diff --git a/codec.go b/codec.go
index 0a63f12..bdbeba6 100644
--- a/codec.go
+++ b/codec.go
@@ -55,7 +55,7 @@ func stringToBytes(s string) ([]byte, error) {
 		}
 		err = p.Transcoder.ValidateBytes(a)
 		if err != nil {
-			return nil, err
+			return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to validate multiaddr %q: invalid value %q for protocol %s: %w", s, sp[0], p.Name, err)
 		}
 		if p.Size < 0 { // varint size.
 			_, _ = b.Write(varint.ToUvarint(uint64(len(a))))
@@ -79,12 +79,16 @@ func readComponent(b []byte) (int, Component, error) {
 	if p.Code == 0 {
 		return 0, Component{}, fmt.Errorf("no protocol with code %d", code)
 	}
+	pPtr := protocolPtrByCode[code]
+	if pPtr == nil {
+		return 0, Component{}, fmt.Errorf("no protocol with code %d", code)
+	}
 
 	if p.Size == 0 {
 		c, err := validateComponent(Component{
-			bytes:    string(b[:offset]),
-			offset:   offset,
-			protocol: p,
+			bytes:         string(b[:offset]),
+			valueStartIdx: offset,
+			protocol:      pPtr,
 		})
 
 		return offset, c, err
@@ -109,9 +113,9 @@ func readComponent(b []byte) (int, Component, error) {
 	}
 
 	c, err := validateComponent(Component{
-		bytes:    string(b[:offset+size]),
-		protocol: p,
-		offset:   offset,
+		bytes:         string(b[:offset+size]),
+		protocol:      pPtr,
+		valueStartIdx: offset,
 	})
 
 	return offset + size, c, err
diff --git a/component.go b/component.go
index aa8f4ef..39f5d5a 100644
--- a/component.go
+++ b/component.go
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 package multiaddr
 
 import (
+	"bytes"
 	"encoding/binary"
 	"encoding/json"
 	"fmt"
@@ -11,9 +12,11 @@ import (
 
 // Component is a single multiaddr Component.
 type Component struct {
-	bytes    string // Uses the string type to ensure immutability.
-	protocol Protocol
-	offset   int
+	// bytes is the raw bytes of the component. It includes the protocol code as
+	// varint, possibly the size of the value, and the value.
+	bytes         string // string for immutability.
+	protocol      *Protocol
+	valueStartIdx int // Index of the first byte of the Component's value in the bytes array
 }
 
 func (c Component) AsMultiaddr() Multiaddr {
@@ -107,10 +110,16 @@ func (c Component) Compare(o Component) int {
 }
 
 func (c Component) Protocols() []Protocol {
-	return []Protocol{c.protocol}
+	if c.protocol == nil {
+		return nil
+	}
+	return []Protocol{*c.protocol}
 }
 
 func (c Component) ValueForProtocol(code int) (string, error) {
+	if c.protocol == nil {
+		return "", fmt.Errorf("component has nil protocol")
+	}
 	if c.protocol.Code != code {
 		return "", ErrProtocolNotFound
 	}
@@ -118,11 +127,14 @@ func (c Component) ValueForProtocol(code int) (string, error) {
 }
 
 func (c Component) Protocol() Protocol {
-	return c.protocol
+	if c.protocol == nil {
+		return Protocol{}
+	}
+	return *c.protocol
 }
 
 func (c Component) RawValue() []byte {
-	return []byte(c.bytes[c.offset:])
+	return []byte(c.bytes[c.valueStartIdx:])
 }
 
 func (c Component) Value() string {
@@ -135,10 +147,13 @@ func (c Component) Value() string {
 }
 
 func (c Component) valueAndErr() (string, error) {
+	if c.protocol == nil {
+		return "", fmt.Errorf("component has nil protocol")
+	}
 	if c.protocol.Transcoder == nil {
 		return "", nil
 	}
-	value, err := c.protocol.Transcoder.BytesToString([]byte(c.bytes[c.offset:]))
+	value, err := c.protocol.Transcoder.BytesToString([]byte(c.bytes[c.valueStartIdx:]))
 	if err != nil {
 		return "", err
 	}
@@ -154,6 +169,9 @@ func (c Component) String() string {
 // writeTo is an efficient, private function for string-formatting a multiaddr.
 // Trust me, we tend to allocate a lot when doing this.
 func (c Component) writeTo(b *strings.Builder) {
+	if c.protocol == nil {
+		return
+	}
 	b.WriteByte('/')
 	b.WriteString(c.protocol.Name)
 	value := c.Value()
@@ -185,6 +203,11 @@ func NewComponent(protocol, value string) (Component, error) {
 }
 
 func newComponent(protocol Protocol, bvalue []byte) (Component, error) {
+	protocolPtr := protocolPtrByCode[protocol.Code]
+	if protocolPtr == nil {
+		protocolPtr = &protocol
+	}
+
 	size := len(bvalue)
 	size += len(protocol.VCode)
 	if protocol.Size < 0 {
@@ -205,9 +228,9 @@ func newComponent(protocol Protocol, bvalue []byte) (Component, error) {
 
 	return validateComponent(
 		Component{
-			bytes:    string(maddr),
-			protocol: protocol,
-			offset:   offset,
+			bytes:         string(maddr),
+			protocol:      protocolPtr,
+			valueStartIdx: offset,
 		})
 }
 
@@ -215,13 +238,53 @@ func newComponent(protocol Protocol, bvalue []byte) (Component, error) {
 // It ensures that we will be able to call all methods on Component without
 // error.
 func validateComponent(c Component) (Component, error) {
+	if c.protocol == nil {
+		return Component{}, fmt.Errorf("component is missing its protocol")
+	}
+	if c.valueStartIdx > len(c.bytes) {
+		return Component{}, fmt.Errorf("component valueStartIdx is greater than the length of the component's bytes")
+	}
+
+	if len(c.protocol.VCode) == 0 {
+		return Component{}, fmt.Errorf("Component is missing its protocol's VCode field")
+	}
+	if len(c.bytes) < len(c.protocol.VCode) {
+		return Component{}, fmt.Errorf("component size mismatch: %d != %d", len(c.bytes), len(c.protocol.VCode))
+	}
+	if !bytes.Equal([]byte(c.bytes[:len(c.protocol.VCode)]), c.protocol.VCode) {
+		return Component{}, fmt.Errorf("component's VCode field is invalid: %v != %v", []byte(c.bytes[:len(c.protocol.VCode)]), c.protocol.VCode)
+	}
+	if c.protocol.Size < 0 {
+		size, n, err := ReadVarintCode([]byte(c.bytes[len(c.protocol.VCode):]))
+		if err != nil {
+			return Component{}, err
+		}
+		if size != len(c.bytes[c.valueStartIdx:]) {
+			return Component{}, fmt.Errorf("component value size mismatch: %d != %d", size, len(c.bytes[c.valueStartIdx:]))
+		}
+
+		if len(c.protocol.VCode)+n+size != len(c.bytes) {
+			return Component{}, fmt.Errorf("component size mismatch: %d != %d", len(c.protocol.VCode)+n+size, len(c.bytes))
+		}
+	} else {
+		// Fixed size value
+		size := c.protocol.Size / 8
+		if size != len(c.bytes[c.valueStartIdx:]) {
+			return Component{}, fmt.Errorf("component value size mismatch: %d != %d", size, len(c.bytes[c.valueStartIdx:]))
+		}
+
+		if len(c.protocol.VCode)+size != len(c.bytes) {
+			return Component{}, fmt.Errorf("component size mismatch: %d != %d", len(c.protocol.VCode)+size, len(c.bytes))
+		}
+	}
+
 	_, err := c.valueAndErr()
 	if err != nil {
 		return Component{}, err
 
 	}
 	if c.protocol.Transcoder != nil {
-		err = c.protocol.Transcoder.ValidateBytes([]byte(c.bytes[c.offset:]))
+		err = c.protocol.Transcoder.ValidateBytes([]byte(c.bytes[c.valueStartIdx:]))
 		if err != nil {
 			return Component{}, err
 		}
diff --git a/matest/matest.go b/matest/matest.go
index aa76655..b361468 100644
--- a/matest/matest.go
+++ b/matest/matest.go
@@ -72,6 +72,9 @@ type MultiaddrMatcher struct {
 	multiaddr.Multiaddr
 }
 
+// Implements the Matcher interface for gomock.Matcher
+// Let's us use this struct in gomock tests. Example:
+// Expect(mock.Method(gomock.Any(), multiaddrMatcher).Return(nil)
 func (m MultiaddrMatcher) Matches(x interface{}) bool {
 	if m2, ok := x.(multiaddr.Multiaddr); ok {
 		return m.Equal(m2)
diff --git a/multiaddr_test.go b/multiaddr_test.go
index b281c2d..95b57f4 100644
--- a/multiaddr_test.go
+++ b/multiaddr_test.go
@@ -1132,3 +1132,43 @@ func FuzzSplitRoundtrip(f *testing.F) {
 		}
 	})
 }
+
+func BenchmarkComponentValidation(b *testing.B) {
+	comp, err := NewComponent("ip4", "127.0.0.1")
+	if err != nil {
+		b.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	b.ReportAllocs()
+	for i := 0; i < b.N; i++ {
+		_, err := validateComponent(comp)
+		if err != nil {
+			b.Fatal(err)
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+func FuzzComponents(f *testing.F) {
+	for _, v := range good {
+		m := StringCast(v)
+		for _, c := range m {
+			f.Add(c.Bytes())
+		}
+	}
+	f.Fuzz(func(t *testing.T, compBytes []byte) {
+		n, c, err := readComponent(compBytes)
+		if err != nil {
+			t.Skip()
+		}
+		if c.protocol == nil {
+			t.Fatal("component has nil protocol")
+		}
+		if c.protocol.Code == 0 {
+			t.Fatal("component has nil protocol code")
+		}
+		if !bytes.Equal(c.Bytes(), compBytes[:n]) {
+			t.Logf("component bytes: %v", c.Bytes())
+			t.Logf("original bytes: %v", compBytes[:n])
+			t.Fatal("component bytes are not equal to the original bytes")
+		}
+	})
+}
diff --git a/protocol.go b/protocol.go
index 61a2924..d0ce032 100644
--- a/protocol.go
+++ b/protocol.go
@@ -47,6 +47,9 @@ type Protocol struct {
 var protocolsByName = map[string]Protocol{}
 var protocolsByCode = map[int]Protocol{}
 
+// Keep a map of pointers so that we can reuse the same pointer for the same protocol.
+var protocolPtrByCode = map[int]*Protocol{}
+
 // Protocols is the list of multiaddr protocols supported by this module.
 var Protocols = []Protocol{}
 
@@ -65,10 +68,14 @@ func AddProtocol(p Protocol) error {
 	if p.Path && p.Size >= 0 {
 		return fmt.Errorf("path protocols must have variable-length sizes")
 	}
+	if len(p.VCode) == 0 {
+		return fmt.Errorf("protocol code %d is missing its VCode field", p.Code)
+	}
 
 	Protocols = append(Protocols, p)
 	protocolsByName[p.Name] = p
 	protocolsByCode[p.Code] = p
+	protocolPtrByCode[p.Code] = &p
 	return nil
 }