diff --git a/src/Microsoft.ML.Tokenizers/Utils/BytePairEncoder.cs b/src/Microsoft.ML.Tokenizers/Utils/BytePairEncoder.cs
index 523db677ee..d6254fadf7 100644
--- a/src/Microsoft.ML.Tokenizers/Utils/BytePairEncoder.cs
+++ b/src/Microsoft.ML.Tokenizers/Utils/BytePairEncoder.cs
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 // See the LICENSE file in the project root for more information.
 
 using System;
+using System.Buffers;
 using System.Collections.Generic;
 
 namespace Microsoft.ML.Tokenizers
@@ -19,14 +20,21 @@ public static int[] BytePairEncode(ReadOnlyMemory<byte> mergingBytes, Dictionary
                 return [ranks[mergingBytes]];
             }
 
-            var byteIndicesAndRanks = new List<(int Index, int Rank)>();
-            for (int i = 0; i < mergingBytes.Length + 1; i++)
+            (int Index, int Rank)[]? arrayPoolArray = null;
+            int requiredLength = mergingBytes.Length + 1;
+            Span<(int Index, int Rank)> byteIndicesAndRanks = requiredLength <= 64 ?
+                stackalloc (int, int)[64] :
+                (arrayPoolArray = ArrayPool<(int, int)>.Shared.Rent(requiredLength));
+            byteIndicesAndRanks = byteIndicesAndRanks.Slice(0, requiredLength);
+
+            for (int i = 0; i < byteIndicesAndRanks.Length; i++)
             {
-                byteIndicesAndRanks.Add((i, int.MaxValue));
+                byteIndicesAndRanks[i] = (i, int.MaxValue);
             }
-            int GetRank(int startIndex, int skip = 0)
+
+            int GetRank(Span<(int Index, int Rank)> byteIndicesAndRanks, int startIndex, int skip = 0)
             {
-                if (startIndex + skip + 2 < byteIndicesAndRanks.Count)
+                if (startIndex + skip + 2 < byteIndicesAndRanks.Length)
                 {
                     var slice = mergingBytes.SliceStartEnd(byteIndicesAndRanks[startIndex].Index, byteIndicesAndRanks[startIndex + skip + 2].Index);
                     if (ranks.TryGetValue(slice, out var rank))
@@ -34,35 +42,41 @@ int GetRank(int startIndex, int skip = 0)
                         return rank;
                     }
                 }
+
                 return int.MaxValue;
             }
-            for (int i = 0; i < byteIndicesAndRanks.Count - 2; i++)
+
+            for (int i = 0; i < byteIndicesAndRanks.Length - 2; i++)
             {
-                var rank = GetRank(i);
+                int rank = GetRank(byteIndicesAndRanks, i);
                 if (rank != int.MaxValue)
                 {
-                    byteIndicesAndRanks[i] = (byteIndicesAndRanks[i].Index, rank);
+                    byteIndicesAndRanks[i].Rank = rank;
                 }
             }
-            while (byteIndicesAndRanks.Count > 1)
+
+            while (byteIndicesAndRanks.Length > 1)
             {
                 var minRank = (Index: 0, Rank: int.MaxValue);
-                for (int i = 0; i < byteIndicesAndRanks.Count - 1; i++)
+                for (int i = 0; i < byteIndicesAndRanks.Length - 1; i++)
                 {
                     if (byteIndicesAndRanks[i].Rank < minRank.Rank)
                     {
                         minRank = (i, byteIndicesAndRanks[i].Rank);
                     }
                 }
+
                 if (minRank.Rank != int.MaxValue)
                 {
                     int j = minRank.Index;
-                    byteIndicesAndRanks[j] = (byteIndicesAndRanks[j].Index, GetRank(j, 1));
+                    byteIndicesAndRanks[j].Rank = GetRank(byteIndicesAndRanks, j, 1);
                     if (j > 0)
                     {
-                        byteIndicesAndRanks[j - 1] = (byteIndicesAndRanks[j - 1].Index, GetRank(j - 1, 1));
+                        byteIndicesAndRanks[j - 1].Rank = GetRank(byteIndicesAndRanks, j - 1, 1);
                     }
-                    byteIndicesAndRanks.RemoveAt(j + 1);
+
+                    byteIndicesAndRanks.Slice(j + 2).CopyTo(byteIndicesAndRanks.Slice(j + 1));
+                    byteIndicesAndRanks = byteIndicesAndRanks.Slice(0, byteIndicesAndRanks.Length - 1);
                 }
                 else
                 {
@@ -70,12 +84,18 @@ int GetRank(int startIndex, int skip = 0)
                 }
             }
 
-            var outList = new int[byteIndicesAndRanks.Count - 1];
-            for (int i = 0; i < byteIndicesAndRanks.Count - 1; i++)
+            var result = new int[byteIndicesAndRanks.Length - 1];
+            for (int i = 0; i < result.Length; i++)
             {
-                outList[i] = ranks[mergingBytes.SliceStartEnd(byteIndicesAndRanks[i].Index, byteIndicesAndRanks[i + 1].Index)];
+                result[i] = ranks[mergingBytes.SliceStartEnd(byteIndicesAndRanks[i].Index, byteIndicesAndRanks[i + 1].Index)];
             }
-            return outList;
+
+            if (arrayPoolArray is not null)
+            {
+                ArrayPool<(int, int)>.Shared.Return(arrayPoolArray);
+            }
+
+            return result;
         }
 
         private static ReadOnlyMemory<byte> SliceStartEnd(this ReadOnlyMemory<byte> memory, int start, int end) => memory.Slice(start, end - start);