diff --git a/hgext/histedit.py b/hgext/histedit.py
--- a/hgext/histedit.py
+++ b/hgext/histedit.py
@@ -326,6 +326,10 @@
         self.backupfile = data['backupfile']
 
     def _read(self):
+        try:
+            return self.stateobj.read()
+        except error.CorruptedState:
+            pass
         fp = self.repo.vfs.read('histedit-state')
         if fp.startswith('v1\n'):
             data = self._load()
@@ -349,21 +353,17 @@
                 self._write(f)
 
     def _write(self, fp):
-        fp.write('v1\n')
-        fp.write('%s\n' % node.hex(self.parentctxnode))
-        fp.write('%s\n' % node.hex(self.topmost))
-        fp.write('%s\n' % ('True' if self.keep else 'False'))
-        fp.write('%d\n' % len(self.actions))
+        data = {'parentctxnode': self.parentctxnode,
+                'topmost': self.topmost,
+                'keep': self.keep,
+                'backupfile': self.backupfile,
+                'replacements': self.replacements}
+        rules = []
         for action in self.actions:
-            fp.write('%s\n' % action.tostate())
-        fp.write('%d\n' % len(self.replacements))
-        for replacement in self.replacements:
-            fp.write('%s%s\n' % (node.hex(replacement[0]), ''.join(node.hex(r)
-                for r in replacement[1])))
-        backupfile = self.backupfile
-        if not backupfile:
-            backupfile = ''
-        fp.write('%s\n' % backupfile)
+            rules.append(action.tostate().split('\n'))
+        rules = "\n".join(["%s %s" % (verb, rest) for [verb, rest] in rules])
+        data['rules'] = rules
+        self.stateobj.save(2, data)
 
     def _load(self):
         fp = self.repo.vfs('histedit-state', 'r')
diff --git a/tests/test-histedit-arguments.t b/tests/test-histedit-arguments.t
--- a/tests/test-histedit-arguments.t
+++ b/tests/test-histedit-arguments.t
@@ -350,7 +350,7 @@
   (hg histedit --continue to resume)
   [1]
 Corrupt histedit state file
-  $ sed 's/8fda0c726bf2/123456789012/' .hg/histedit-state > ../corrupt-histedit
+  $ sed 's/8fda0c726bf2/123456789012/g; s/\x8f\xda/\x23\x56/g' .hg/histedit-state > ../corrupt-histedit
   $ mv ../corrupt-histedit .hg/histedit-state
   $ hg histedit --abort
   warning: encountered an exception during histedit --abort; the repository may not have been completely cleaned up
diff --git a/tests/test-histedit-edit.t b/tests/test-histedit-edit.t
--- a/tests/test-histedit-edit.t
+++ b/tests/test-histedit-edit.t
@@ -93,19 +93,10 @@
   > EOF
   $ HGEDITOR="sh $TESTTMP/editplan.sh" hg histedit --edit-plan
   $ cat .hg/histedit-state
-  v1
-  055a42cdd88768532f9cf79daa407fc8d138de9b
-  3c6a8ed2ebe862cc949d2caa30775dd6f16fb799
-  False
-  3
-  drop
-  e860deea161a2f77de56603b340ebbb4536308ae
-  drop
-  652413bf663ef2a641cab26574e46d5f5a64a55a
-  drop
-  3c6a8ed2ebe862cc949d2caa30775dd6f16fb799
-  0
-  strip-backup/177f92b77385-0ebe6a8f-histedit.hg
+  2
+  \xa6Dkeep\xf4ErulesX\x89drop e860deea161a2f77de56603b340ebbb4536308ae (esc)
+  drop 652413bf663ef2a641cab26574e46d5f5a64a55a
+  drop 3c6a8ed2ebe862cc949d2caa30775dd6f16fb799GtopmostT<j\x8e\xd2\xeb\xe8b\xcc\x94\x9d,\xaa0w]\xd6\xf1o\xb7\x99JbackupfileX.strip-backup/177f92b77385-0ebe6a8f-histedit.hgLreplacements\x80MparentctxnodeT\x05ZB\xcd\xd8\x87hS/\x9c\xf7\x9d\xaa@\x7f\xc8\xd18\xde\x9b (no-eol) (esc)
 
 edit the plan via --commands
   $ hg histedit --edit-plan --commands - 2>&1 << EOF
@@ -114,19 +105,10 @@
   > drop 3c6a8ed2ebe8 g
   > EOF
   $ cat .hg/histedit-state
-  v1
-  055a42cdd88768532f9cf79daa407fc8d138de9b
-  3c6a8ed2ebe862cc949d2caa30775dd6f16fb799
-  False
-  3
-  edit
-  e860deea161a2f77de56603b340ebbb4536308ae
-  pick
-  652413bf663ef2a641cab26574e46d5f5a64a55a
-  drop
-  3c6a8ed2ebe862cc949d2caa30775dd6f16fb799
-  0
-  strip-backup/177f92b77385-0ebe6a8f-histedit.hg
+  2
+  \xa6Dkeep\xf4ErulesX\x89edit e860deea161a2f77de56603b340ebbb4536308ae (esc)
+  pick 652413bf663ef2a641cab26574e46d5f5a64a55a
+  drop 3c6a8ed2ebe862cc949d2caa30775dd6f16fb799GtopmostT<j\x8e\xd2\xeb\xe8b\xcc\x94\x9d,\xaa0w]\xd6\xf1o\xb7\x99JbackupfileX.strip-backup/177f92b77385-0ebe6a8f-histedit.hgLreplacements\x80MparentctxnodeT\x05ZB\xcd\xd8\x87hS/\x9c\xf7\x9d\xaa@\x7f\xc8\xd18\xde\x9b (no-eol) (esc)
 
 Go at a random point and try to continue