diff --git a/kaitaistruct.py b/kaitaistruct.py
index 2684fa6..0fcfd44 100644
--- a/kaitaistruct.py
+++ b/kaitaistruct.py
@@ -15,6 +15,19 @@
 __version__ = '0.8'
 
 
+if PY2:
+    range = xrange
+    def integers2bytes(ints):
+        return bytes(bytearray(ints))
+    def bytes2integers(data):
+        return bytearray(data)
+else:
+    def integers2bytes(ints):
+        return bytes(ints)
+    def bytes2integers(data):
+        return data
+
+
 class KaitaiStruct(object):
     def __init__(self, stream):
         self._io = stream
@@ -335,30 +348,57 @@ def bytes_terminate(data, term, include_term):
 
     @staticmethod
     def process_xor_one(data, key):
-        if PY2:
-            return bytes(bytearray(v ^ key for v in bytearray(data)))
-        else:
-            return bytes(v ^ key for v in data)
+        if key == 0:
+            return data
+
+        return integers2bytes(v ^ key for v in bytes2integers(data))
 
     @staticmethod
     def process_xor_many(data, key):
-        if PY2:
-            return bytes(bytearray(a ^ b for a, b in zip(bytearray(data), itertools.cycle(bytearray(key)))))
-        else:
-            return bytes(a ^ b for a, b in zip(data, itertools.cycle(key)))
+        if len(key) == 1:
+            return KaitaiStream.process_xor_one(data, ord(key))
+        if len(key) <= 64 and key == b'\x00' * len(key):
+            return data
 
-    @staticmethod
-    def process_rotate_left(data, amount, group_size):
-        if group_size != 1:
-            raise Exception(
-                "unable to rotate group of %d bytes yet" %
-                (group_size,)
-            )
+        return integers2bytes(a ^ b for a, b in zip(bytes2integers(data), itertools.cycle(bytes2integers(key))))
 
-        mask = group_size * 8 - 1
-        anti_amount = -amount & mask
+    # formula taken from: http://stackoverflow.com/a/812039
+    precomputed_single_rotations = {amount: [(i << amount) & 0xff | (i >> (8-amount)) for i in range(256)] for amount in range(1,8)}
 
-        r = bytearray(data)
-        for i in range(len(r)):
-            r[i] = (r[i] << amount) & 0xff | (r[i] >> anti_amount)
-        return bytes(r)
+    @staticmethod
+    def process_rotate_left(data, amount, group_size):
+        if group_size < 1:
+            raise Exception("group size must be at least 1 to be valid")
+
+        amount = amount % (group_size * 8)
+        if amount == 0:
+            return data
+
+        amount_bytes = amount // 8
+        data_ints = bytes2integers(data)
+
+        if group_size == 1:
+            translate = KaitaiStream.precomputed_single_rotations[amount]
+            return integers2bytes(translate[a] for a in data_ints)
+
+        if len(data) % group_size != 0:
+            raise Exception("data length must be a multiple of group size")
+
+        if amount % 8 == 0:
+            indices = [(i + amount_bytes) % group_size for i in range(group_size)]
+            return integers2bytes(data_ints[i+k] for i in range(0,len(data),group_size) for k in indices)
+
+        amount1 = amount % 8
+        amount2 = 8 - amount1
+        indices_pairs = [ ((i+amount_bytes) % group_size, (i+1+amount_bytes) % group_size) for i in range(group_size)]
+        return integers2bytes((data_ints[i+k1] << amount1) & 0xff | (data_ints[i+k2] >> amount2) for i in range(0,len(data),group_size) for k1,k2 in indices_pairs)
+
+        # NOTE: unused implementation, left for reference
+        # 
+        # cap = (1 << 8 * group_size) - 1
+        # anti_amount = -amount & (8 * group_size - 1)
+        # for i in range(0,len(data),group_size):
+        #     group = bytes2combinedinteger(data[i:i+group_size])
+        #     group = (group << amount) & cap | (group >> anti_amount)
+        #     r.append(combinedinteger2bytes(group, group_size))
+        # return b''.join(r)