diff --git a/common/go.mod b/common/go.mod
index 8c734fe160..932afb2fa4 100644
--- a/common/go.mod
+++ b/common/go.mod
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ require (
 	github.com/gorilla/mux v1.8.0 // indirect
 	github.com/hashicorp/go-multierror v1.1.1
 	github.com/jinzhu/copier v0.3.2
+	github.com/json-iterator/go v1.1.12
 	github.com/mitchellh/mapstructure v1.4.2
 	github.com/moby/term v0.0.0-20201216013528-df9cb8a40635 // indirect
 	github.com/onsi/ginkgo v1.16.4
diff --git a/common/go.sum b/common/go.sum
index 6e900b75a6..f8e4d19a78 100644
--- a/common/go.sum
+++ b/common/go.sum
@@ -495,6 +495,8 @@ github.com/json-iterator/go v1.1.7/go.mod h1:KdQUCv79m/52Kvf8AW2vK1V8akMuk1QjK/u
 github.com/json-iterator/go v1.1.10/go.mod h1:KdQUCv79m/52Kvf8AW2vK1V8akMuk1QjK/uOdHXbAo4=
 github.com/json-iterator/go v1.1.11 h1:uVUAXhF2To8cbw/3xN3pxj6kk7TYKs98NIrTqPlMWAQ=
 github.com/json-iterator/go v1.1.11/go.mod h1:KdQUCv79m/52Kvf8AW2vK1V8akMuk1QjK/uOdHXbAo4=
+github.com/json-iterator/go v1.1.12 h1:PV8peI4a0ysnczrg+LtxykD8LfKY9ML6u2jnxaEnrnM=
+github.com/json-iterator/go v1.1.12/go.mod h1:e30LSqwooZae/UwlEbR2852Gd8hjQvJoHmT4TnhNGBo=
 github.com/jstemmer/go-junit-report v0.0.0-20190106144839-af01ea7f8024/go.mod h1:6v2b51hI/fHJwM22ozAgKL4VKDeJcHhJFhtBdhmNjmU=
 github.com/jstemmer/go-junit-report v0.9.1/go.mod h1:Brl9GWCQeLvo8nXZwPNNblvFj/XSXhF0NWZEnDohbsk=
 github.com/jtolds/gls v4.20.0+incompatible/go.mod h1:QJZ7F/aHp+rZTRtaJ1ow/lLfFfVYBRgL+9YlvaHOwJU=
@@ -580,6 +582,8 @@ github.com/modern-go/concurrent v0.0.0-20180306012644-bacd9c7ef1dd/go.mod h1:6dJ
 github.com/modern-go/reflect2 v0.0.0-20180701023420-4b7aa43c6742/go.mod h1:bx2lNnkwVCuqBIxFjflWJWanXIb3RllmbCylyMrvgv0=
 github.com/modern-go/reflect2 v1.0.1 h1:9f412s+6RmYXLWZSEzVVgPGK7C2PphHj5RJrvfx9AWI=
 github.com/modern-go/reflect2 v1.0.1/go.mod h1:bx2lNnkwVCuqBIxFjflWJWanXIb3RllmbCylyMrvgv0=
+github.com/modern-go/reflect2 v1.0.2 h1:xBagoLtFs94CBntxluKeaWgTMpvLxC4ur3nMaC9Gz0M=
+github.com/modern-go/reflect2 v1.0.2/go.mod h1:yWuevngMOJpCy52FWWMvUC8ws7m/LJsjYzDa0/r8luk=
 github.com/morikuni/aec v1.0.0 h1:nP9CBfwrvYnBRgY6qfDQkygYDmYwOilePFkwzv4dU8A=
 github.com/morikuni/aec v1.0.0/go.mod h1:BbKIizmSmc5MMPqRYbxO4ZU0S0+P200+tUnFx7PXmsc=
 github.com/mrunalp/fileutils v0.5.0/go.mod h1:M1WthSahJixYnrXQl/DFQuteStB1weuxD2QJNHXfbSQ=
diff --git a/common/libimage/copier.go b/common/libimage/copier.go
index 636b97bfde..4f5c7d0a16 100644
--- a/common/libimage/copier.go
+++ b/common/libimage/copier.go
@@ -2,7 +2,6 @@ package libimage
 
 import (
 	"context"
-	"encoding/json"
 	"io"
 	"os"
 	"strings"
diff --git a/common/libimage/corrupted_test.go b/common/libimage/corrupted_test.go
index 6140728378..ace2d2640e 100644
--- a/common/libimage/corrupted_test.go
+++ b/common/libimage/corrupted_test.go
@@ -2,7 +2,6 @@ package libimage
 
 import (
 	"context"
-	"encoding/json"
 	"io/ioutil"
 	"os"
 	"path/filepath"
diff --git a/common/libimage/image_config.go b/common/libimage/image_config.go
index b571211829..1402024405 100644
--- a/common/libimage/image_config.go
+++ b/common/libimage/image_config.go
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 package libimage
 
 import (
-	"encoding/json"
 	"fmt"
 	"path/filepath"
 	"strconv"
diff --git a/common/libimage/inspect.go b/common/libimage/inspect.go
index 3497091551..a872e5cf9d 100644
--- a/common/libimage/inspect.go
+++ b/common/libimage/inspect.go
@@ -2,7 +2,6 @@ package libimage
 
 import (
 	"context"
-	"encoding/json"
 	"time"
 
 	"github.com/containers/image/v5/manifest"
diff --git a/common/libimage/runtime.go b/common/libimage/runtime.go
index dabadbec0e..7f25df2005 100644
--- a/common/libimage/runtime.go
+++ b/common/libimage/runtime.go
@@ -13,10 +13,14 @@ import (
 	"github.com/containers/image/v5/types"
 	"github.com/containers/storage"
 	deepcopy "github.com/jinzhu/copier"
+	jsoniter "github.com/json-iterator/go"
 	"github.com/pkg/errors"
 	"github.com/sirupsen/logrus"
 )
 
+// Faster than the standard library, see https://github.com/json-iterator/go.
+var json = jsoniter.ConfigCompatibleWithStandardLibrary
+
 // RuntimeOptions allow for creating a customized Runtime.
 type RuntimeOptions struct {
 	// The base system context of the runtime which will be used throughout
diff --git a/common/vendor/modules.txt b/common/vendor/modules.txt
index 575b548d42..36bc25a73a 100644
--- a/common/vendor/modules.txt
+++ b/common/vendor/modules.txt
@@ -260,6 +260,7 @@ github.com/inconshreveable/mousetrap
 ## explicit
 github.com/jinzhu/copier
 # github.com/json-iterator/go v1.1.11
+## explicit
 github.com/json-iterator/go
 # github.com/juju/ansiterm v0.0.0-20180109212912-720a0952cc2a
 github.com/juju/ansiterm