diff --git a/benchmarks/PureHDF.Benchmarks/VariableLengthCompoundRead.cs b/benchmarks/PureHDF.Benchmarks/VariableLengthCompoundRead.cs
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..94fa6114
--- /dev/null
+++ b/benchmarks/PureHDF.Benchmarks/VariableLengthCompoundRead.cs
@@ -0,0 +1,124 @@
+using BenchmarkDotNet.Attributes;
+using PureHDF;
+using PureHDF.Selections;
+using PureHDF.VOL.Native;
+using System.Runtime.InteropServices;
+
+namespace Benchmark;
+
+// Exercises Read<T[][]> on a 1-D dataset of variable-length sequences of a
+// small blittable struct, under three access patterns:
+//
+//   - ReadAll       : 1 Read call for the whole dataset
+//   - ReadByWindow  : 10 Read calls of 60 cells each
+//   - ReadPerCell   : 600 Read calls of 1 cell each
+//
+// Each access pattern measures the same total decode work but a different
+// per-Read-call multiplier, so the relative cost of per-Read fixed overhead
+// versus per-cell decode work shows up across the three rows.
+[MemoryDiagnoser]
+public class VariableLengthCompoundRead
+{
+    [StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential, Pack = 1)]
+    public struct Sample
+    {
+        public double X;
+        public float Y;
+    }
+
+    private const int CellCount = 600;
+    private const int ElementsPerCell = 200;
+    private const int WindowSize = 60;
+
+    private string _filePath = default!;
+    private NativeFile _file = default!;
+    private IH5Dataset _dataset = default!;
+
+    [GlobalSetup]
+    public void GlobalSetup()
+    {
+        _filePath = Path.Combine(Path.GetTempPath(), $"purehdf-vl-bench-{Guid.NewGuid():N}.h5");
+
+        var random = new Random(42);
+        var data = new Sample[CellCount][];
+        for (int i = 0; i < CellCount; i++)
+        {
+            var arr = new Sample[ElementsPerCell];
+            for (int j = 0; j < ElementsPerCell; j++)
+                arr[j] = new Sample { X = random.NextDouble(), Y = (float)random.NextDouble() };
+            data[i] = arr;
+        }
+
+        var writeFile = new H5File();
+        var declared = new H5Dataset<Sample[][]>([(ulong)CellCount]);
+        writeFile["dataset"] = declared;
+
+        using (var writer = writeFile.BeginWrite(_filePath))
+            writer.Write(declared, data);
+
+        _file = H5File.OpenRead(_filePath);
+        _dataset = _file.Dataset("dataset");
+
+        var probe = _dataset.Read<Sample[][]>()!;
+        if (probe.Length != CellCount)
+            throw new Exception($"setup produced {probe.Length} cells, expected {CellCount}");
+
+        for (int i = 0; i < CellCount; i++)
+        {
+            if (probe[i] is null || probe[i]!.Length != ElementsPerCell)
+                throw new Exception(
+                    $"cell {i} has length {probe[i]?.Length ?? -1}, expected {ElementsPerCell}");
+        }
+    }
+
+    [GlobalCleanup]
+    public void GlobalCleanup()
+    {
+        _file?.Dispose();
+        if (File.Exists(_filePath))
+        {
+            try { File.Delete(_filePath); } catch { /* ignore */ }
+        }
+    }
+
+    [Benchmark(Baseline = true)]
+    public int ReadAll()
+    {
+        var result = _dataset.Read<Sample[][]>()!;
+        var total = 0;
+        for (int i = 0; i < result.Length; i++)
+            total += result[i]?.Length ?? 0;
+        return total;
+    }
+
+    [Benchmark]
+    public int ReadByWindow()
+    {
+        var total = 0;
+        for (int start = 0; start + WindowSize <= CellCount; start += WindowSize)
+        {
+            var sel = new HyperslabSelection(start: (ulong)start, block: (ulong)WindowSize);
+            var window = _dataset.Read<Sample[][]>(
+                fileSelection: sel,
+                memoryDims: [(ulong)WindowSize])!;
+            for (int i = 0; i < window.Length; i++)
+                total += window[i]?.Length ?? 0;
+        }
+        return total;
+    }
+
+    [Benchmark]
+    public int ReadPerCell()
+    {
+        var total = 0;
+        for (int i = 0; i < CellCount; i++)
+        {
+            var sel = new HyperslabSelection(start: (ulong)i, block: 1);
+            var cell = _dataset.Read<Sample[][]>(
+                fileSelection: sel,
+                memoryDims: [1UL])!;
+            total += cell[0]?.Length ?? 0;
+        }
+        return total;
+    }
+}
diff --git a/src/PureHDF/VOL/Native/FileFormat/Level2/ObjectHeaderMessages/Datatype/DatatypeMessage.Reading.cs b/src/PureHDF/VOL/Native/FileFormat/Level2/ObjectHeaderMessages/Datatype/DatatypeMessage.Reading.cs
index 8bb6611f..47d0b8cf 100644
--- a/src/PureHDF/VOL/Native/FileFormat/Level2/ObjectHeaderMessages/Datatype/DatatypeMessage.Reading.cs
+++ b/src/PureHDF/VOL/Native/FileFormat/Level2/ObjectHeaderMessages/Datatype/DatatypeMessage.Reading.cs
@@ -989,6 +989,55 @@ NativeReadContext context
     {
         var elementDecode = GetDecodeInfoForScalar(context, typeof(T)).Decode;
 
+        // Variable-length sequences and strings store a fixed-size (length + global
+        // heap id) header per cell in the dataset stream, with the payload living
+        // in the global heap. The per-cell element decoder reads that header via
+        // source.ReadDataset(headerBytes) before resolving the heap object — and on
+        // an N-cell decode pass that becomes N small ReadDataset calls into the
+        // underlying IH5ReadStream. Pre-reading all N headers in one bulk call and
+        // feeding the per-cell decoder from an in-memory wrapper collapses the
+        // per-call dispatch + position-tracking overhead. The per-cell element
+        // decoder itself is unchanged.
+        var isVariableLengthHeaderBatchable =
+            Class == DatatypeMessageClass.VariableLength &&
+            BitField is VariableLengthBitFieldDescription vlBitField &&
+            (vlBitField.Type == InternalVariableLengthType.Sequence ||
+                vlBitField.Type == InternalVariableLengthType.String);
+
+        if (isVariableLengthHeaderBatchable)
+        {
+            var cellHeaderSize = sizeof(uint) + (int)context.Superblock.OffsetsSize + sizeof(uint);
+
+            void decodeBatched(IH5ReadStream source, Span<T> target)
+            {
+                if (target.Length == 0)
+                    return;
+
+                var totalBytes = target.Length * cellHeaderSize;
+                var rented = ArrayPool<byte>.Shared.Rent(totalBytes);
+
+                try
+                {
+                    var bulk = rented.AsMemory(0, totalBytes);
+                    source.ReadDataset(bulk.Span);
+
+                    var localSource = new SystemMemoryStream(bulk);
+                    var targetSpan = target;
+
+                    for (int i = 0; i < target.Length; i++)
+                    {
+                        targetSpan[i] = (T)elementDecode(localSource)!;
+                    }
+                }
+                finally
+                {
+                    ArrayPool<byte>.Shared.Return(rented);
+                }
+            }
+
+            return decodeBatched;
+        }
+
         void decode(IH5ReadStream source, Span<T> target)
         {
             var targetSpan = target;