bytes_to_base64(&value.content),
-            is_binary: value.is_binary,
             is_deleted: value.is_deleted,
         }
     }
diff --git a/backend/sync_server/src/server/create_document.rs b/backend/sync_server/src/server/create_document.rs
index 479969f..4268adb 100644
--- a/backend/sync_server/src/server/create_document.rs
+++ b/backend/sync_server/src/server/create_document.rs
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ use axum_extra::{
 };
 use schemars::JsonSchema;
 use serde::Deserialize;
-use sync_lib::{base64_to_bytes, base64_to_string};
+use sync_lib::{base64_to_bytes, merge};
 
 use super::{auth::auth, requests::CreateDocumentVersion};
 use crate::{
@@ -53,20 +53,17 @@ pub async fn create_document(
         .map_err(server_error)?;
 
     let new_version = if let Some(existing_version) = maybe_existing_version {
-        let merged_content = if request.is_binary {
-            base64_to_bytes(&request.content_base64)
-                .context("Failed to decode base64 content in request")
-                .map_err(client_error)?
-        } else {
-            reconcile::reconcile(
-                "", // the empty string is the first common parent of the two documents
-                &existing_version.content_as_string(),
-                &base64_to_string(&request.content_base64)
-                    .context("Failed to decode base64 content in request")
-                    .map_err(client_error)?,
-            )
-            .into_bytes()
-        };
+        let content_bytes = base64_to_bytes(&request.content_base64)
+            .context("Failed to decode base64 content in request")
+            .map_err(client_error)?;
+
+        let merged_content = merge(
+            &[], // the empty string is the first common parent of the two documents,
+            &existing_version.content,
+            &content_bytes,
+        )
+        .context("Failed to decode bytes as UTF-8")
+        .map_err(client_error)?;
 
         StoredDocumentVersion {
             vault_id,
@@ -76,7 +73,6 @@ pub async fn create_document(
             created_date: request.created_date,
             relative_path: request.relative_path,
             updated_date: chrono::Utc::now(),
-            is_binary: request.is_binary,
             is_deleted: false,
         }
     } else {
@@ -90,7 +86,6 @@ pub async fn create_document(
             created_date: request.created_date,
             relative_path: request.relative_path,
             updated_date: chrono::Utc::now(),
-            is_binary: request.is_binary,
             is_deleted: false,
         }
     };
diff --git a/backend/sync_server/src/server/delete_document.rs b/backend/sync_server/src/server/delete_document.rs
index 54922f0..a1fafa1 100644
--- a/backend/sync_server/src/server/delete_document.rs
+++ b/backend/sync_server/src/server/delete_document.rs
@@ -63,7 +63,6 @@ pub async fn delete_document(
         created_date: request.created_date,
         updated_date: chrono::Utc::now(),
         relative_path: latest_version.relative_path,
-        is_binary: latest_version.is_binary,
         is_deleted: true,
     };
 
diff --git a/backend/sync_server/src/server/ping.rs b/backend/sync_server/src/server/ping.rs
index bf6c843..30f5c74 100644
--- a/backend/sync_server/src/server/ping.rs
+++ b/backend/sync_server/src/server/ping.rs
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ use axum_extra::{
     TypedHeader,
 };
 
-use super::auth::{self, auth};
+use super::auth::auth;
 use crate::{app_state::AppState, database::models::PingResponse, errors::SyncServerError};
 
 #[axum::debug_handler]
diff --git a/backend/sync_server/src/server/requests.rs b/backend/sync_server/src/server/requests.rs
index 57edb3d..8f04910 100644
--- a/backend/sync_server/src/server/requests.rs
+++ b/backend/sync_server/src/server/requests.rs
@@ -10,7 +10,6 @@ pub struct CreateDocumentVersion {
     pub created_date: DateTime<Utc>,
     pub relative_path: String,
     pub content_base64: String,
-    pub is_binary: bool,
 }
 
 #[derive(Debug, Deserialize, JsonSchema)]
@@ -20,7 +19,6 @@ pub struct UpdateDocumentVersion {
     pub created_date: DateTime<Utc>,
     pub relative_path: String,
     pub content_base64: String,
-    pub is_binary: bool,
 }
 
 #[derive(Debug, Deserialize, JsonSchema)]
diff --git a/backend/sync_server/src/server/update_document.rs b/backend/sync_server/src/server/update_document.rs
index 21b96bb..0627a45 100644
--- a/backend/sync_server/src/server/update_document.rs
+++ b/backend/sync_server/src/server/update_document.rs
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ use axum_extra::{
 };
 use schemars::JsonSchema;
 use serde::Deserialize;
-use sync_lib::{base64_to_bytes, base64_to_string};
+use sync_lib::{base64_to_bytes, merge};
 
 use super::{auth::auth, requests::UpdateDocumentVersion};
 use crate::{
@@ -76,20 +76,13 @@ pub async fn update_document(
         )));
     }
 
-    let merged_content = if request.is_binary {
-        base64_to_bytes(&request.content_base64)
-            .context("Failed to decode base64 content in request")
-            .map_err(client_error)?
-    } else {
-        reconcile::reconcile(
-            &parent.content_as_string(),
-            &latest_version.content_as_string(),
-            &base64_to_string(&request.content_base64)
-                .context("Failed to decode base64 content in request")
-                .map_err(client_error)?,
-        )
-        .into_bytes()
-    };
+    let content_bytes = base64_to_bytes(&request.content_base64)
+        .context("Failed to decode base64 content in request")
+        .map_err(client_error)?;
+
+    let merged_content = merge(&parent.content, &latest_version.content, &content_bytes)
+        .context("Failed to decode bytes as UTF-8")
+        .map_err(client_error)?;
 
     let new_version = StoredDocumentVersion {
         vault_id,
@@ -99,7 +92,6 @@ pub async fn update_document(
         created_date: request.created_date,
         relative_path: request.relative_path,
         updated_date: chrono::Utc::now(),
-        is_binary: request.is_binary,
         is_deleted: false,
     };