diff --git a/ext/sqlite3/database.c b/ext/sqlite3/database.c
index a35ff3a1..7092a5d9 100644
--- a/ext/sqlite3/database.c
+++ b/ext/sqlite3/database.c
@@ -923,6 +923,110 @@ db_filename(VALUE self, VALUE db_name)
     return Qnil;
 }
 
+#ifdef HAVE_SQLITE3_SERIALIZE
+/* call-seq: db.serialize(database_name = "main")
+ *
+ * Serialize the database into a binary string.
+ *
+ * [database_name]  The name of the database to serialize. The default value
+ *                  is +main+ which is the main database file. For ATTACHed
+ *                  databases, use the name given in the ATTACH statement.
+ *
+ * Returns the contents of the database as a binary string. For an ordinary
+ * on-disk database file, this is just a copy of the disk file. For an
+ * in-memory database or a "TEMP" database, this is the same sequence of bytes
+ * which would be written to disk if that database were backed up to disk.
+ *
+ * Note: This method will only be defined if SQLite was compiled without
+ * +SQLITE_OMIT_DESERIALIZE+.
+ *
+ * See also: https://www.sqlite.org/c3ref/serialize.html
+ */
+static VALUE
+serialize(int argc, VALUE *argv, VALUE self)
+{
+    sqlite3RubyPtr ctx;
+    VALUE db_name;
+    const char *zSchema;
+    sqlite3_int64 size;
+    unsigned char *data;
+    VALUE result;
+
+    TypedData_Get_Struct(self, sqlite3Ruby, &database_type, ctx);
+    REQUIRE_OPEN_DB(ctx);
+
+    rb_scan_args(argc, argv, "01", &db_name);
+
+    zSchema = NIL_P(db_name) ? NULL : StringValueCStr(db_name);
+
+    data = sqlite3_serialize(ctx->db, zSchema, &size, 0);
+
+    if (data == NULL && size != 0) {
+        rb_raise(rb_eNoMemError, "failed to allocate %"PRId64" bytes for serialization", size);
+    }
+
+    result = rb_str_new((const char *)data, (long)size);
+    sqlite3_free(data);
+
+    return result;
+}
+#endif
+
+#ifdef HAVE_SQLITE3_DESERIALIZE
+/* call-seq: db.deserialize(data, database_name = "main")
+ *
+ * Deserialize a binary string into the database. The database is replaced with
+ * the contents of the serialized data.
+ *
+ * [data]           A binary string containing the serialized database content.
+ *                  This is typically obtained from a prior call to #serialize.
+ *
+ * [database_name]  The name of the database to replace. The default value is
+ *                  +main+ which is the main database file. For ATTACHed
+ *                  databases, use the name given in the ATTACH statement.
+ *
+ * The database connection must not be in a transaction or involved in a backup
+ * operation when this method is called, or it will raise SQLite3::BusyException.
+ *
+ * Note: This method will only be defined if SQLite was compiled without
+ * +SQLITE_OMIT_DESERIALIZE+.
+ *
+ * See also: https://www.sqlite.org/c3ref/deserialize.html
+ */
+static VALUE
+deserialize(int argc, VALUE *argv, VALUE self)
+{
+    sqlite3RubyPtr ctx;
+    VALUE data, db_name;
+    const char *zSchema;
+    unsigned char *pData;
+    sqlite3_int64 szDb;
+    int status;
+
+    TypedData_Get_Struct(self, sqlite3Ruby, &database_type, ctx);
+    REQUIRE_OPEN_DB(ctx);
+
+    rb_scan_args(argc, argv, "11", &data, &db_name);
+
+    StringValue(data);
+    zSchema = NIL_P(db_name) ? NULL : StringValueCStr(db_name);
+    szDb = RSTRING_LEN(data);
+
+    pData = sqlite3_malloc64(szDb);
+    if (pData == NULL) {
+        rb_raise(rb_eNoMemError, "failed to allocate %"PRId64" bytes for deserialization", szDb);
+    }
+    memcpy(pData, RSTRING_PTR(data), (size_t)szDb);
+
+    status = sqlite3_deserialize(ctx->db, zSchema, pData, szDb, szDb,
+                                 SQLITE_DESERIALIZE_FREEONCLOSE | SQLITE_DESERIALIZE_RESIZEABLE);
+
+    CHECK(ctx->db, status);
+
+    return self;
+}
+#endif
+
 static VALUE
 rb_sqlite3_open16(VALUE self, VALUE file)
 {
@@ -997,6 +1101,13 @@ init_sqlite3_database(void)
 #endif
 #endif
 
+#ifdef HAVE_SQLITE3_SERIALIZE
+    rb_define_method(cSqlite3Database, "serialize", serialize, -1);
+#endif
+
+#ifdef HAVE_SQLITE3_DESERIALIZE
+    rb_define_method(cSqlite3Database, "deserialize", deserialize, -1);
+#endif
 
     rb_sqlite3_aggregator_init();
 }
diff --git a/ext/sqlite3/extconf.rb b/ext/sqlite3/extconf.rb
index d6acea6f..c6f8ea88 100644
--- a/ext/sqlite3/extconf.rb
+++ b/ext/sqlite3/extconf.rb
@@ -139,6 +139,8 @@ def configure_extension
         have_func("sqlite3_prepare_v2")
         have_func("sqlite3_db_name", "sqlite3.h") # v3.39.0
         have_func("sqlite3_error_offset", "sqlite3.h") # v3.38.0
+        have_func("sqlite3_serialize", "sqlite3.h") # v3.23.0
+        have_func("sqlite3_deserialize", "sqlite3.h") # v3.23.0
 
         have_type("sqlite3_int64", "sqlite3.h")
         have_type("sqlite3_uint64", "sqlite3.h")
diff --git a/test/test_database.rb b/test/test_database.rb
index 3140a6a1..eac70068 100644
--- a/test/test_database.rb
+++ b/test/test_database.rb
@@ -869,5 +869,117 @@ def test_dbstat_table_exists
 
       assert_nothing_raised { @db.execute("select * from dbstat") }
     end
+
+    def test_serialize
+      skip("serialize not supported") unless @db.respond_to?(:serialize)
+
+      @db.execute("create table foo (a integer, b text)")
+      @db.execute("insert into foo (a, b) values (1, 'hello')")
+      @db.execute("insert into foo (a, b) values (2, 'world')")
+
+      data = @db.serialize
+      assert_instance_of(String, data)
+      assert_equal(Encoding::ASCII_8BIT, data.encoding)
+      refute_empty(data)
+      assert_equal("SQLite format 3\0", data[0, 16])
+    end
+
+    def test_serialize_with_database_name
+      skip("serialize not supported") unless @db.respond_to?(:serialize)
+
+      @db.execute("create table foo (a integer)")
+      @db.execute("insert into foo values (42)")
+
+      data = @db.serialize("main")
+      assert_instance_of(String, data)
+      assert_equal("SQLite format 3\0", data[0, 16])
+    end
+
+    def test_serialize_closed_database
+      skip("serialize not supported") unless @db.respond_to?(:serialize)
+
+      @db.close
+      assert_raise(SQLite3::Exception) { @db.serialize }
+    end
+
+    def test_deserialize
+      skip("deserialize not supported") unless @db.respond_to?(:deserialize)
+
+      # Create a source database with data
+      source = SQLite3::Database.new(":memory:")
+      source.execute("create table foo (a integer, b text)")
+      source.execute("insert into foo values (1, 'hello')")
+      source.execute("insert into foo values (2, 'world')")
+
+      # Serialize and deserialize into target
+      data = source.serialize
+      @db.deserialize(data)
+
+      # Verify the data was transferred
+      rows = @db.execute("select * from foo order by a")
+      assert_equal [[1, "hello"], [2, "world"]], rows
+    ensure
+      source&.close
+    end
+
+    def test_deserialize_round_trip
+      skip("serialize/deserialize not supported") unless @db.respond_to?(:serialize) && @db.respond_to?(:deserialize)
+
+      # Create and populate a database
+      @db.execute("create table users (id integer primary key, name text, score real)")
+      @db.execute("insert into users values (1, 'Alice', 95.5)")
+      @db.execute("insert into users values (2, 'Bob', 87.3)")
+      @db.execute("insert into users values (3, 'Charlie', 92.1)")
+
+      # Serialize
+      data = @db.serialize
+
+      # Create a new database and deserialize into it
+      db2 = SQLite3::Database.new(":memory:")
+      db2.deserialize(data)
+
+      # Verify the data matches
+      original_rows = @db.execute("select * from users order by id")
+      restored_rows = db2.execute("select * from users order by id")
+      assert_equal original_rows, restored_rows
+
+      # Verify we can still modify the restored database
+      db2.execute("insert into users values (4, 'Diana', 88.8)")
+      assert_equal 4, db2.execute("select count(*) from users").first.first
+    ensure
+      db2&.close
+    end
+
+    def test_deserialize_with_database_name
+      skip("deserialize not supported") unless @db.respond_to?(:deserialize)
+
+      # Create a source database
+      source = SQLite3::Database.new(":memory:")
+      source.execute("create table items (x integer)")
+      source.execute("insert into items values (42)")
+      data = source.serialize
+
+      # Deserialize into main
+      @db.deserialize(data, "main")
+      assert_equal [[42]], @db.execute("select x from items")
+    ensure
+      source&.close
+    end
+
+    def test_deserialize_closed_database
+      skip("deserialize not supported") unless @db.respond_to?(:deserialize)
+
+      data = "SQLite format 3\0" + ("\0" * 84) # minimal header
+      @db.close
+      assert_raise(SQLite3::Exception) { @db.deserialize(data) }
+    end
+
+    def test_deserialize_invalid_data
+      skip("deserialize not supported") unless @db.respond_to?(:deserialize)
+
+      # Deserializing invalid data should raise an error when accessed
+      @db.deserialize("not a valid database")
+      assert_raise(SQLite3::Exception) { @db.execute("select 1") }
+    end
   end
 end