diff --git a/cmd/restic/cmd_recover.go b/cmd/restic/cmd_recover.go
index fec4c44b5..8cb5f3cc7 100644
--- a/cmd/restic/cmd_recover.go
+++ b/cmd/restic/cmd_recover.go
@@ -134,28 +134,28 @@ func runRecover(ctx context.Context, gopts global.Options, term ui.Terminal) err
 		return ctx.Err()
 	}
 
-	tree := data.NewTree(len(roots))
-	for id := range roots {
-		var subtreeID = id
-		node := data.Node{
-			Type:       data.NodeTypeDir,
-			Name:       id.Str(),
-			Mode:       0755,
-			Subtree:    &subtreeID,
-			AccessTime: time.Now(),
-			ModTime:    time.Now(),
-			ChangeTime: time.Now(),
-		}
-		err := tree.Insert(&node)
-		if err != nil {
-			return err
-		}
-	}
-
 	var treeID restic.ID
 	err = repo.WithBlobUploader(ctx, func(ctx context.Context, uploader restic.BlobSaverWithAsync) error {
 		var err error
-		treeID, err = data.SaveTree(ctx, uploader, tree)
+		tw := data.NewTreeWriter(uploader)
+		for id := range roots {
+			var subtreeID = id
+			node := data.Node{
+				Type:       data.NodeTypeDir,
+				Name:       id.Str(),
+				Mode:       0755,
+				Subtree:    &subtreeID,
+				AccessTime: time.Now(),
+				ModTime:    time.Now(),
+				ChangeTime: time.Now(),
+			}
+			err := tw.AddNode(&node)
+			if err != nil {
+				return err
+			}
+		}
+
+		treeID, err = tw.Finalize(ctx)
 		if err != nil {
 			return errors.Fatalf("unable to save new tree to the repository: %v", err)
 		}
diff --git a/internal/data/tree.go b/internal/data/tree.go
index 055c3b2b5..763a1aa83 100644
--- a/internal/data/tree.go
+++ b/internal/data/tree.go
@@ -15,6 +15,8 @@ import (
 	"github.com/restic/restic/internal/debug"
 )
 
+var ErrTreeNotOrdered = errors.New("nodes are not ordered or duplicate")
+
 // Tree is an ordered list of nodes.
 type Tree struct {
 	Nodes []*Node `json:"nodes"`
@@ -123,28 +125,39 @@ func LoadTree(ctx context.Context, r restic.BlobLoader, id restic.ID) (*Tree, er
 	return t, nil
 }
 
-// SaveTree stores a tree into the repository and returns the ID. The ID is
-// checked against the index. The tree is only stored when the index does not
-// contain the ID.
-func SaveTree(ctx context.Context, r restic.BlobSaver, t *Tree) (restic.ID, error) {
-	if t.Nodes == nil {
-		// serialize an empty tree as `{"nodes":[]}` to be consistent with TreeJSONBuilder
-		t.Nodes = make([]*Node, 0)
-	}
-	buf, err := json.Marshal(t)
+type TreeWriter struct {
+	builder *TreeJSONBuilder
+	saver   restic.BlobSaver
+}
+
+func NewTreeWriter(saver restic.BlobSaver) *TreeWriter {
+	builder := NewTreeJSONBuilder()
+	return &TreeWriter{builder: builder, saver: saver}
+}
+
+func (t *TreeWriter) AddNode(node *Node) error {
+	return t.builder.AddNode(node)
+}
+
+func (t *TreeWriter) Finalize(ctx context.Context) (restic.ID, error) {
+	buf, err := t.builder.Finalize()
 	if err != nil {
-		return restic.ID{}, errors.Wrap(err, "MarshalJSON")
+		return restic.ID{}, err
 	}
-
-	// append a newline so that the data is always consistent (json.Encoder
-	// adds a newline after each object)
-	buf = append(buf, '\n')
-
-	id, _, _, err := r.SaveBlob(ctx, restic.TreeBlob, buf, restic.ID{}, false)
+	id, _, _, err := t.saver.SaveBlob(ctx, restic.TreeBlob, buf, restic.ID{}, false)
 	return id, err
 }
 
-var ErrTreeNotOrdered = errors.New("nodes are not ordered or duplicate")
+func SaveTree(ctx context.Context, saver restic.BlobSaver, t *Tree) (restic.ID, error) {
+	treeWriter := NewTreeWriter(saver)
+	for _, node := range t.Nodes {
+		err := treeWriter.AddNode(node)
+		if err != nil {
+			return restic.ID{}, err
+		}
+	}
+	return treeWriter.Finalize(ctx)
+}
 
 type TreeJSONBuilder struct {
 	buf      bytes.Buffer
diff --git a/internal/walker/rewriter.go b/internal/walker/rewriter.go
index bd05b90d7..b3445e438 100644
--- a/internal/walker/rewriter.go
+++ b/internal/walker/rewriter.go
@@ -121,7 +121,7 @@ func (t *TreeRewriter) RewriteTree(ctx context.Context, loader restic.BlobLoader
 
 	debug.Log("filterTree: %s, nodeId: %s\n", nodepath, nodeID.Str())
 
-	tb := data.NewTreeJSONBuilder()
+	tb := data.NewTreeWriter(saver)
 	for _, node := range curTree.Nodes {
 		if ctx.Err() != nil {
 			return restic.ID{}, ctx.Err()
@@ -156,13 +156,11 @@ func (t *TreeRewriter) RewriteTree(ctx context.Context, loader restic.BlobLoader
 		}
 	}
 
-	tree, err := tb.Finalize()
+	newTreeID, err := tb.Finalize(ctx)
 	if err != nil {
 		return restic.ID{}, err
 	}
 
-	// Save new tree
-	newTreeID, _, _, err := saver.SaveBlob(ctx, restic.TreeBlob, tree, restic.ID{}, false)
 	if t.replaces != nil {
 		t.replaces[nodeID] = newTreeID
 	}