diff --git a/rust/src/bench/src/backends/streaming.rs b/rust/src/bench/src/backends/streaming.rs
index 16837a274a..90ec05cbc4 100644
--- a/rust/src/bench/src/backends/streaming.rs
+++ b/rust/src/bench/src/backends/streaming.rs
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
 /// Accumulates incoming byte chunks and extracts complete SSE messages.
 /// Mirrors Python's `StreamedResponseHandler` from endpoint_request_func.py:22-60.
 pub struct StreamedResponseHandler {
-    buffer: String,
+    buffer: Vec<u8>,
     /// Reusable message buffer — avoids allocating a new Vec per `add_chunk` call.
     messages: Vec<String>,
 }
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ pub struct StreamedResponseHandler {
 impl StreamedResponseHandler {
     pub fn new() -> Self {
         Self {
-            buffer: String::with_capacity(4096),
+            buffer: Vec::with_capacity(4096),
             messages: Vec::with_capacity(4),
         }
     }
@@ -26,12 +26,11 @@ impl StreamedResponseHandler {
     pub fn add_chunk(&mut self, chunk_bytes: &[u8]) -> &[String] {
         self.messages.clear();
 
-        let chunk_str = String::from_utf8_lossy(chunk_bytes);
-        self.buffer.push_str(&chunk_str);
+        self.buffer.extend_from_slice(chunk_bytes);
 
         // Split by double newlines (SSE message separator)
-        while let Some(pos) = self.buffer.find("\n\n") {
-            let message = self.buffer[..pos].trim().to_string();
+        while let Some(pos) = self.buffer.windows(2).position(|window| window == b"\n\n") {
+            let message = String::from_utf8_lossy(&self.buffer[..pos]).trim().to_string();
             // Efficiently remove consumed bytes by shifting remaining data
             self.buffer.drain(..pos + 2);
             if !message.is_empty() {
@@ -47,19 +46,20 @@ impl StreamedResponseHandler {
         //
         // Also handles multi-field SSE events where the buffer may start with
         // "event: ...\ndata: ..." (Dynamo frontend).
-        let data_start = if self.buffer.starts_with("data: ") {
+        let buffer = String::from_utf8_lossy(&self.buffer);
+        let data_start = if buffer.starts_with("data: ") {
             Some(0)
         } else {
             // Look for a "data: " line in multi-field events
-            self.buffer.find("\ndata: ").map(|p| p + 1)
+            buffer.find("\ndata: ").map(|p| p + 1)
         };
         if let Some(offset) = data_start {
-            let content = self.buffer[offset + 6..].trim();
+            let content = buffer[offset + 6..].trim();
             if content == "[DONE]"
                 || (!content.is_empty()
                     && serde_json::from_str::<&serde_json::value::RawValue>(content).is_ok())
             {
-                self.messages.push(self.buffer.trim().to_string());
+                self.messages.push(buffer.trim().to_string());
                 self.buffer.clear();
             }
         }
@@ -102,6 +102,26 @@ mod tests {
         assert_eq!(msgs2.len(), 1);
     }
 
+    #[test]
+    fn test_split_multibyte_utf8() {
+        let mut handler = StreamedResponseHandler::new();
+        let message = "data: {\"test\":\"中😀\"}\n\n";
+        let mut messages = Vec::new();
+
+        for chunk in message.as_bytes().chunks(1) {
+            messages.extend_from_slice(handler.add_chunk(chunk));
+        }
+
+        assert_eq!(messages, &[message.trim().to_string()]);
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn test_invalid_utf8_remains_lossy() {
+        let mut handler = StreamedResponseHandler::new();
+        let msgs = handler.add_chunk(b"data: {\"test\":\"\xFF\"}\n\n");
+        assert_eq!(msgs, &["data: {\"test\":\"�\"}".to_string()]);
+    }
+
     #[test]
     fn test_comment_lines() {
         let mut handler = StreamedResponseHandler::new();