diff --git a/src/compiler/llvm_codegen.c b/src/compiler/llvm_codegen.c
index 125085f2d..122f2010f 100644
--- a/src/compiler/llvm_codegen.c
+++ b/src/compiler/llvm_codegen.c
@@ -349,17 +349,28 @@ void llvm_emit_global_variable_init(GenContext *c, Decl *decl)
 
 	ByteSize alignment = type_alloca_alignment(decl->type);
 
-	if (decl->var.init_expr)
+	Expr *init_expr = decl->var.init_expr;
+	if (init_expr)
 	{
-		if (decl->var.init_expr->expr_kind == EXPR_INITIALIZER_LIST)
+		if (init_expr->expr_kind == EXPR_INITIALIZER_LIST)
 		{
-			init_value = llvm_emit_const_aggregate(c, decl->var.init_expr, &modified);
+			init_value = llvm_emit_const_aggregate(c, init_expr, &modified);
 		}
 		else
 		{
 			BEValue value;
-			llvm_emit_expr(c, &value, decl->var.init_expr);
-			init_value = llvm_value_rvalue_store(c, &value);
+			if (init_expr->expr_kind == EXPR_CONST && init_expr->const_expr.kind == TYPE_ARRAY)
+			{
+				init_value = LLVMConstStringInContext(c->context,
+													  init_expr->const_expr.bytes.ptr,
+													  init_expr->const_expr.bytes.len,
+													  1);
+			}
+			else
+			{
+				llvm_emit_expr(c, &value, decl->var.init_expr);
+				init_value = llvm_value_rvalue_store(c, &value);
+			}
 		}
 	}
 	else
diff --git a/src/compiler/llvm_codegen_expr.c b/src/compiler/llvm_codegen_expr.c
index e4e4731d6..7891c8f45 100644
--- a/src/compiler/llvm_codegen_expr.c
+++ b/src/compiler/llvm_codegen_expr.c
@@ -2499,7 +2499,7 @@ static void llvm_emit_const_expr(GenContext *c, BEValue *be_value, Expr *expr)
 																		 1));
 				llvm_set_alignment(global_name, 1);
 				global_name = LLVMConstBitCast(global_name, LLVMPointerType(llvm_get_type(c, type_char), 0));
-				llvm_value_set(be_value, global_name, type);
+				llvm_value_set_address(be_value, global_name, type);
 				return;
 			}
 		case ALL_INTS:
diff --git a/test/test_suite/constants/byte_literals.c3t b/test/test_suite/constants/byte_literals.c3t
index 9afe29751..9909bc1f5 100644
--- a/test/test_suite/constants/byte_literals.c3t
+++ b/test/test_suite/constants/byte_literals.c3t
@@ -6,8 +6,8 @@ char[*] foo64 = b64"SGVsbG8gV29ybGQ=";
 
 // #expect: byte_literals.ll
 
-@.bytes = private constant [1 x i8] c"\A0", align 1
-@.bytes.5 = private constant [7 x i8] c"\00\AA\BB\CC\DD\EE\FF", align 1
-@.bytes.6 = private constant [4 x i8] c"\DE\AD\BE\EF", align 1
-@.bytes.7 = private constant [5 x i8] c"EI#M\ED", align 1
-@.bytes.8 = private constant [11 x i8] c"Hello World", align 1
+@byte_literals.foob = global [1 x i8] c"\A0", align 1
+@byte_literals.fooz = global [7 x i8] c"\00\AA\BB\CC\DD\EE\FF", align 1
+@byte_literals.fooy = global [4 x i8] c"\DE\AD\BE\EF", align 1
+@byte_literals.foow = global [5 x i8] c"EI#M\ED", align 1
+@byte_literals.foo64 = global [11 x i8] c"Hello World", align 1