diff --git a/yxml.c b/yxml.c
index 10f88dc..23d04a9 100644
--- a/yxml.c
+++ b/yxml.c
@@ -116,14 +116,9 @@
 #define INTFROM5CHARS(a, b, c, d, e) ((((uint64_t)(a))<<32) | (((uint64_t)(b))<<24) | (((uint64_t)(c))<<16) | (((uint64_t)(d))<<8) | (uint64_t)(e))
 
 
-/* Set the given char value to ch (0<=ch<=255).
- * This can't be done with simple assignment because char may be signed, and
- * unsigned-to-signed overflow is implementation defined in C. This function
- * /looks/ inefficient, but gcc compiles it down to a single movb instruction
- * on x86, even with -O0. */
+/* Set the given char value to ch (0<=ch<=255). */
 static inline void yxml_setchar(char *dest, unsigned ch) {
-	unsigned char _ch = ch;
-	memcpy(dest, &_ch, 1);
+	*(unsigned char *)dest = ch;
 }
 
 
diff --git a/yxml.c.in b/yxml.c.in
index cd73e9e..216b3f6 100644
--- a/yxml.c.in
+++ b/yxml.c.in
@@ -48,14 +48,9 @@
 #define INTFROM5CHARS(a, b, c, d, e) ((((uint64_t)(a))<<32) | (((uint64_t)(b))<<24) | (((uint64_t)(c))<<16) | (((uint64_t)(d))<<8) | (uint64_t)(e))
 
 
-/* Set the given char value to ch (0<=ch<=255).
- * This can't be done with simple assignment because char may be signed, and
- * unsigned-to-signed overflow is implementation defined in C. This function
- * /looks/ inefficient, but gcc compiles it down to a single movb instruction
- * on x86, even with -O0. */
+/* Set the given char value to ch (0<=ch<=255). */
 static inline void yxml_setchar(char *dest, unsigned ch) {
-	unsigned char _ch = ch;
-	memcpy(dest, &_ch, 1);
+	*(unsigned char *)dest = ch;
 }