diff --git a/benchmark.sh b/benchmark.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..8b99449
--- /dev/null
+++ b/benchmark.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+# Create a dummy file
+echo "This is a test file with some content to simulate reading." > dummy_file.txt
+
+ITERATIONS=1000
+
+echo "Benchmarking original method (cat | sed | tr)..."
+start_time=$(date +%s%N)
+for ((i=0; i<ITERATIONS; i++)); do
+    content=$(cat "dummy_file.txt" 2>/dev/null | sed 's// /g' 2>/dev/null | tr -cd '\11\12\15\40-\176' 2>/dev/null || echo "")
+done
+end_time=$(date +%s%N)
+duration=$((end_time - start_time))
+echo "Original method took: $((duration/1000000)) ms"
+
+echo "Benchmarking optimized method (tr < file)..."
+start_time=$(date +%s%N)
+for ((i=0; i<ITERATIONS; i++)); do
+    content=$(tr -cd '\11\12\15\40-\176' < "dummy_file.txt" 2>/dev/null || echo "")
+done
+end_time=$(date +%s%N)
+duration=$((end_time - start_time))
+echo "Optimized method took: $((duration/1000000)) ms"
+
+rm dummy_file.txt
diff --git a/codepack.sh b/codepack.sh
index 0d8ae2c..8f77854 100755
--- a/codepack.sh
+++ b/codepack.sh
@@ -851,7 +851,7 @@ extract_files_content() {
         # Read file content and clean invalid characters
         local content=""
         if [[ -r "$file" && -s "$file" ]]; then
-            content=$(cat "$file" 2>/dev/null | sed 's// /g' 2>/dev/null | tr -cd '\11\12\15\40-\176' 2>/dev/null || echo "")
+            content=$(tr -cd '\11\12\15\40-\176' < "$file" 2>/dev/null || echo "")
         fi
 
         debug_log "Content length: ${#content}" >&2