diff --git a/internal/bsr/bsr_open_test.go b/internal/bsr/bsr_open_test.go
index 53baf244d..33e21e08f 100644
--- a/internal/bsr/bsr_open_test.go
+++ b/internal/bsr/bsr_open_test.go
@@ -21,10 +21,10 @@ func TestPopulateMeta(t *testing.T) {
 	require.NoError(t, err)
 
 	sessionId := "session"
-	sessionProtocol := "TEST"
+	sessionProtocol := Protocol("TEST")
 
 	// Populate session meta
-	sessionMeta := TestSessionMeta(sessionId, Protocol((sessionProtocol)))
+	sessionMeta := TestSessionMeta(sessionId, sessionProtocol)
 	s, err := NewSession(ctx, sessionMeta, &fstest.MemFS{}, keys, WithSupportsMultiplex(true))
 	require.NoError(t, err)
 	require.NotNil(t, s)
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ func TestPopulateMeta(t *testing.T) {
 	require.NoError(t, err)
 	s.Meta = sm
 	require.Equal(t, s.Meta.Id, sessionId)
-	require.Equal(t, s.Meta.Protocol.ToText(), sessionProtocol)
+	require.Equal(t, s.Meta.Protocol, sessionProtocol)
 	require.Equal(t, s.Meta.Target, sessionMeta.Target)
 	require.Equal(t, s.Meta.User, sessionMeta.User)
 	require.Equal(t, s.Meta.StaticHost, sessionMeta.StaticHost)
diff --git a/internal/bsr/meta.go b/internal/bsr/meta.go
index 9f77189ae..2c818033a 100644
--- a/internal/bsr/meta.go
+++ b/internal/bsr/meta.go
@@ -738,7 +738,7 @@ func (s SessionMeta) writeMeta(ctx context.Context, c *container) error {
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
-	_, err = c.WriteMeta(ctx, "protocol", s.Protocol.ToText())
+	_, err = c.WriteMeta(ctx, "protocol", string(s.Protocol))
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
diff --git a/internal/bsr/protocol.go b/internal/bsr/protocol.go
index 6711931fd..e4ad1d895 100644
--- a/internal/bsr/protocol.go
+++ b/internal/bsr/protocol.go
@@ -3,8 +3,6 @@
 
 package bsr
 
-import "regexp"
-
 // Protocol identifies the protocol of the data captured in a chunk.
 type Protocol string
 
@@ -12,10 +10,3 @@ type Protocol string
 func ValidProtocol(p Protocol) bool {
 	return len(p) <= protocolSize
 }
-
-// ToText converts a protocol to a text-safe string
-func (p Protocol) ToText() string {
-	re := regexp.MustCompile("[[:^ascii:]]")
-	t := re.ReplaceAllLiteralString(string(p), "")
-	return t
-}
diff --git a/internal/bsr/protocol_test.go b/internal/bsr/protocol_test.go
index b1c18f6c8..e72886de1 100644
--- a/internal/bsr/protocol_test.go
+++ b/internal/bsr/protocol_test.go
@@ -35,39 +35,3 @@ func TestValidProtocol(t *testing.T) {
 		})
 	}
 }
-
-func TestToText(t *testing.T) {
-	cases := []struct {
-		name string
-		in   bsr.Protocol
-		want string
-	}{
-		{
-			"all ascii",
-			bsr.Protocol("BOOM"),
-			"BOOM",
-		},
-		{
-			"not all ascii",
-			bsr.Protocol("SSH\x87"),
-			"SSH",
-		},
-		{
-			"mostly not ascii",
-			bsr.Protocol("S\x89\x99\x87"),
-			"S",
-		},
-		{
-			"no ascii",
-			bsr.Protocol("\x95\x89\x99\x87"),
-			"",
-		},
-	}
-
-	for _, tc := range cases {
-		t.Run(tc.name, func(t *testing.T) {
-			got := tc.in.ToText()
-			assert.Equal(t, tc.want, got)
-		})
-	}
-}
diff --git a/internal/bsr/ssh/chunk.go b/internal/bsr/ssh/chunk.go
index a49a59bcb..cf8c2f595 100644
--- a/internal/bsr/ssh/chunk.go
+++ b/internal/bsr/ssh/chunk.go
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ func init() {
 
 const (
 	// Protocol is used to identify chunks that are recorded from SSH.
-	Protocol bsr.Protocol = "SSH\x87"
+	Protocol bsr.Protocol = "BSSH"
 
 	// MaxPacketSize is used by the DataWriter to determine if SSH data should
 	// be broken into multiple chunks.