diff --git a/public/blah/drawing/spritefont.cpp b/public/blah/drawing/spritefont.cpp
index 5062bc5..e8401e2 100644
--- a/public/blah/drawing/spritefont.cpp
+++ b/public/blah/drawing/spritefont.cpp
@@ -155,7 +155,7 @@ void SpriteFont::build(const Font& font, float size, const uint32_t* charset)
 	packer.max_size = 8192;
 	packer.power_of_two = true;
 	
-	std::map<uint32_t, int> glyphs;
+	std::unordered_map<uint32_t, int> glyphs;
 	List<Color> buffer;
 
 	auto ranges = charset;
@@ -207,14 +207,16 @@ void SpriteFont::build(const Font& font, float size, const uint32_t* charset)
 	// add kerning
 	for (auto a = glyphs.begin(); a != glyphs.end(); a++)
 		for (auto b = glyphs.begin(); b != glyphs.end(); b++)
-			set_kerning(a->first, b->first, font.GetKerning(a->second, b->second, scale));
+		{
+			auto kern = font.GetKerning(a->second, b->second, scale);
+			if (kern != 0)
+				set_kerning(a->first, b->first, kern);
+		}
 }
 
 float SpriteFont::get_kerning(uint32_t codepoint0, uint32_t codepoint1) const
 {
-	Tuple index;
-	index.first = codepoint0;
-	index.second = codepoint1;
+	uint64_t index = ((uint64_t)codepoint0 << 32) | codepoint1;
 
 	auto it = m_kerning.find(index);
 	if (it != m_kerning.end())
@@ -224,12 +226,17 @@ float SpriteFont::get_kerning(uint32_t codepoint0, uint32_t codepoint1) const
 
 void SpriteFont::set_kerning(uint32_t codepoint0, uint32_t codepoint1, float value)
 {
-	Tuple index;
-	index.first = codepoint0;
-	index.second = codepoint1;
-	m_kerning[index] = value;
-}
+	uint64_t index = ((uint64_t)codepoint0 << 32) | codepoint1;
 
+	if (value == 0)
+	{
+		m_kerning.erase(index);
+	}
+	else
+	{
+		m_kerning[index] = value;
+	}
+}
 
 const SpriteFont::Character& SpriteFont::get_character(uint32_t codepoint) const
 {
diff --git a/public/blah/drawing/spritefont.h b/public/blah/drawing/spritefont.h
index fa99fb8..9461771 100644
--- a/public/blah/drawing/spritefont.h
+++ b/public/blah/drawing/spritefont.h
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 #include <blah/containers/str.h>
 #include <blah/drawing/subtexture.h>
 #include <blah/math/vec2.h>
-#include <map>
+#include <unordered_map>
 
 namespace Blah
 {
@@ -20,19 +20,9 @@ namespace Blah
 			Vec2 offset;
 		};
 	private:
-		// tuple between two characters
-		struct Tuple { uint32_t first; uint32_t second; };
-		struct TupleCompare
-		{
-			bool operator() (const Tuple& lhs, const Tuple& rhs) const
-			{
-				return ((uint64_t)(lhs.first) | ((uint64_t)lhs.second << 32)) < ((uint64_t)(rhs.first) | ((uint64_t)rhs.second << 32));
-			}
-		};
-
 		// charset & kerning maps
-		std::map<uint32_t, Character> m_characters;
-		std::map<Tuple, float, TupleCompare> m_kerning;
+		std::unordered_map<uint32_t, Character> m_characters;
+		std::unordered_map<uint64_t, float> m_kerning;
 
 		// built texture
 		List<TextureRef> m_atlas;