diff --git a/WASignalGroup/sender_key_distribution_message.js b/WASignalGroup/sender_key_distribution_message.js
index 77c2a48..9c1400f 100644
--- a/WASignalGroup/sender_key_distribution_message.js
+++ b/WASignalGroup/sender_key_distribution_message.js
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ class SenderKeyDistributionMessage extends CiphertextMessage {
 
         const distributionMessage = protobufs.SenderKeyDistributionMessage.decode(
           message
-        );
+        ).toJSON();
         this.serialized = serialized;
         this.id = distributionMessage.id;
         this.iteration = distributionMessage.iteration;
diff --git a/WASignalGroup/sender_key_message.js b/WASignalGroup/sender_key_message.js
index f3d9cf9..288aeba 100644
--- a/WASignalGroup/sender_key_message.js
+++ b/WASignalGroup/sender_key_message.js
@@ -17,8 +17,8 @@ class SenderKeyMessage extends CiphertextMessage {
       const version = serialized[0];
       const message = serialized.slice(1, serialized.length - this.SIGNATURE_LENGTH);
       const signature = serialized.slice(-1 * this.SIGNATURE_LENGTH);
-      const senderKeyMessage = protobufs.SenderKeyMessage.decode(message);
-      senderKeyMessage.ciphertext = senderKeyMessage.ciphertext;
+      const senderKeyMessage = protobufs.SenderKeyMessage.decode(message).toJSON();
+      senderKeyMessage.ciphertext = Buffer.from(senderKeyMessage.ciphertext, 'base64');
 
       this.serialized = serialized;
       this.messageVersion = (version & 0xff) >> 4;