diff --git a/src/BufferLine.ts b/src/BufferLine.ts
index c16c3808..7c70c93b 100644
--- a/src/BufferLine.ts
+++ b/src/BufferLine.ts
@@ -248,6 +248,59 @@ export class BufferLine implements IBufferLine {
     }
   }
 
+  /**
+   * Set cell data from input handler.
+   * Since the input handler see the incoming chars as UTF32 codepoints,
+   * it gets an optimized access method.
+   */
+  public setDataFromCodePoint(index: number, codePoint: number, width: number, fg: number, bg: number): void {
+    this._data[index * CELL_SIZE + Cell.CONTENT] = codePoint | (width << Content.WIDTH_SHIFT);
+    this._data[index * CELL_SIZE + Cell.FG] = fg;
+    this._data[index * CELL_SIZE + Cell.BG] = bg;
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Add a char to a cell from input handler.
+   * During input stage combining chars with a width of 0 follow and stack
+   * onto a leading char. Since we already set the attrs
+   * by the previous `setDataFromCodePoint` call, we can omit it here.
+   */
+  public addCharToCell(index: number, codePoint: number): void {
+    let content = this._data[index * CELL_SIZE + Cell.CONTENT];
+    if (content & Content.IS_COMBINED) {
+      // we already have a combined string, simply add
+      this._combined[index] += stringFromCodePoint(codePoint);
+    } else {
+      if (content & Content.CODEPOINT_MASK) {
+        // normal case for combining chars:
+        //  - move current leading char + new one into combined string
+        //  - set codepoint in cell buffer to index
+        //  - set combined flag
+        this._combined[index] = stringFromCodePoint(content & Content.CODEPOINT_MASK) + stringFromCodePoint(codePoint);
+        content &= ~Content.CODEPOINT_MASK;
+        content |= index | Content.IS_COMBINED;
+      } else {
+        // should not happen - we actually have no data in the cell yet
+        // simply set the data in the cell buffer with a width of 1
+        content = codePoint | (1 << Content.WIDTH_SHIFT);
+      }
+      this._data[index * CELL_SIZE + Cell.CONTENT] = content;
+    }
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Set data from another buffer cell.
+   * Useful for basic in buffer copy action.
+   */
+  public setDataFromCellData(index: number, content: number, fg: number, bg: number, combined?: string): void {
+    this._data[index * CELL_SIZE + Cell.CONTENT] = content;
+    this._data[index * CELL_SIZE + Cell.FG] = fg;
+    this._data[index * CELL_SIZE + Cell.BG] = bg;
+    if (content & Content.IS_COMBINED && combined) {
+      this._combined[index] = combined;
+    }
+  }
+
   public insertCells(pos: number, n: number, fillCharData: CharData): void {
     pos %= this.length;
     if (n < this.length - pos) {
diff --git a/src/InputHandler.ts b/src/InputHandler.ts
index e270a5f3..bf8149b2 100644
--- a/src/InputHandler.ts
+++ b/src/InputHandler.ts
@@ -331,7 +331,6 @@ export class InputHandler extends Disposable implements IInputHandler {
 
   public print(data: Uint32Array, start: number, end: number): void {
     let code: number;
-    let char: string;
     let chWidth: number;
     const buffer: IBuffer = this._terminal.buffer;
     const charset: ICharset = this._terminal.charset;
@@ -345,7 +344,6 @@ export class InputHandler extends Disposable implements IInputHandler {
     this._terminal.updateRange(buffer.y);
     for (let pos = start; pos < end; ++pos) {
       code = data[pos];
-      char = stringFromCodePoint(code);
 
       // calculate print space
       // expensive call, therefore we save width in line buffer
@@ -355,15 +353,14 @@ export class InputHandler extends Disposable implements IInputHandler {
       // charset are only defined for ASCII, therefore we only
       // search for an replacement char if code < 127
       if (code < 127 && charset) {
-        const ch = charset[char];
+        const ch = charset[String.fromCharCode(code)];
         if (ch) {
           code = ch.charCodeAt(0);
-          char = ch;
         }
       }
 
       if (screenReaderMode) {
-        this._terminal.emit('a11y.char', char);
+        this._terminal.emit('a11y.char', stringFromCodePoint(code));
       }
 
       // insert combining char at last cursor position
@@ -380,12 +377,12 @@ export class InputHandler extends Disposable implements IInputHandler {
             // since an empty cell is only set by fullwidth chars
             const chMinusTwo = bufferRow.get(buffer.x - 2);
             if (chMinusTwo) {
-              chMinusTwo[CHAR_DATA_CHAR_INDEX] += char;
+              chMinusTwo[CHAR_DATA_CHAR_INDEX] += stringFromCodePoint(code);
               chMinusTwo[CHAR_DATA_CODE_INDEX] = code;
               bufferRow.set(buffer.x - 2, chMinusTwo); // must be set explicitly now
             }
           } else {
-            chMinusOne[CHAR_DATA_CHAR_INDEX] += char;
+            chMinusOne[CHAR_DATA_CHAR_INDEX] += stringFromCodePoint(code);
             chMinusOne[CHAR_DATA_CODE_INDEX] = code;
             bufferRow.set(buffer.x - 1, chMinusOne); // must be set explicitly now
           }
@@ -438,7 +435,7 @@ export class InputHandler extends Disposable implements IInputHandler {
       }
 
       // write current char to buffer and advance cursor
-      bufferRow.set(buffer.x++, [curAttr, char, chWidth, code]);
+      bufferRow.set(buffer.x++, [curAttr, stringFromCodePoint(code), chWidth, code]);
 
       // fullwidth char - also set next cell to placeholder stub and advance cursor
       // for graphemes bigger than fullwidth we can simply loop to zero
diff --git a/src/Types.ts b/src/Types.ts
index 60b86de1..5c4b4880 100644
--- a/src/Types.ts
+++ b/src/Types.ts
@@ -519,6 +519,9 @@ export interface IBufferLine {
   isWrapped: boolean;
   get(index: number): CharData;
   set(index: number, value: CharData): void;
+  setDataFromCodePoint(index: number, codePoint: number, width: number, fg: number, bg: number): void;
+  addCharToCell(index: number, codePoint: number): void;
+  setDataFromCellData(index: number, content: number, fg: number, bg: number, combined?: string): void;
   insertCells(pos: number, n: number, ch: CharData): void;
   deleteCells(pos: number, n: number, fill: CharData): void;
   replaceCells(start: number, end: number, fill: CharData): void;