diff --git a/normalize_space.go b/normalize_space.go
index 6174447..352cbc9 100644
--- a/normalize_space.go
+++ b/normalize_space.go
@@ -1,6 +1,10 @@
 package str
 
-import "unicode"
+import (
+	"strings"
+	"unicode"
+	"unicode/utf8"
+)
 
 // NormalizeSpace removes surrounding whitespace and collapses internal whitespace to single spaces.
 // Similar: Trim.
@@ -12,22 +16,102 @@ import "unicode"
 //	println(v)
 //	// #string go forj
 func (s String) NormalizeSpace() String {
-	var out []rune
-	seenWord := false
+	trimmed := strings.TrimSpace(s.s)
+	if trimmed == "" {
+		return String{s: trimmed}
+	}
+
+	isASCII, needsRewrite := normalizeSpaceState(trimmed)
+	if !needsRewrite {
+		if len(trimmed) == len(s.s) {
+			return s
+		}
+		// Clone prevents a small trimmed result from retaining the full source buffer.
+		return String{s: strings.Clone(trimmed)}
+	}
+	if isASCII {
+		return String{s: normalizeSpaceASCII(trimmed)}
+	}
+	return String{s: normalizeSpaceUnicode(trimmed)}
+}
+
+// normalizeSpaceState reports whether value is ASCII and whether its whitespace or encoding needs normalization.
+func normalizeSpaceState(value string) (bool, bool) {
+	isASCII := true
+	previousSpace := false
+	needsRewrite := false
+	for i := 0; i < len(value); {
+		c := value[i]
+		if c >= utf8.RuneSelf {
+			isASCII = false
+			r, size := utf8.DecodeRuneInString(value[i:])
+			if unicode.IsSpace(r) {
+				return false, true
+			}
+			// Rune iteration historically replaces each invalid byte with utf8.RuneError.
+			if r == utf8.RuneError && size == 1 {
+				return false, true
+			}
+			previousSpace = false
+			i += size
+			continue
+		}
+		if isNormalizeSpaceASCIIByte(c) {
+			if c != ' ' || previousSpace {
+				needsRewrite = true
+			}
+			previousSpace = true
+			i++
+			continue
+		}
+		previousSpace = false
+		i++
+	}
+	return isASCII, needsRewrite
+}
+
+// normalizeSpaceASCII collapses whitespace in an ASCII value that is already trimmed.
+func normalizeSpaceASCII(value string) string {
+	var out strings.Builder
+	out.Grow(len(value))
+	pendingSpace := false
+	for i := 0; i < len(value); i++ {
+		c := value[i]
+		if isNormalizeSpaceASCIIByte(c) {
+			pendingSpace = true
+			continue
+		}
+		if pendingSpace {
+			out.WriteByte(' ')
+			pendingSpace = false
+		}
+		out.WriteByte(c)
+	}
+	return out.String()
+}
+
+// isNormalizeSpaceASCIIByte reports whether c is whitespace according to Unicode's ASCII subset.
+func isNormalizeSpaceASCIIByte(c byte) bool {
+	return c == ' ' || '\t' <= c && c <= '\r'
+}
+
+// normalizeSpaceUnicode collapses whitespace while preserving Unicode text and historical invalid-UTF-8 normalization.
+func normalizeSpaceUnicode(value string) string {
+	var out strings.Builder
+	out.Grow(len(value))
 	pendingSpace := false
 
-	for _, r := range s.s {
+	for _, r := range value {
 		if unicode.IsSpace(r) {
-			pendingSpace = seenWord
+			pendingSpace = true
 			continue
 		}
 		if pendingSpace {
-			out = append(out, ' ')
+			out.WriteByte(' ')
 			pendingSpace = false
 		}
-		out = append(out, r)
-		seenWord = true
+		out.WriteRune(r)
 	}
 
-	return String{s: string(out)}
+	return out.String()
 }
diff --git a/normalize_space_test.go b/normalize_space_test.go
index 9d5c8d5..13b76ab 100644
--- a/normalize_space_test.go
+++ b/normalize_space_test.go
@@ -15,4 +15,13 @@ func TestNormalizeSpace(t *testing.T) {
 	if got := Of("").NormalizeSpace().String(); got != "" {
 		t.Fatalf("NormalizeSpace empty = %q", got)
 	}
+	if got := Of("GoForj builds practical Go applications").NormalizeSpace().String(); got != "GoForj builds practical Go applications" {
+		t.Fatalf("NormalizeSpace clean = %q", got)
+	}
+	if got := Of("\u2003GoForj\u00a0\tbuilds\u2002Go\u2003").NormalizeSpace().String(); got != "GoForj builds Go" {
+		t.Fatalf("NormalizeSpace Unicode whitespace = %q", got)
+	}
+	if got := Of("Go\xff  Forj").NormalizeSpace().String(); got != "Go\uFFFD Forj" {
+		t.Fatalf("NormalizeSpace invalid UTF-8 = %q", got)
+	}
 }
diff --git a/string_benchmark_test.go b/string_benchmark_test.go
index 49a2cac..d6d8866 100644
--- a/string_benchmark_test.go
+++ b/string_benchmark_test.go
@@ -1,8 +1,12 @@
 package str
 
-import "testing"
+import (
+	"strings"
+	"testing"
+)
 
 var benchmarkStringResult String
+var benchmarkRawStringResult string
 
 // BenchmarkAppend measures a common multi-part fluent composition.
 func BenchmarkAppend(b *testing.B) {
@@ -11,14 +15,104 @@ func BenchmarkAppend(b *testing.B) {
 	}
 }
 
-// BenchmarkNormalizeSpace measures Unicode-aware whitespace normalization.
+// BenchmarkTrim measures leading and trailing whitespace removal across representative inputs.
+func BenchmarkTrim(b *testing.B) {
+	benchmarks := []struct {
+		name  string
+		value string
+	}{
+		{name: "ASCII", value: "  GoForj builds practical Go applications  "},
+		{name: "Unicode", value: "\u2003GoForj builds practical Go applications\u00a0"},
+		{name: "Clean", value: "GoForj builds practical Go applications"},
+	}
+
+	for _, benchmark := range benchmarks {
+		value := Of(benchmark.value)
+		b.Run(benchmark.name, func(b *testing.B) {
+			for b.Loop() {
+				benchmarkStringResult = value.Trim()
+			}
+		})
+	}
+}
+
+// BenchmarkNormalizeSpace measures Unicode-aware whitespace normalization across representative inputs.
 func BenchmarkNormalizeSpace(b *testing.B) {
-	value := Of("  GoForj\tbuilds\n practical\u2003Go applications  ")
-	for b.Loop() {
-		benchmarkStringResult = value.NormalizeSpace()
+	benchmarks := []struct {
+		name  string
+		value string
+	}{
+		{name: "ASCII", value: "  GoForj\tbuilds\n practical Go applications  "},
+		{name: "Unicode", value: "\u2003GoForj\tbuilds\n practical\u2003Go applications\u00a0"},
+		{name: "Clean", value: "GoForj builds practical Go applications"},
+		{name: "Trimmed", value: "  GoForj builds practical Go applications  "},
+		{name: "Whitespace", value: " \t\n\u2003\u00a0 "},
+	}
+
+	for _, benchmark := range benchmarks {
+		value := Of(benchmark.value)
+		b.Run(benchmark.name, func(b *testing.B) {
+			for b.Loop() {
+				benchmarkStringResult = value.NormalizeSpace()
+			}
+		})
 	}
 }
 
+// BenchmarkNormalizeSpaceComparison compares fluent normalization with the equivalent standard-library composition.
+func BenchmarkNormalizeSpaceComparison(b *testing.B) {
+	const value = " SELECT  users.id,   users.email\nFROM users\tWHERE users.status = ? "
+
+	b.Run("StandardLibrary", func(b *testing.B) {
+		for b.Loop() {
+			benchmarkRawStringResult = strings.Join(strings.Fields(value), " ")
+		}
+	})
+	b.Run("Fluent", func(b *testing.B) {
+		for b.Loop() {
+			benchmarkRawStringResult = Of(value).NormalizeSpace().String()
+		}
+	})
+}
+
+// BenchmarkNormalizationPipeline compares fluent composition with the equivalent standard-library pipeline.
+func BenchmarkNormalizationPipeline(b *testing.B) {
+	const value = "  AUTH_OAuth_Provider-Name.Test  "
+
+	b.Run("StandardLibrary", func(b *testing.B) {
+		for b.Loop() {
+			benchmarkRawStringResult = strings.ToLower(strings.TrimSpace(value))
+		}
+	})
+	b.Run("Fluent", func(b *testing.B) {
+		for b.Loop() {
+			benchmarkRawStringResult = Of(value).Trim().ToLower().String()
+		}
+	})
+}
+
+// BenchmarkReplaceAllPipeline compares ordered fluent replacements with equivalent standard-library calls.
+func BenchmarkReplaceAllPipeline(b *testing.B) {
+	const value = "archive-logs cold.storage"
+
+	b.Run("StandardLibrary", func(b *testing.B) {
+		for b.Loop() {
+			result := strings.ReplaceAll(value, "-", "_")
+			result = strings.ReplaceAll(result, " ", "_")
+			benchmarkRawStringResult = strings.ReplaceAll(result, ".", "_")
+		}
+	})
+	b.Run("Fluent", func(b *testing.B) {
+		for b.Loop() {
+			benchmarkRawStringResult = Of(value).
+				ReplaceAll("-", "_").
+				ReplaceAll(" ", "_").
+				ReplaceAll(".", "_").
+				String()
+		}
+	})
+}
+
 // BenchmarkReplaceFold measures repeated Unicode simple-fold replacement.
 func BenchmarkReplaceFold(b *testing.B) {
 	value := Of("Go Σ go ς GO σ gopher")
diff --git a/string_fuzz_test.go b/string_fuzz_test.go
index 7c758fc..b2b30c1 100644
--- a/string_fuzz_test.go
+++ b/string_fuzz_test.go
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 package str
 
 import (
+	"strings"
 	"testing"
 	"unicode/utf8"
 )
@@ -34,6 +35,9 @@ func FuzzStringInvariants(f *testing.F) {
 		}
 
 		normalized := wrapped.NormalizeSpace()
+		if want := strings.Join(strings.Fields(value), " "); normalized.String() != want {
+			t.Fatalf("NormalizeSpace = %q, want %q", normalized.String(), want)
+		}
 		if got := normalized.NormalizeSpace().String(); got != normalized.String() {
 			t.Fatalf("NormalizeSpace is not idempotent: %q then %q", normalized.String(), got)
 		}
diff --git a/trim.go b/trim.go
index 011d58a..7aa920d 100644
--- a/trim.go
+++ b/trim.go
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ import (
 //	println(v)
 //	// #string GoForj
 func (s String) Trim() String {
-	return String{s: strings.TrimFunc(s.s, unicode.IsSpace)}
+	return String{s: strings.TrimSpace(s.s)}
 }
 
 // TrimChars removes leading and trailing runes contained in cutset.