diff --git a/Doc/library/io.rst b/Doc/library/io.rst
index cd81cf9c36b..53d6f271e82 100644
--- a/Doc/library/io.rst
+++ b/Doc/library/io.rst
@@ -66,7 +66,8 @@ The text stream API is described in detail in the documentation of
 Binary I/O
 ^^^^^^^^^^
 
-Binary I/O (also called *buffered I/O*) expects and produces :class:`bytes`
+Binary I/O (also called *buffered I/O*) expects
+:term:`bytes-like objects <bytes-like object>` and produces :class:`bytes`
 objects.  No encoding, decoding, or newline translation is performed.  This
 category of streams can be used for all kinds of non-text data, and also when
 manual control over the handling of text data is desired.
@@ -227,9 +228,10 @@ I/O Base Classes
    when operations they do not support are called.
 
    The basic type used for binary data read from or written to a file is
-   :class:`bytes`.  :class:`bytearray`\s are accepted too, and in some cases
-   (such as :meth:`readinto`) required.  Text I/O classes work with
-   :class:`str` data.
+   :class:`bytes`.  Other :term:`bytes-like objects <bytes-like object>` are
+   accepted as method arguments too.  In some cases, such as
+   :meth:`~RawIOBase.readinto`, a writable object such as :class:`bytearray`
+   is required.  Text I/O classes work with :class:`str` data.
 
    Note that calling any method (even inquiries) on a closed stream is
    undefined.  Implementations may raise :exc:`ValueError` in this case.
@@ -393,18 +395,22 @@ I/O Base Classes
 
    .. method:: readinto(b)
 
-      Read up to ``len(b)`` bytes into :class:`bytearray` *b* and return the
+      Read bytes into a pre-allocated, writable
+      :term:`bytes-like object` *b*, and return the
       number of bytes read.  If the object is in non-blocking mode and no bytes
       are available, ``None`` is returned.
 
    .. method:: write(b)
 
-      Write the given :class:`bytes` or :class:`bytearray` object, *b*, to the
-      underlying raw stream and return the number of bytes written.  This can
-      be less than ``len(b)``, depending on specifics of the underlying raw
+      Write the given :term:`bytes-like object`, *b*, to the
+      underlying raw stream, and return the number of
+      bytes written.  This can be less than the length of *b* in
+      bytes, depending on specifics of the underlying raw
       stream, and especially if it is in non-blocking mode.  ``None`` is
       returned if the raw stream is set not to block and no single byte could
-      be readily written to it.
+      be readily written to it.  The caller may release or mutate *b* after
+      this method returns, so the implementation should only access *b*
+      during the method call.
 
 
 .. class:: BufferedIOBase
@@ -476,8 +482,8 @@ I/O Base Classes
 
    .. method:: readinto(b)
 
-      Read up to ``len(b)`` bytes into bytearray *b* and return the number of
-      bytes read.
+      Read bytes into a pre-allocated, writable
+      :term:`bytes-like object` *b* and return the number of bytes read.
 
       Like :meth:`read`, multiple reads may be issued to the underlying raw
       stream, unless the latter is interactive.
@@ -487,7 +493,8 @@ I/O Base Classes
 
    .. method:: readinto1(b)
 
-      Read up to ``len(b)`` bytes into bytearray *b*, using at most one call to
+      Read bytes into a pre-allocated, writable
+      :term:`bytes-like object` *b*, using at most one call to
       the underlying raw stream's :meth:`~RawIOBase.read` (or
       :meth:`~RawIOBase.readinto`) method. Return the number of bytes read.
 
@@ -498,8 +505,8 @@ I/O Base Classes
 
    .. method:: write(b)
 
-      Write the given :class:`bytes` or :class:`bytearray` object, *b* and
-      return the number of bytes written (never less than ``len(b)``, since if
+      Write the given :term:`bytes-like object`, *b*, and return the number
+      of bytes written (always equal to the length of *b* in bytes, since if
       the write fails an :exc:`OSError` will be raised).  Depending on the
       actual implementation, these bytes may be readily written to the
       underlying stream, or held in a buffer for performance and latency
@@ -509,6 +516,9 @@ I/O Base Classes
       data needed to be written to the raw stream but it couldn't accept
       all the data without blocking.
 
+      The caller may release or mutate *b* after this method returns,
+      so the implementation should only access *b* during the method call.
+
 
 Raw File I/O
 ^^^^^^^^^^^^
@@ -584,7 +594,8 @@ than raw I/O does.
    :class:`BufferedIOBase`.  The buffer is discarded when the
    :meth:`~IOBase.close` method is called.
 
-   The argument *initial_bytes* contains optional initial :class:`bytes` data.
+   The optional argument *initial_bytes* is a :term:`bytes-like object` that
+   contains initial data.
 
    :class:`BytesIO` provides or overrides these methods in addition to those
    from :class:`BufferedIOBase` and :class:`IOBase`:
@@ -682,7 +693,7 @@ than raw I/O does.
 
    .. method:: write(b)
 
-      Write the :class:`bytes` or :class:`bytearray` object, *b* and return the
+      Write the :term:`bytes-like object`, *b*, and return the
       number of bytes written.  When in non-blocking mode, a
       :exc:`BlockingIOError` is raised if the buffer needs to be written out but
       the raw stream blocks.
diff --git a/Lib/_pyio.py b/Lib/_pyio.py
index 404e0273ece..d3f00af8d84 100644
--- a/Lib/_pyio.py
+++ b/Lib/_pyio.py
@@ -296,8 +296,9 @@ class IOBase(metaclass=abc.ABCMeta):
     called.
 
     The basic type used for binary data read from or written to a file is
-    bytes. bytearrays are accepted too, and in some cases (such as
-    readinto) needed. Text I/O classes work with str data.
+    bytes. Other bytes-like objects are accepted as method arguments too. In
+    some cases (such as readinto), a writable object is required. Text I/O
+    classes work with str data.
 
     Note that calling any method (even inquiries) on a closed stream is
     undefined. Implementations may raise OSError in this case.
@@ -596,7 +597,7 @@ class RawIOBase(IOBase):
             return data
 
     def readinto(self, b):
-        """Read up to len(b) bytes into bytearray b.
+        """Read bytes into a pre-allocated bytes-like object b.
 
         Returns an int representing the number of bytes read (0 for EOF), or
         None if the object is set not to block and has no data to read.
@@ -606,7 +607,8 @@ class RawIOBase(IOBase):
     def write(self, b):
         """Write the given buffer to the IO stream.
 
-        Returns the number of bytes written, which may be less than len(b).
+        Returns the number of bytes written, which may be less than the
+        length of b in bytes.
         """
         self._unsupported("write")
 
@@ -659,7 +661,7 @@ class BufferedIOBase(IOBase):
         self._unsupported("read1")
 
     def readinto(self, b):
-        """Read up to len(b) bytes into bytearray b.
+        """Read bytes into a pre-allocated bytes-like object b.
 
         Like read(), this may issue multiple reads to the underlying raw
         stream, unless the latter is 'interactive'.
@@ -673,7 +675,7 @@ class BufferedIOBase(IOBase):
         return self._readinto(b, read1=False)
 
     def readinto1(self, b):
-        """Read up to len(b) bytes into *b*, using at most one system call
+        """Read bytes into buffer *b*, using at most one system call
 
         Returns an int representing the number of bytes read (0 for EOF).
 
@@ -701,8 +703,8 @@ class BufferedIOBase(IOBase):
     def write(self, b):
         """Write the given bytes buffer to the IO stream.
 
-        Return the number of bytes written, which is never less than
-        len(b).
+        Return the number of bytes written, which is always the length of b
+        in bytes.
 
         Raises BlockingIOError if the buffer is full and the
         underlying raw stream cannot accept more data at the moment.
@@ -884,7 +886,8 @@ class BytesIO(BufferedIOBase):
             raise ValueError("write to closed file")
         if isinstance(b, str):
             raise TypeError("can't write str to binary stream")
-        n = len(b)
+        with memoryview(b) as view:
+            n = view.nbytes  # Size of any bytes-like object
         if n == 0:
             return 0
         pos = self._pos
@@ -1090,14 +1093,13 @@ class BufferedReader(_BufferedIOMixin):
     def _readinto(self, buf, read1):
         """Read data into *buf* with at most one system call."""
 
-        if len(buf) == 0:
-            return 0
-
         # Need to create a memoryview object of type 'b', otherwise
         # we may not be able to assign bytes to it, and slicing it
         # would create a new object.
         if not isinstance(buf, memoryview):
             buf = memoryview(buf)
+        if buf.nbytes == 0:
+            return 0
         buf = buf.cast('B')
 
         written = 0
diff --git a/Lib/test/test_io.py b/Lib/test/test_io.py
index 1dab166817b..53e776d9106 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_io.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_io.py
@@ -45,6 +45,22 @@ try:
 except ImportError:
     threading = None
 
+try:
+    import ctypes
+except ImportError:
+    def byteslike(*pos, **kw):
+        return array.array("b", bytes(*pos, **kw))
+else:
+    def byteslike(*pos, **kw):
+        """Create a bytes-like object having no string or sequence methods"""
+        data = bytes(*pos, **kw)
+        obj = EmptyStruct()
+        ctypes.resize(obj, len(data))
+        memoryview(obj).cast("B")[:] = data
+        return obj
+    class EmptyStruct(ctypes.Structure):
+        pass
+
 def _default_chunk_size():
     """Get the default TextIOWrapper chunk size"""
     with open(__file__, "r", encoding="latin-1") as f:
@@ -284,7 +300,9 @@ class IOTest(unittest.TestCase):
         self.assertEqual(f.tell(), 6)
         self.assertEqual(f.seek(-1, 1), 5)
         self.assertEqual(f.tell(), 5)
-        self.assertEqual(f.write(bytearray(b" world\n\n\n")), 9)
+        buffer = bytearray(b" world\n\n\n")
+        self.assertEqual(f.write(buffer), 9)
+        buffer[:] = b"*" * 9  # Overwrite our copy of the data
         self.assertEqual(f.seek(0), 0)
         self.assertEqual(f.write(b"h"), 1)
         self.assertEqual(f.seek(-1, 2), 13)
@@ -297,20 +315,21 @@ class IOTest(unittest.TestCase):
     def read_ops(self, f, buffered=False):
         data = f.read(5)
         self.assertEqual(data, b"hello")
-        data = bytearray(data)
+        data = byteslike(data)
         self.assertEqual(f.readinto(data), 5)
-        self.assertEqual(data, b" worl")
+        self.assertEqual(bytes(data), b" worl")
+        data = bytearray(5)
         self.assertEqual(f.readinto(data), 2)
         self.assertEqual(len(data), 5)
         self.assertEqual(data[:2], b"d\n")
         self.assertEqual(f.seek(0), 0)
         self.assertEqual(f.read(20), b"hello world\n")
         self.assertEqual(f.read(1), b"")
-        self.assertEqual(f.readinto(bytearray(b"x")), 0)
+        self.assertEqual(f.readinto(byteslike(b"x")), 0)
         self.assertEqual(f.seek(-6, 2), 6)
         self.assertEqual(f.read(5), b"world")
         self.assertEqual(f.read(0), b"")
-        self.assertEqual(f.readinto(bytearray()), 0)
+        self.assertEqual(f.readinto(byteslike()), 0)
         self.assertEqual(f.seek(-6, 1), 5)
         self.assertEqual(f.read(5), b" worl")
         self.assertEqual(f.tell(), 10)
@@ -321,6 +340,10 @@ class IOTest(unittest.TestCase):
             f.seek(6)
             self.assertEqual(f.read(), b"world\n")
             self.assertEqual(f.read(), b"")
+            f.seek(0)
+            data = byteslike(5)
+            self.assertEqual(f.readinto1(data), 5)
+            self.assertEqual(bytes(data), b"hello")
 
     LARGE = 2**31
 
@@ -641,10 +664,15 @@ class IOTest(unittest.TestCase):
     def test_array_writes(self):
         a = array.array('i', range(10))
         n = len(a.tobytes())
-        with self.open(support.TESTFN, "wb", 0) as f:
-            self.assertEqual(f.write(a), n)
-        with self.open(support.TESTFN, "wb") as f:
-            self.assertEqual(f.write(a), n)
+        def check(f):
+            with f:
+                self.assertEqual(f.write(a), n)
+                f.writelines((a,))
+        check(self.BytesIO())
+        check(self.FileIO(support.TESTFN, "w"))
+        check(self.BufferedWriter(self.MockRawIO()))
+        check(self.BufferedRandom(self.MockRawIO()))
+        check(self.BufferedRWPair(self.MockRawIO(), self.MockRawIO()))
 
     def test_closefd(self):
         self.assertRaises(ValueError, self.open, support.TESTFN, 'w',
@@ -803,6 +831,19 @@ class IOTest(unittest.TestCase):
             with self.assertRaises(ValueError):
                 self.open(support.TESTFN, 'w', newline='invalid')
 
+    def test_buffered_readinto_mixin(self):
+        # Test the implementation provided by BufferedIOBase
+        class Stream(self.BufferedIOBase):
+            def read(self, size):
+                return b"12345"
+            read1 = read
+        stream = Stream()
+        for method in ("readinto", "readinto1"):
+            with self.subTest(method):
+                buffer = byteslike(5)
+                self.assertEqual(getattr(stream, method)(buffer), 5)
+                self.assertEqual(bytes(buffer), b"12345")
+
 
 class CIOTest(IOTest):
 
@@ -1394,6 +1435,11 @@ class BufferedWriterTest(unittest.TestCase, CommonBufferedTests):
         bufio = self.tp(writer, 8)
         bufio.write(b"abc")
         self.assertFalse(writer._write_stack)
+        buffer = bytearray(b"def")
+        bufio.write(buffer)
+        buffer[:] = b"***"  # Overwrite our copy of the data
+        bufio.flush()
+        self.assertEqual(b"".join(writer._write_stack), b"abcdef")
 
     def test_write_overflow(self):
         writer = self.MockRawIO()
@@ -1720,11 +1766,13 @@ class BufferedRWPairTest(unittest.TestCase):
         self.assertEqual(pair.read1(3), b"abc")
 
     def test_readinto(self):
-        pair = self.tp(self.BytesIO(b"abcdef"), self.MockRawIO())
+        for method in ("readinto", "readinto1"):
+            with self.subTest(method):
+                pair = self.tp(self.BytesIO(b"abcdef"), self.MockRawIO())
 
-        data = bytearray(5)
-        self.assertEqual(pair.readinto(data), 5)
-        self.assertEqual(data, b"abcde")
+                data = byteslike(5)
+                self.assertEqual(getattr(pair, method)(data), 5)
+                self.assertEqual(bytes(data), b"abcde")
 
     def test_write(self):
         w = self.MockRawIO()
@@ -1732,7 +1780,9 @@ class BufferedRWPairTest(unittest.TestCase):
 
         pair.write(b"abc")
         pair.flush()
-        pair.write(b"def")
+        buffer = bytearray(b"def")
+        pair.write(buffer)
+        buffer[:] = b"***"  # Overwrite our copy of the data
         pair.flush()
         self.assertEqual(w._write_stack, [b"abc", b"def"])
 
diff --git a/Lib/test/test_memoryio.py b/Lib/test/test_memoryio.py
index 812db4cfa8c..55b693e5647 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_memoryio.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_memoryio.py
@@ -399,7 +399,16 @@ class MemoryTestMixin:
         del __main__.PickleTestMemIO
 
 
-class BytesIOMixin:
+class PyBytesIOTest(MemoryTestMixin, MemorySeekTestMixin, unittest.TestCase):
+    # Test _pyio.BytesIO; class also inherited for testing C implementation
+
+    UnsupportedOperation = pyio.UnsupportedOperation
+
+    @staticmethod
+    def buftype(s):
+        return s.encode("ascii")
+    ioclass = pyio.BytesIO
+    EOF = b""
 
     def test_getbuffer(self):
         memio = self.ioclass(b"1234567890")
@@ -426,18 +435,6 @@ class BytesIOMixin:
         memio.close()
         self.assertRaises(ValueError, memio.getbuffer)
 
-
-class PyBytesIOTest(MemoryTestMixin, MemorySeekTestMixin,
-                    BytesIOMixin, unittest.TestCase):
-
-    UnsupportedOperation = pyio.UnsupportedOperation
-
-    @staticmethod
-    def buftype(s):
-        return s.encode("ascii")
-    ioclass = pyio.BytesIO
-    EOF = b""
-
     def test_read1(self):
         buf = self.buftype("1234567890")
         memio = self.ioclass(buf)
diff --git a/Modules/_io/bufferedio.c b/Modules/_io/bufferedio.c
index f4d179a750c..cbe7425eaef 100644
--- a/Modules/_io/bufferedio.c
+++ b/Modules/_io/bufferedio.c
@@ -190,8 +190,8 @@ bufferediobase_read1(PyObject *self, PyObject *args)
 PyDoc_STRVAR(bufferediobase_write_doc,
     "Write the given buffer to the IO stream.\n"
     "\n"
-    "Returns the number of bytes written, which is never less than\n"
-    "len(b).\n"
+    "Returns the number of bytes written, which is always the length of b\n"
+    "in bytes.\n"
     "\n"
     "Raises BlockingIOError if the buffer is full and the\n"
     "underlying raw stream cannot accept more data at the moment.\n");
diff --git a/Modules/_io/bytesio.c b/Modules/_io/bytesio.c
index ad96a906b0d..a1ba121e262 100644
--- a/Modules/_io/bytesio.c
+++ b/Modules/_io/bytesio.c
@@ -546,7 +546,7 @@ _io.BytesIO.readinto
     buffer: Py_buffer(accept={rwbuffer})
     /
 
-Read up to len(buffer) bytes into buffer.
+Read bytes into buffer.
 
 Returns number of bytes read (0 for EOF), or None if the object
 is set not to block and has no data to read.
@@ -554,7 +554,7 @@ is set not to block and has no data to read.
 
 static PyObject *
 _io_BytesIO_readinto_impl(bytesio *self, Py_buffer *buffer)
-/*[clinic end generated code: output=a5d407217dcf0639 input=b52a8782706f0037]*/
+/*[clinic end generated code: output=a5d407217dcf0639 input=1424d0fdce857919]*/
 {
     Py_ssize_t len, n;
 
diff --git a/Modules/_io/clinic/bytesio.c.h b/Modules/_io/clinic/bytesio.c.h
index e4682157efb..5f2abb03a70 100644
--- a/Modules/_io/clinic/bytesio.c.h
+++ b/Modules/_io/clinic/bytesio.c.h
@@ -259,7 +259,7 @@ PyDoc_STRVAR(_io_BytesIO_readinto__doc__,
 "readinto($self, buffer, /)\n"
 "--\n"
 "\n"
-"Read up to len(buffer) bytes into buffer.\n"
+"Read bytes into buffer.\n"
 "\n"
 "Returns number of bytes read (0 for EOF), or None if the object\n"
 "is set not to block and has no data to read.");
@@ -419,4 +419,4 @@ _io_BytesIO___init__(PyObject *self, PyObject *args, PyObject *kwargs)
 exit:
     return return_value;
 }
-/*[clinic end generated code: output=164cf0e4117dadbe input=a9049054013a1b77]*/
+/*[clinic end generated code: output=60ce2c6272718431 input=a9049054013a1b77]*/
diff --git a/Modules/_io/clinic/fileio.c.h b/Modules/_io/clinic/fileio.c.h
index 4a1205e933b..10420082acb 100644
--- a/Modules/_io/clinic/fileio.c.h
+++ b/Modules/_io/clinic/fileio.c.h
@@ -222,7 +222,7 @@ PyDoc_STRVAR(_io_FileIO_write__doc__,
 "write($self, b, /)\n"
 "--\n"
 "\n"
-"Write bytes b to file, return number written.\n"
+"Write buffer b to file, return number of bytes written.\n"
 "\n"
 "Only makes one system call, so not all of the data may be written.\n"
 "The number of bytes actually written is returned.  In non-blocking mode,\n"
@@ -364,4 +364,4 @@ _io_FileIO_isatty(fileio *self, PyObject *Py_UNUSED(ignored))
 #ifndef _IO_FILEIO_TRUNCATE_METHODDEF
     #define _IO_FILEIO_TRUNCATE_METHODDEF
 #endif /* !defined(_IO_FILEIO_TRUNCATE_METHODDEF) */
-/*[clinic end generated code: output=b1a20b10c81add64 input=a9049054013a1b77]*/
+/*[clinic end generated code: output=dcbc39b466598492 input=a9049054013a1b77]*/
diff --git a/Modules/_io/fileio.c b/Modules/_io/fileio.c
index a02a9c1be33..fe6bc41a0f7 100644
--- a/Modules/_io/fileio.c
+++ b/Modules/_io/fileio.c
@@ -835,7 +835,7 @@ _io.FileIO.write
     b: Py_buffer
     /
 
-Write bytes b to file, return number written.
+Write buffer b to file, return number of bytes written.
 
 Only makes one system call, so not all of the data may be written.
 The number of bytes actually written is returned.  In non-blocking mode,
@@ -844,7 +844,7 @@ returns None if the write would block.
 
 static PyObject *
 _io_FileIO_write_impl(fileio *self, Py_buffer *b)
-/*[clinic end generated code: output=b4059db3d363a2f7 input=ffbd8834f447ac31]*/
+/*[clinic end generated code: output=b4059db3d363a2f7 input=6e7908b36f0ce74f]*/
 {
     Py_ssize_t n;
     int err;
diff --git a/Modules/_io/iobase.c b/Modules/_io/iobase.c
index 51abd3254cf..f07a0ca2951 100644
--- a/Modules/_io/iobase.c
+++ b/Modules/_io/iobase.c
@@ -53,8 +53,9 @@ PyDoc_STRVAR(iobase_doc,
     "called.\n"
     "\n"
     "The basic type used for binary data read from or written to a file is\n"
-    "bytes. bytearrays are accepted too, and in some cases (such as\n"
-    "readinto) needed. Text I/O classes work with str data.\n"
+    "bytes. Other bytes-like objects are accepted as method arguments too.\n"
+    "In some cases (such as readinto), a writable object is required. Text\n"
+    "I/O classes work with str data.\n"
     "\n"
     "Note that calling any method (except additional calls to close(),\n"
     "which are ignored) on a closed stream should raise a ValueError.\n"