diff --git a/src/column.js b/src/column.js
index 3197448..9de7b66 100644
--- a/src/column.js
+++ b/src/column.js
@@ -53,8 +53,9 @@ export function writeColumn(writer, schemaPath, values, compressed, stats) {
     values = unconvert(schemaElement, values)
 
     // write data page
-    writeDataPageV2(writer, values, type, schemaPath, 'PLAIN', compressed)
-    encodings.push('PLAIN')
+    const encoding = type === 'BOOLEAN' && values.length > 16 ? 'RLE' : 'PLAIN'
+    writeDataPageV2(writer, values, type, schemaPath, encoding, compressed)
+    encodings.push(encoding)
   }
 
   return {
diff --git a/src/datapage.js b/src/datapage.js
index fa47406..f4246f8 100644
--- a/src/datapage.js
+++ b/src/datapage.js
@@ -27,7 +27,11 @@ export function writeDataPageV2(writer, values, type, schemaPath, encoding, comp
 
   // write page data to temp buffer
   const page = new ByteWriter()
-  if (encoding === 'RLE_DICTIONARY') {
+  if (encoding === 'RLE') {
+    if (type !== 'BOOLEAN') throw new Error('RLE encoding only supported for BOOLEAN type')
+    page.appendUint32(nonnull.length) // prepend length
+    writeRleBitPackedHybrid(page, nonnull, 1)
+  } else if (encoding === 'PLAIN_DICTIONARY' || encoding === 'RLE_DICTIONARY') {
     // find max bitwidth
     let maxValue = 0
     for (const v of values) if (v > maxValue) maxValue = v
diff --git a/test/example.js b/test/example.js
index 866aadc..6e57a7a 100644
--- a/test/example.js
+++ b/test/example.js
@@ -10,8 +10,8 @@ export const exampleData = [
 ]
 
 /**
- * @import {FileMetaData, LogicalType} from 'hyparquet'
- * @import {ColumnData, ThriftObject} from '../src/types.js'
+ * @import {FileMetaData} from 'hyparquet'
+ * @import {ColumnData} from '../src/types.js'
  * @type {FileMetaData}
  */
 export const exampleMetadata = {
diff --git a/test/write.buffer.test.js b/test/write.buffer.test.js
index a8f2882..24139cf 100644
--- a/test/write.buffer.test.js
+++ b/test/write.buffer.test.js
@@ -38,14 +38,24 @@ describe('parquetWriteBuffer', () => {
     expect(file.byteLength).toBe(162)
   })
 
+  it('serializes booleans as RLE', async () => {
+    const data = Array(100).fill(true)
+    const file = parquetWriteBuffer({ columnData: [{ name: 'bool', data }] })
+    expect(file.byteLength).toBe(131)
+    const metadata = parquetMetadata(file)
+    expect(metadata.row_groups[0].columns[0].meta_data?.encodings).toEqual(['RLE'])
+    const result = await parquetReadObjects({ file })
+    expect(result).toEqual(data.map(bool => ({ bool })))
+  })
+
   it('efficiently serializes sparse booleans', async () => {
-    const bool = Array(10000).fill(null)
-    bool[10] = true
-    bool[100] = false
-    bool[500] = true
-    bool[9999] = false
-    const file = parquetWriteBuffer({ columnData: [{ name: 'bool', data: bool }] })
-    expect(file.byteLength).toBe(154)
+    const data = Array(10000).fill(null)
+    data[10] = true
+    data[100] = false
+    data[500] = true
+    data[9999] = false
+    const file = parquetWriteBuffer({ columnData: [{ name: 'bool', data }] })
+    expect(file.byteLength).toBe(159)
     const metadata = parquetMetadata(file)
     expect(metadata.metadata_length).toBe(92)
     const result = await parquetReadObjects({ file })