diff --git a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt
index 8887badd2d..154f886ea6 100644
--- a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt
@@ -93,6 +93,10 @@ Trunk (unreleased changes)
     HADOOP-7766. The auth to local mappings are not being respected, with webhdfs 
     and security enabled. (jitendra)
 
+  OPTIMIZATIONS
+
+    HADOOP-7761. Improve the performance of raw comparisons. (todd)
+
 Release 0.23.0 - Unreleased
 
   INCOMPATIBLE CHANGES
diff --git a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/io/FastByteComparisons.java b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/io/FastByteComparisons.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..3f5881b2dd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/io/FastByteComparisons.java
@@ -0,0 +1,237 @@
+/**
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+ * distributed with this work for additional information
+ * regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+ * to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
+ * "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
+ * with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package org.apache.hadoop.io;
+
+import java.lang.reflect.Field;
+import java.nio.ByteOrder;
+import java.security.AccessController;
+import java.security.PrivilegedAction;
+
+import sun.misc.Unsafe;
+
+import com.google.common.primitives.Longs;
+import com.google.common.primitives.UnsignedBytes;
+
+/**
+ * Utility code to do optimized byte-array comparison.
+ * This is borrowed and slightly modified from Guava's {@link UnsignedBytes}
+ * class to be able to compare arrays that start at non-zero offsets.
+ */
+abstract class FastByteComparisons {
+
+  /**
+   * Lexicographically compare two byte arrays.
+   */
+  public static int compareTo(byte[] b1, int s1, int l1, byte[] b2, int s2,
+      int l2) {
+    return LexicographicalComparerHolder.BEST_COMPARER.compareTo(
+        b1, s1, l1, b2, s2, l2);
+  }
+
+  
+  private interface Comparer<T> {
+    abstract public int compareTo(T buffer1, int offset1, int length1,
+        T buffer2, int offset2, int length2);
+  }
+
+  private static Comparer<byte[]> lexicographicalComparerJavaImpl() {
+    return LexicographicalComparerHolder.PureJavaComparer.INSTANCE;
+  }
+
+
+  /**
+   * Provides a lexicographical comparer implementation; either a Java
+   * implementation or a faster implementation based on {@link Unsafe}.
+   *
+   * <p>Uses reflection to gracefully fall back to the Java implementation if
+   * {@code Unsafe} isn't available.
+   */
+  private static class LexicographicalComparerHolder {
+    static final String UNSAFE_COMPARER_NAME =
+        LexicographicalComparerHolder.class.getName() + "$UnsafeComparer";
+    
+    static final Comparer<byte[]> BEST_COMPARER = getBestComparer();
+    /**
+     * Returns the Unsafe-using Comparer, or falls back to the pure-Java
+     * implementation if unable to do so.
+     */
+    static Comparer<byte[]> getBestComparer() {
+      try {
+        Class<?> theClass = Class.forName(UNSAFE_COMPARER_NAME);
+
+        // yes, UnsafeComparer does implement Comparer<byte[]>
+        @SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
+        Comparer<byte[]> comparer =
+          (Comparer<byte[]>) theClass.getEnumConstants()[0];
+        return comparer;
+      } catch (Throwable t) { // ensure we really catch *everything*
+        return lexicographicalComparerJavaImpl();
+      }
+    }
+    
+    private enum PureJavaComparer implements Comparer<byte[]> {
+      INSTANCE;
+
+      @Override
+      public int compareTo(byte[] buffer1, int offset1, int length1,
+          byte[] buffer2, int offset2, int length2) {
+        // Short circuit equal case
+        if (buffer1 == buffer2 &&
+            offset1 == offset2 &&
+            length1 == length2) {
+          return 0;
+        }
+        // Bring WritableComparator code local
+        int end1 = offset1 + length1;
+        int end2 = offset2 + length2;
+        for (int i = offset1, j = offset2; i < end1 && j < end2; i++, j++) {
+          int a = (buffer1[i] & 0xff);
+          int b = (buffer2[j] & 0xff);
+          if (a != b) {
+            return a - b;
+          }
+        }
+        return length1 - length2;
+      }
+    }
+    
+    @SuppressWarnings("unused") // used via reflection
+    private enum UnsafeComparer implements Comparer<byte[]> {
+      INSTANCE;
+
+      static final Unsafe theUnsafe;
+
+      /** The offset to the first element in a byte array. */
+      static final int BYTE_ARRAY_BASE_OFFSET;
+
+      static {
+        theUnsafe = (Unsafe) AccessController.doPrivileged(
+            new PrivilegedAction<Object>() {
+              @Override
+              public Object run() {
+                try {
+                  Field f = Unsafe.class.getDeclaredField("theUnsafe");
+                  f.setAccessible(true);
+                  return f.get(null);
+                } catch (NoSuchFieldException e) {
+                  // It doesn't matter what we throw;
+                  // it's swallowed in getBestComparer().
+                  throw new Error();
+                } catch (IllegalAccessException e) {
+                  throw new Error();
+                }
+              }
+            });
+
+        BYTE_ARRAY_BASE_OFFSET = theUnsafe.arrayBaseOffset(byte[].class);
+
+        // sanity check - this should never fail
+        if (theUnsafe.arrayIndexScale(byte[].class) != 1) {
+          throw new AssertionError();
+        }
+      }
+
+      static final boolean littleEndian =
+        ByteOrder.nativeOrder().equals(ByteOrder.LITTLE_ENDIAN);
+
+      /**
+       * Returns true if x1 is less than x2, when both values are treated as
+       * unsigned.
+       */
+      static boolean lessThanUnsigned(long x1, long x2) {
+        return (x1 + Long.MIN_VALUE) < (x2 + Long.MIN_VALUE);
+      }
+
+      /**
+       * Lexicographically compare two arrays.
+       *
+       * @param buffer1 left operand
+       * @param buffer2 right operand
+       * @param offset1 Where to start comparing in the left buffer
+       * @param offset2 Where to start comparing in the right buffer
+       * @param length1 How much to compare from the left buffer
+       * @param length2 How much to compare from the right buffer
+       * @return 0 if equal, < 0 if left is less than right, etc.
+       */
+      @Override
+      public int compareTo(byte[] buffer1, int offset1, int length1,
+          byte[] buffer2, int offset2, int length2) {
+        // Short circuit equal case
+        if (buffer1 == buffer2 &&
+            offset1 == offset2 &&
+            length1 == length2) {
+          return 0;
+        }
+        int minLength = Math.min(length1, length2);
+        int minWords = minLength / Longs.BYTES;
+        int offset1Adj = offset1 + BYTE_ARRAY_BASE_OFFSET;
+        int offset2Adj = offset2 + BYTE_ARRAY_BASE_OFFSET;
+
+        /*
+         * Compare 8 bytes at a time. Benchmarking shows comparing 8 bytes at a
+         * time is no slower than comparing 4 bytes at a time even on 32-bit.
+         * On the other hand, it is substantially faster on 64-bit.
+         */
+        for (int i = 0; i < minWords * Longs.BYTES; i += Longs.BYTES) {
+          long lw = theUnsafe.getLong(buffer1, offset1Adj + (long) i);
+          long rw = theUnsafe.getLong(buffer2, offset2Adj + (long) i);
+          long diff = lw ^ rw;
+
+          if (diff != 0) {
+            if (!littleEndian) {
+              return lessThanUnsigned(lw, rw) ? -1 : 1;
+            }
+
+            // Use binary search
+            int n = 0;
+            int y;
+            int x = (int) diff;
+            if (x == 0) {
+              x = (int) (diff >>> 32);
+              n = 32;
+            }
+
+            y = x << 16;
+            if (y == 0) {
+              n += 16;
+            } else {
+              x = y;
+            }
+
+            y = x << 8;
+            if (y == 0) {
+              n += 8;
+            }
+            return (int) (((lw >>> n) & 0xFFL) - ((rw >>> n) & 0xFFL));
+          }
+        }
+
+        // The epilogue to cover the last (minLength % 8) elements.
+        for (int i = minWords * Longs.BYTES; i < minLength; i++) {
+          int result = UnsignedBytes.compare(
+              buffer1[offset1 + i],
+              buffer2[offset2 + i]);
+          if (result != 0) {
+            return result;
+          }
+        }
+        return length1 - length2;
+      }
+    }
+  }
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/io/WritableComparator.java b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/io/WritableComparator.java
index cab52cf2bd..6eb3a21443 100644
--- a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/io/WritableComparator.java
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/io/WritableComparator.java
@@ -151,16 +151,7 @@ public int compare(Object a, Object b) {
   /** Lexicographic order of binary data. */
   public static int compareBytes(byte[] b1, int s1, int l1,
                                  byte[] b2, int s2, int l2) {
-    int end1 = s1 + l1;
-    int end2 = s2 + l2;
-    for (int i = s1, j = s2; i < end1 && j < end2; i++, j++) {
-      int a = (b1[i] & 0xff);
-      int b = (b2[j] & 0xff);
-      if (a != b) {
-        return a - b;
-      }
-    }
-    return l1 - l2;
+    return FastByteComparisons.compareTo(b1, s1, l1, b2, s2, l2);
   }
 
   /** Compute hash for binary data. */