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index 0000000..d7197c0
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diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0a4da76
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+[package]
+name = "q565_rust"
+version = "0.1.0"
+edition = "2021"
+
+# See more keys and their definitions at https://doc.rust-lang.org/cargo/reference/manifest.html
+[lib]
+name = "q565_rust"
+path = "rust/lib.rs"
+crate-type = ["cdylib"]
+
+[dependencies]
+pyo3 = "0.19.0"
+q565 = "*"
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index c00629e..0c8e5d5 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -47,10 +47,19 @@ The app adds an icon to the systray that can be left clicked
 
 ## Development
 
+You must have python 3.11 and rust installed in your system
+
 checkout the repository or download the latest code and install python dependencies
 
 ```
-pip install --upgrade hidapi mss pillow winusbcdc>=1.5 libusb-package psutil pystray pyinstaller
+pip install -r requirements.txt --upgrade
+```
+
+build and install the q565 image compressor using rust
+
+```
+maturin build --release
+pip install ./target/wheels/q565_rust-0.1.0-cp311-none-win_amd64.whl --force-reinstall
 ```
 
 ## Usage
diff --git a/build.ps1 b/build.ps1
index a470c35..bf2288c 100644
--- a/build.ps1
+++ b/build.ps1
@@ -1 +1,3 @@
+maturin build --release
+pip install ./target/wheels/q565_rust-0.1.0-cp311-none-win_amd64.whl --force-reinstall
 pyinstaller --noconfirm --onefile --windowed --icon "./icon.ico" --add-data "./fonts;fonts/" --add-data "./images;images/" --add-data "./SignalRGBPlugin;SignalRGBPlugin/" "./signalrgb.py"
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/driver.py b/driver.py
index c65a84c..49e8b91 100644
--- a/driver.py
+++ b/driver.py
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@
 from PIL import Image, ImageDraw
 from q565 import encode_img
 from utils import debounce, timing, debugUsb
+import q565_rust
 
 _NZXT_VID = 0x1E71
 _DEFAULT_TIMEOUT_MS = 1000
@@ -435,7 +436,12 @@ def imageToFrame(self, img: Image.Image, adaptive=False) -> bytes:
                 output.append(0)
             return bytes(output)
         elif self.renderingMode == RENDERING_MODE.Q565:
-            return encode_img(img.convert("RGB"))
+            img = img.convert("RGB")
+            width, height = img.size
+            img_bytes = img.tobytes()
+            return q565_rust.py_encode(
+                width, height, img_bytes
+            )  # encode_img(img.convert("RGB"))
         else:
             byteio = BytesIO()
 
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..27f1011
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+[build-system]
+requires = ["maturin>=1.2,<2.0"]
+build-backend = "maturin"
+
+[project]
+name = "q565_rust"
+requires-python = ">=3.7"
+classifiers = [
+    "Programming Language :: Rust",
+    "Programming Language :: Python :: Implementation :: CPython",
+    "Programming Language :: Python :: Implementation :: PyPy",
+]
+
+[tool.maturin]
+features = ["pyo3/extension-module"]
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..dcfecb6
Binary files /dev/null and b/requirements.txt differ
diff --git a/rust/lib.rs b/rust/lib.rs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9812c9b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/rust/lib.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+use pyo3::{prelude::*, types::PyBytes};
+
+fn encode(width: u16, height: u16, rgb888_raw: &[u8]) -> Vec<u8> {
+
+  let mut v = Vec::with_capacity(1024 * 1024);
+  let mut vec: Vec<u16> = Vec::new();
+  for x in (0..rgb888_raw.len()).step_by(3) {
+    let r = (rgb888_raw[x + 0] as u32 * 249 + 1014) >> 11;
+    let g = (rgb888_raw[x + 1] as u32 * 253 + 505) >> 10;
+    let b = (rgb888_raw[x + 2] as u32 * 249 + 1014) >> 11;
+    vec.push(((r as u16) << 11) | ((g as u16) << 5) | (b as u16))
+}
+  let rgb565_raw: &[u16] = unsafe { std::slice::from_raw_parts(vec.as_ptr() as *const u16, vec.len()) };
+
+  q565::encode::Q565EncodeContext::encode_to_vec(
+    width as u16,
+    height as u16,
+    rgb565_raw,
+    &mut v
+  );
+
+  return v;
+}
+
+#[pyfunction]
+fn py_encode(py: Python, width: u16, height: u16, rgb888_raw: &[u8]) -> PyObject  {
+
+  let v = py.allow_threads(|| encode(width, height, rgb888_raw));
+
+
+  return PyBytes::new(py, &v).into();
+}
+
+/// A Python module implemented in Rust.
+#[pymodule]
+fn q565_rust(_py: Python, m: &PyModule) -> PyResult<()> {
+    m.add_function(wrap_pyfunction!(py_encode, m)?)?;
+    Ok(())
+}
\ No newline at end of file