diff --git a/src/lib/message/block-header-encoding.spec.ts b/src/lib/message/block-header-encoding.spec.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..b2fbc663
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/lib/message/block-header-encoding.spec.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,59 @@
+import test from 'ava';
+import { hexToBin } from '../lib.js';
+import { decodeHeader, encodeHeader } from './block-header-encoding.js';
+import type { BlockHeader } from './block-header-encoding.js'
+
+export const uahfHeader = hexToBin(
+  "02000020e42980330b7294bef6527af576e5cfe2c97d55f9c19beb0000000000000000004a88016082f466735a0f4bc9e5e42725fbc3d0ac28d4ab9547bf18654f14655b1e7f80593547011816dd5975",
+);
+
+const genesisHeader = hexToBin(
+  "0100000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000003ba3edfd7a7b12b27ac72c3e67768f617fc81bc3888a51323a9fb8aa4b1e5e4a29ab5f49ffff001d1dac2b7c",
+);
+const genesisDecoded: BlockHeader = {
+  version: 1,
+  previousBlockHash: hexToBin("0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000"),
+  merkleRootHash: hexToBin("4a5e1e4baab89f3a32518a88c31bc87f618f76673e2cc77ab2127b7afdeda33b"),
+  time: 1231006505,
+  difficultyTarget: 486604799,
+  nonce: 2083236893,
+};
+const uahfDecoded: BlockHeader = {
+  version: 536870914,
+  previousBlockHash: hexToBin("000000000000000000eb9bc1f9557dc9e2cfe576f57a52f6be94720b338029e4"),
+  merkleRootHash: hexToBin("5b65144f6518bf4795abd428acd0c3fb2527e4e5c94b0f5a7366f4826001884a"),
+  time: 1501593374,
+  difficultyTarget: 402736949,
+  nonce: 1968823574,
+};
+test("decodeHeader genesis", (t) => {
+  t.deepEqual(decodeHeader(genesisHeader), genesisDecoded)
+})
+test("encodeHeader genesis", (t) => {
+  t.deepEqual(encodeHeader(genesisDecoded), genesisHeader)
+})
+test("decodeHeader uahf", (t) => {
+  t.deepEqual(decodeHeader(uahfHeader), uahfDecoded)
+})
+test("encodeHeader uahf", (t) => {
+  t.deepEqual(encodeHeader(uahfDecoded), uahfHeader)
+})
+
+test("decodeHeader invalid version byte length", (t) => {
+  t.deepEqual(decodeHeader(Uint8Array.from([])), "Error reading header. Error reading Uint32LE: requires 4 bytes. Remaining bytes: 0")
+})
+test("decodeHeader invalid previousHash byte length", (t) => {
+  t.deepEqual(decodeHeader(Uint8Array.from([0, 0, 0, 0, 0])), "Error reading header. Error reading bytes: insufficient length. Bytes requested: 32; remaining bytes: 1")
+})
+test("decodeHeader invalid merkle byte length", (t) => {
+  t.deepEqual(decodeHeader(new Uint8Array(40)), "Error reading header. Error reading bytes: insufficient length. Bytes requested: 32; remaining bytes: 4")
+})
+test("decodeHeader invalid time length", (t) => {
+  t.deepEqual(decodeHeader(new Uint8Array(68)), "Error reading header. Error reading Uint32LE: requires 4 bytes. Remaining bytes: 0")
+})
+test("decodeHeader invalid target length", (t) => {
+  t.deepEqual(decodeHeader(new Uint8Array(72)), "Error reading header. Error reading Uint32LE: requires 4 bytes. Remaining bytes: 0")
+})
+test("decodeHeader invalid nonce length", (t) => {
+  t.deepEqual(decodeHeader(new Uint8Array(76)), "Error reading header. Error reading Uint32LE: requires 4 bytes. Remaining bytes: 0")
+})
diff --git a/src/lib/message/block-header-encoding.ts b/src/lib/message/block-header-encoding.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..7a7cd960
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/lib/message/block-header-encoding.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,147 @@
+import {
+  flattenBinArray,
+  formatError,
+  numberToBinUint32LE,
+  readMultiple
+} from "../lib.js";
+import {
+  type MaybeReadResult,
+  type ReadPosition,
+} from "../lib.js"
+import {
+  readBytes,
+  readUint32LE,
+} from "./read-components.js";
+
+const SHA256HASHLEN = 32;
+
+export enum HeaderDecodingError {
+  version = "Error reading version.",
+  previousBlock = "Error reading previous block.",
+  merkleRootHash = "Error reading merkle root hash",
+  time = "Error reading time",
+  difficultyTarget = "Error reading difficulty target",
+  nonce = "Error reading nonce",
+  generic = "Error reading header.",
+  endsWithUnexpectedBytes = "Error decoding header: the provided header includes unexpected bytes.",
+}
+
+/**
+ * Represents the header of a block in a blockchain.
+ */
+export type BlockHeader = {
+  /**
+   * The version of the block.
+   */
+  version: number;
+
+  /**
+   * The hash of the previous block in the blockchain.
+   */
+  previousBlockHash: Uint8Array;
+
+  /**
+   * The hash of the Merkle root of the transactions in the block.
+   */
+  merkleRootHash: Uint8Array;
+
+  /**
+   * The Unix epoch time at which the block was created.
+   */
+  time: number;
+
+  /**
+   * The target value for the block's proof-of-work.
+   */
+  difficultyTarget: number;
+
+  /**
+   * A random value used in the proof-of-work calculation.
+   */
+  nonce: number;
+};
+
+/**
+ * Attempts to read a BlockHeader from the provided binary data at the given position.
+ *
+ * @param {ReadPosition} position - The position in the binary data from which to start reading.
+ * @returns {MaybeReadResult<BlockHeader>} A parsed BlockHeader object if successful, or an error message if not.
+ */
+export const readHeader = (
+  position: ReadPosition,
+): MaybeReadResult<BlockHeader> => {
+  const headerRead = readMultiple(position, [
+    readUint32LE,
+    readBytes(SHA256HASHLEN), // previous block hash
+    readBytes(SHA256HASHLEN), // merkle root
+    readUint32LE, // Unix epoch time
+    readUint32LE, //  target difficulty A.K.A bits
+    readUint32LE, // nonce
+  ]);
+  if (typeof headerRead === "string") {
+    return formatError(HeaderDecodingError.generic, headerRead);
+  }
+  const {
+    position: nextPosition,
+    result: [
+      version,
+      previousBlockHash,
+      merkleRootHash,
+      time,
+      difficultyTarget,
+      nonce,
+    ],
+  } = headerRead;
+  return {
+    position: nextPosition,
+    result: {
+      version,
+      previousBlockHash: previousBlockHash.reverse(),
+      merkleRootHash: merkleRootHash.reverse(),
+      time,
+      difficultyTarget,
+      nonce,
+    },
+  };
+};
+
+/**
+ * Decodes a BlockHeader from a given Uint8Array containing its binary representation.
+ *
+ * @param {Uint8Array} bin - The binary data containing the encoded BlockHeader.
+ * @returns {BlockHeader | string} A parsed BlockHeader object if successful, or an error message if not.
+ */
+export const decodeHeader = (bin: Uint8Array): BlockHeader | string => {
+  const headerRead = readHeader({ bin, index: 0 });
+  if (typeof headerRead === "string") {
+    return headerRead;
+  }
+  if (headerRead.position.index !== bin.length) {
+    return formatError(
+      HeaderDecodingError.endsWithUnexpectedBytes,
+      `Encoded header ends at index ${headerRead.position.index - 1}, leaving ${bin.length - headerRead.position.index
+      } remaining bytes.`,
+    );
+  }
+  return headerRead.result;
+};
+
+/**
+ * Encodes a BlockHeader object into its binary representation.
+ *
+ * This function takes a `BlockHeader` object and returns a new `Uint8Array` containing its
+ * serialized form. The encoding process follows the little-endian convention for all numerical
+ * values (version, time, difficultyTarget, and nonce).
+ *
+ * @param {BlockHeader} header - The BlockHeader object to encode.
+ * @returns {Uint8Array} A new Uint8Array containing the binary representation of the BlockHeader.
+ */
+export const encodeHeader = (header: BlockHeader) =>
+  flattenBinArray([
+    numberToBinUint32LE(header.version),
+    header.previousBlockHash.reverse(),
+    header.merkleRootHash.reverse(),
+    numberToBinUint32LE(header.time),
+    numberToBinUint32LE(header.difficultyTarget),
+    numberToBinUint32LE(header.nonce),
+  ]);