diff --git a/src/message.js b/src/message.js
index aca0de85..c2feb5f5 100644
--- a/src/message.js
+++ b/src/message.js
@@ -216,7 +216,7 @@ Message.prototype.decryptSessionKeys = async function(privateKeys, passwords) {
  */
 Message.prototype.getLiteralData = function() {
   const literal = this.packets.findPacket(enums.packet.literal);
-  return (literal && literal.data) || null;
+  return (literal && literal.getBytes()) || null;
 };
 
 /**
@@ -395,8 +395,8 @@ Message.prototype.sign = async function(privateKeys=[], signature=null, date=new
 
   let i;
   let existingSigPacketlist;
-  const literalFormat = enums.write(enums.literal, literalDataPacket.format);
-  const signatureType = literalFormat === enums.literal.binary ?
+  // If data packet was created from Uint8Array, use binary, otherwise use text
+  const signatureType = literalDataPacket.text === null ?
     enums.signature.binary : enums.signature.text;
 
   if (signature) {
@@ -491,8 +491,8 @@ Message.prototype.signDetached = async function(privateKeys=[], signature=null,
 export async function createSignaturePackets(literalDataPacket, privateKeys, signature=null, date=new Date()) {
   const packetlist = new packet.List();
 
-  const literalFormat = enums.write(enums.literal, literalDataPacket.format);
-  const signatureType = literalFormat === enums.literal.binary ?
+  // If data packet was created from Uint8Array, use binary, otherwise use text
+  const signatureType = literalDataPacket.text === null ?
     enums.signature.binary : enums.signature.text;
 
   await Promise.all(privateKeys.map(async function(privateKey) {
@@ -581,15 +581,9 @@ export async function createVerificationObjects(signatureList, literalDataList,
       }
     }));
 
-    // If this is a text signature, canonicalize line endings of the data
-    const literalDataPacket = literalDataList[0];
-    if (signature.signatureType === enums.signature.text) {
-      literalDataPacket.setText(literalDataPacket.getText());
-    }
-
     const verifiedSig = {
       keyid: signature.issuerKeyId,
-      valid: keyPacket ? await signature.verify(keyPacket, literalDataPacket) : null
+      valid: keyPacket ? await signature.verify(keyPacket, literalDataList[0]) : null
     };
 
     const packetlist = new packet.List();
diff --git a/src/packet/literal.js b/src/packet/literal.js
index 0a6f8bee..8fdd99a1 100644
--- a/src/packet/literal.js
+++ b/src/packet/literal.js
@@ -37,7 +37,8 @@ function Literal(date=new Date()) {
   this.tag = enums.packet.literal;
   this.format = 'utf8'; // default format for literal data packets
   this.date = util.normalizeDate(date);
-  this.data = new Uint8Array(0); // literal data representation
+  this.text = null; // textual data representation
+  this.data = null; // literal data representation
   this.filename = 'msg.txt';
 }
 
@@ -45,13 +46,12 @@ function Literal(date=new Date()) {
  * Set the packet data to a javascript native string, end of line
  * will be normalized to \r\n and by default text is converted to UTF8
  * @param {String} text Any native javascript string
+ * @param {utf8|binary|text} format (optional) The format of the string of bytes
  */
-Literal.prototype.setText = function(text) {
-  // normalize EOL to \r\n
-  text = text.replace(/\r\n/g, "\n").replace(/\r/g, "\n").replace(/[ \t]+\n/g, "\n").replace(/\n/g, "\r\n");
-  this.format = 'utf8';
-  // encode UTF8
-  this.data = util.str_to_Uint8Array(util.encode_utf8(text));
+Literal.prototype.setText = function(text, format='utf8') {
+  this.format = format;
+  this.text = text;
+  this.data = null;
 };
 
 /**
@@ -60,10 +60,14 @@ Literal.prototype.setText = function(text) {
  * @returns {String} literal data as text
  */
 Literal.prototype.getText = function() {
+  if (this.text !== null) {
+    return this.text;
+  }
   // decode UTF8
   const text = util.decode_utf8(util.Uint8Array_to_str(this.data));
   // normalize EOL to \n
-  return text.replace(/\r\n/g, '\n');
+  this.text = text.replace(/\r\n/g, '\n');
+  return this.text;
 };
 
 /**
@@ -74,6 +78,7 @@ Literal.prototype.getText = function() {
 Literal.prototype.setBytes = function(bytes, format) {
   this.format = format;
   this.data = bytes;
+  this.text = null;
 };
 
 
@@ -82,6 +87,14 @@ Literal.prototype.setBytes = function(bytes, format) {
  * @returns {Uint8Array} A sequence of bytes
  */
 Literal.prototype.getBytes = function() {
+  if (this.data !== null) {
+    return this.data;
+  }
+
+  // normalize EOL to \r\n
+  const text = this.text.replace(/\r\n/g, '\n').replace(/\r/g, '\n').replace(/\n/g, '\r\n');
+  // encode UTF8
+  this.data = util.str_to_Uint8Array(util.encode_utf8(text));
   return this.data;
 };
 
diff --git a/src/packet/signature.js b/src/packet/signature.js
index e3210e01..936a1520 100644
--- a/src/packet/signature.js
+++ b/src/packet/signature.js
@@ -551,9 +551,15 @@ Signature.prototype.toSign = function (type, data) {
 
   switch (type) {
     case t.binary:
-    case t.text:
       return data.getBytes();
 
+    case t.text: {
+      let text = data.getText();
+      // normalize EOL to \r\n
+      text = text.replace(/\r\n/g, '\n').replace(/\r/g, '\n').replace(/\n/g, '\r\n');
+      // encode UTF8
+      return util.str_to_Uint8Array(util.encode_utf8(text));
+    }
     case t.standalone:
       return new Uint8Array(0);