diff --git a/CHANGELOG.markdown b/CHANGELOG.markdown
--- a/CHANGELOG.markdown
+++ b/CHANGELOG.markdown
@@ -1,3 +1,7 @@
+0.10
+----
+* Changed all of the byte orders to big-endian by default *except* for `Word` and `Int`, which are variable sized.
+
 0.9
 -----
 * Added proper support for `binary` 0.7.
diff --git a/bytes.cabal b/bytes.cabal
--- a/bytes.cabal
+++ b/bytes.cabal
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 name:          bytes
 category:      Data, Serialization
-version:       0.9
+version:       0.10
 license:       BSD3
 cabal-version: >= 1.8
 license-file:  LICENSE
@@ -62,6 +62,7 @@
     ghc-options: -Werror
 
   ghc-options: -Wall -fwarn-tabs -O2
+  c-sources: cbits/i2d.c
   hs-source-dirs: src
 
 test-suite doctests
diff --git a/cbits/i2d.c b/cbits/i2d.c
new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cbits/i2d.c
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+
+unsigned long long doubleToWord64(double input) {
+  union {
+    double d;
+    unsigned long long l;
+  } u;
+  u.d = input;
+  return u.l;
+}
+
+double word64ToDouble(unsigned long long input) {
+  union {
+    double d;
+    unsigned long long l;
+  } u;
+  u.l = input;
+  return u.d;
+}
+
+unsigned long long floatToWord32(float input) {
+  union {
+    float f;
+    unsigned long long l;
+  } u;
+  u.f = input;
+  return u.l;
+}
+
+float word32ToDouble(unsigned long long input) {
+  union {
+    float f;
+    unsigned long long l;
+  } u;
+  u.l = input;
+  return u.f;
+}
diff --git a/src/Data/Bytes/Serial.hs b/src/Data/Bytes/Serial.hs
--- a/src/Data/Bytes/Serial.hs
+++ b/src/Data/Bytes/Serial.hs
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 {-# LANGUAGE CPP #-}
 {-# LANGUAGE DefaultSignatures #-}
+{-# LANGUAGE ForeignFunctionInterface #-}
 {-# LANGUAGE MultiParamTypeClasses #-}
 {-# LANGUAGE TypeFamilies #-}
 {-# LANGUAGE TypeOperators #-}
@@ -76,15 +77,15 @@
 #endif
 
 instance Serial Strict.ByteString where
-  serialize bs = putWord32host (fromIntegral (Strict.length bs)) >> putByteString bs
+  serialize bs = putWord32be (fromIntegral (Strict.length bs)) >> putByteString bs
   deserialize = do
-    n <- getWord32host
+    n <- getWord32be
     getByteString (fromIntegral n)
 
 instance Serial Lazy.ByteString where
-  serialize bs = putWord64host (fromIntegral (Lazy.length bs)) >> putLazyByteString bs
+  serialize bs = putWord64be (fromIntegral (Lazy.length bs)) >> putLazyByteString bs
   deserialize = do
-    n <- getWord64host
+    n <- getWord64be
     getLazyByteString (fromIntegral n)
 
 instance Serial SText.Text where
@@ -117,33 +118,38 @@
   unless (n >= required) $ fail "restore: Required more bytes"
   return $ unsafePerformIO $ withForeignPtr fp $ \p -> peekByteOff p o
 
+foreign import ccall floatToWord32 :: Float -> Word32
+foreign import ccall word32ToFloat :: Word32 -> Float
+foreign import ccall doubleToWord64 :: Double -> Word64
+foreign import ccall word64ToDouble :: Word64 -> Double
+
 instance Serial Double where
-  serialize = store
-  deserialize = restore
+  serialize = serialize . doubleToWord64
+  deserialize = liftM word64ToDouble restore
 
 instance Serial Float where
-  serialize = store
-  deserialize = restore
+  serialize = serialize . floatToWord32
+  deserialize = liftM word32ToFloat restore
 
 instance Serial Char where
-  serialize = putWord32host . fromIntegral . fromEnum
-  deserialize = liftM (toEnum . fromIntegral) getWord32host
+  serialize = putWord32be . fromIntegral . fromEnum
+  deserialize = liftM (toEnum . fromIntegral) getWord32be
 
 instance Serial Word where
   serialize = putWordhost
   deserialize = getWordhost
 
 instance Serial Word64 where
-  serialize = putWord64host
-  deserialize = getWord64host
+  serialize = putWord64be
+  deserialize = getWord64be
 
 instance Serial Word32 where
-  serialize = putWord32host
-  deserialize = getWord32host
+  serialize = putWord32be
+  deserialize = getWord32be
 
 instance Serial Word16 where
-  serialize = putWord16host
-  deserialize = getWord16host
+  serialize = putWord16be
+  deserialize = getWord16be
 
 instance Serial Word8 where
   serialize = putWord8
@@ -154,16 +160,16 @@
   deserialize = liftM fromIntegral getWordhost
 
 instance Serial Int64 where
-  serialize = putWord64host . fromIntegral
-  deserialize = liftM fromIntegral getWord64host
+  serialize = putWord64be . fromIntegral
+  deserialize = liftM fromIntegral getWord64be
 
 instance Serial Int32 where
-  serialize = putWord32host . fromIntegral
-  deserialize = liftM fromIntegral getWord32host
+  serialize = putWord32be . fromIntegral
+  deserialize = liftM fromIntegral getWord32be
 
 instance Serial Int16 where
-  serialize = putWord16host . fromIntegral
-  deserialize = liftM fromIntegral getWord16host
+  serialize = putWord16be . fromIntegral
+  deserialize = liftM fromIntegral getWord16be
 
 instance Serial Int8 where
   serialize = putWord8 . fromIntegral