diff --git a/reclass/output/yaml_outputter.py b/reclass/output/yaml_outputter.py
index 9a0d098..ef62979 100644
--- a/reclass/output/yaml_outputter.py
+++ b/reclass/output/yaml_outputter.py
@@ -9,15 +9,17 @@
 from reclass.output import OutputterBase
 import yaml
 
+_SafeDumper = yaml.CSafeDumper if yaml.__with_libyaml__ else yaml.SafeDumper
+
 class Outputter(OutputterBase):
 
     def dump(self, data, pretty_print=False, no_refs=False):
         if (no_refs):
             return yaml.dump(data, default_flow_style=not pretty_print, Dumper=ExplicitDumper)
         else:
-            return yaml.dump(data, default_flow_style=not pretty_print)
+            return yaml.dump(data, default_flow_style=not pretty_print, Dumper=_SafeDumper)
 
-class ExplicitDumper(yaml.SafeDumper):
+class ExplicitDumper(_SafeDumper):
     """
     A dumper that will never emit aliases.
     """
diff --git a/reclass/storage/yamldata.py b/reclass/storage/yamldata.py
index ac3dcb9..b11312e 100644
--- a/reclass/storage/yamldata.py
+++ b/reclass/storage/yamldata.py
@@ -11,6 +11,8 @@
 import os
 from reclass.errors import NotFoundError
 
+_SafeLoader = yaml.CSafeLoader if yaml.__with_libyaml__ else yaml.SafeLoader
+
 class YamlData(object):
 
     @classmethod
@@ -23,7 +25,7 @@
             raise NotFoundError('Cannot open: %s' % abs_path)
         y = cls('yaml_fs://{0}'.format(abs_path))
         with open(abs_path) as fp:
-            data = yaml.safe_load(fp)
+            data = yaml.load(fp, Loader=_SafeLoader)
             if data is not None:
                 y._data = data
         return y
@@ -32,7 +34,7 @@
     def from_string(cls, string, uri):
         ''' Initialise yaml data from a string '''
         y = cls(uri)
-        data = yaml.safe_load(string)
+        data = yaml.load(string, Loader=_SafeLoader)
         if data is not None:
             y._data = data
         return y