diff --git a/seqio/test_utils.py b/seqio/test_utils.py
index 946c7421..1830d79a 100644
--- a/seqio/test_utils.py
+++ b/seqio/test_utils.py
@@ -1265,12 +1265,14 @@ def sentencepiece_vocab(
         sentencepiece_model_pb2.NormalizerSpec
     ] = None,
     reverse_extra_ids: bool = True,
+    use_fast_tokenizer: bool = False,
 ):
   return vocabularies.SentencePieceVocabulary(
       os.path.join(TEST_DATA_DIR, "sentencepiece", "sentencepiece.model"),
       extra_ids=extra_ids,
       normalizer_spec_overrides=normalizer_spec_overrides,
       reverse_extra_ids=reverse_extra_ids,
+      use_fast_tokenizer=use_fast_tokenizer,
   )
 
 
diff --git a/seqio/vocabularies.py b/seqio/vocabularies.py
index 85799271..658d7530 100644
--- a/seqio/vocabularies.py
+++ b/seqio/vocabularies.py
@@ -285,6 +285,7 @@ def __init__(
           sentencepiece_model_pb2.NormalizerSpec
       ] = None,
       reverse_extra_ids: bool = True,
+      use_fast_tokenizer: bool = False,
   ):
     """Create a SentencePieceVocabulary.
 
@@ -300,11 +301,14 @@ def __init__(
       reverse_extra_ids: if True, extra_ids are numbered in descending order, so
         the first extra_id has the highest number. This is done for
         compatibility with span_corruption mask generation in T5.
+      use_fast_tokenizer: use the tf_text fastsentencepiecetokenizer 
+        implementation which runs much faster.
     """
     self._sentencepiece_model_file = sentencepiece_model_file
     self._normalizer_spec_overrides = normalizer_spec_overrides
     self._reverse_extra_ids = reverse_extra_ids
     self._model: Optional[SentencePieceVocabulary._ModelContext] = None
+    self._use_fast_tokenizer = use_fast_tokenizer
 
     super().__init__(extra_ids=extra_ids)
 
@@ -436,6 +440,8 @@ def tokenizer(self) -> sentencepiece_processor.SentencePieceProcessor:
   @property
   def tf_tokenizer(self):
     """Instantiate and return a TF tokenizer."""
+    if self._use_fast_tokenizer:
+      return tf_text.FastSentencepieceTokenizer(model=self.sp_model)
     return tf_text.SentencepieceTokenizer(model=self.sp_model)
 
   @property
diff --git a/seqio/vocabularies_test.py b/seqio/vocabularies_test.py
index 51883718..a8077057 100644
--- a/seqio/vocabularies_test.py
+++ b/seqio/vocabularies_test.py
@@ -298,6 +298,20 @@ def test_extra_ids(self):
         test_tokens, tuple(vocab.encode_tf(test_string).numpy())
     )
 
+  def test_fast_tokenizer(self):
+    vocab = test_utils.sentencepiece_vocab(
+        extra_ids=10, use_fast_tokenizer=True)
+    self.assertEqual(36, vocab.vocab_size)
+    self.assertEqual("v", vocab.decode([25]))
+    test_string = "<extra_id_0> <extra_id_1> v <extra_id_9>"
+    test_tokens = (35, 34, 3, 25, 26)
+    self.assertEqual(test_string, vocab.decode(test_tokens))
+    self.assertEqual(test_string, _decode_tf(vocab, test_tokens))
+    self.assertSequenceEqual(test_tokens, vocab.encode(test_string))
+    self.assertSequenceEqual(
+        test_tokens, tuple(vocab.encode_tf(test_string).numpy())
+    )
+
   def test_force_repeated_whitespace_preservation(self):
     test_string = "a a  a   a"  # string with repeated whitespaces