diff --git a/libp2p/io/abc.py b/libp2p/io/abc.py
index 265663a..be97288 100644
--- a/libp2p/io/abc.py
+++ b/libp2p/io/abc.py
@@ -32,3 +32,23 @@ class ReadWriter(Reader, Writer):
 
 class ReadWriteCloser(Reader, Writer, Closer):
     pass
+
+
+class MsgReader(ABC):
+    @abstractmethod
+    async def read_msg(self) -> bytes:
+        ...
+
+    @abstractmethod
+    async def next_msg_len(self) -> int:
+        ...
+
+
+class MsgWriter(ABC):
+    @abstractmethod
+    async def write_msg(self, msg: bytes) -> None:
+        ...
+
+
+class MsgReadWriter(MsgReader, MsgWriter):
+    pass
diff --git a/libp2p/io/msgio.py b/libp2p/io/msgio.py
index 82c55ac..65ee8b0 100644
--- a/libp2p/io/msgio.py
+++ b/libp2p/io/msgio.py
@@ -6,60 +6,39 @@ from that repo: "a simple package to r/w length-delimited slices."
 NOTE: currently missing the capability to indicate lengths by "varint" method.
 """
 # TODO unify w/ https://github.com/libp2p/py-libp2p/blob/1aed52856f56a4b791696bbcbac31b5f9c2e88c9/libp2p/utils.py#L85-L99  # noqa: E501
-from typing import Optional, cast
+from typing import Optional
 
-from libp2p.io.abc import Closer, ReadCloser, Reader, ReadWriteCloser, WriteCloser
+from libp2p.io.abc import MsgReadWriter, Reader, ReadWriteCloser
 from libp2p.io.utils import read_exactly
 
-SIZE_LEN_BYTES = 4
+SIZE_NOISE_LEN_BYTES = 2
+SIZE_SECIO_LEN_BYTES = 4
 BYTE_ORDER = "big"
 
 
-async def read_length(reader: Reader) -> int:
-    length_bytes = await read_exactly(reader, SIZE_LEN_BYTES)
+async def read_length(reader: Reader, size_len_bytes: int) -> int:
+    length_bytes = await read_exactly(reader, size_len_bytes)
     return int.from_bytes(length_bytes, byteorder=BYTE_ORDER)
 
 
-def encode_msg_with_length(msg_bytes: bytes) -> bytes:
-    len_prefix = len(msg_bytes).to_bytes(SIZE_LEN_BYTES, "big")
+def encode_msg_with_length(msg_bytes: bytes, size_len_bytes: int) -> bytes:
+    len_prefix = len(msg_bytes).to_bytes(size_len_bytes, byteorder=BYTE_ORDER)
     return len_prefix + msg_bytes
 
 
-class MsgIOWriter(WriteCloser):
-    write_closer: WriteCloser
-
-    def __init__(self, write_closer: WriteCloser) -> None:
-        self.write_closer = write_closer
-
-    async def write(self, data: bytes) -> None:
-        await self.write_msg(data)
-
-    async def write_msg(self, msg: bytes) -> None:
-        data = encode_msg_with_length(msg)
-        await self.write_closer.write(data)
-
-    async def close(self) -> None:
-        await self.write_closer.close()
-
-
-class MsgIOReader(ReadCloser):
-    read_closer: ReadCloser
+class BaseMsgReadWriter(MsgReadWriter):
     next_length: Optional[int]
+    read_write_closer: ReadWriteCloser
+    size_len_bytes: int
 
-    def __init__(self, read_closer: ReadCloser) -> None:
-        # NOTE: the following line is required to satisfy the
-        # multiple inheritance but `mypy` does not like it...
-        super().__init__(read_closer)  # type: ignore
-        self.read_closer = read_closer
+    def __init__(self, read_write_closer: ReadWriteCloser) -> None:
+        self.read_write_closer = read_write_closer
         self.next_length = None
 
-    async def read(self, n: int = None) -> bytes:
-        return await self.read_msg()
-
     async def read_msg(self) -> bytes:
         length = await self.next_msg_len()
 
-        data = await read_exactly(self.read_closer, length)
+        data = await read_exactly(self.read_write_closer, length)
         if len(data) < length:
             self.next_length = length - len(data)
         else:
@@ -68,16 +47,18 @@ class MsgIOReader(ReadCloser):
 
     async def next_msg_len(self) -> int:
         if self.next_length is None:
-            self.next_length = await read_length(self.read_closer)
+            self.next_length = await read_length(
+                self.read_write_closer, self.size_len_bytes
+            )
         return self.next_length
 
     async def close(self) -> None:
-        await self.read_closer.close()
+        await self.read_write_closer.close()
+
+    async def write_msg(self, msg: bytes) -> None:
+        data = encode_msg_with_length(msg, self.size_len_bytes)
+        await self.read_write_closer.write(data)
 
 
-class MsgIOReadWriter(MsgIOReader, MsgIOWriter, Closer):
-    def __init__(self, read_write_closer: ReadWriteCloser) -> None:
-        super().__init__(cast(ReadCloser, read_write_closer))
-
-    async def close(self) -> None:
-        await self.read_closer.close()
+class MsgIOReadWriter(BaseMsgReadWriter):
+    size_len_bytes = SIZE_SECIO_LEN_BYTES