diff --git a/crates/kumo-log-tailer/src/batch.rs b/crates/kumo-log-tailer/src/batch.rs
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..a4e72244
--- /dev/null
+++ b/crates/kumo-log-tailer/src/batch.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,99 @@
+use camino::Utf8PathBuf;
+
+/// Metadata about a single line within a [`LogBatch`].
+#[derive(Debug, Clone)]
+pub struct LineInfo {
+    /// The byte offset of this line within the decompressed stream
+    /// of the segment file.
+    pub byte_offset: u64,
+}
+
+/// A batch of log records yielded by the tailer stream.
+///
+/// Contains the raw line strings along with metadata about which
+/// segment file they came from and the byte offset of each line.
+#[derive(Debug, Clone)]
+pub struct LogBatch {
+    /// The path of the segment file these records were read from.
+    segment: Utf8PathBuf,
+    /// The raw log lines.
+    lines: Vec<String>,
+    /// Per-line metadata (byte offset, etc.), parallel to `lines`.
+    line_info: Vec<LineInfo>,
+}
+
+impl LogBatch {
+    /// Create a new empty batch for the given segment file.
+    pub fn new(segment: Utf8PathBuf) -> Self {
+        Self {
+            segment,
+            lines: Vec::new(),
+            line_info: Vec::new(),
+        }
+    }
+
+    /// Add a line to the batch along with its byte offset in the
+    /// decompressed stream.
+    pub fn push(&mut self, line: String, byte_offset: u64) {
+        self.lines.push(line);
+        self.line_info.push(LineInfo { byte_offset });
+    }
+
+    /// The number of records in this batch.
+    pub fn len(&self) -> usize {
+        self.lines.len()
+    }
+
+    /// Whether the batch is empty.
+    pub fn is_empty(&self) -> bool {
+        self.lines.is_empty()
+    }
+
+    /// The path of the segment file these records were read from.
+    pub fn segment(&self) -> &Utf8PathBuf {
+        &self.segment
+    }
+
+    /// Per-line metadata, parallel to the lines returned by
+    /// [`AsRef<[String]>`].
+    pub fn line_info(&self) -> &[LineInfo] {
+        &self.line_info
+    }
+}
+
+impl AsRef<[String]> for LogBatch {
+    fn as_ref(&self) -> &[String] {
+        &self.lines
+    }
+}
+
+impl TryFrom<&LogBatch> for Vec<serde_json::Value> {
+    type Error = anyhow::Error;
+
+    fn try_from(batch: &LogBatch) -> anyhow::Result<Self> {
+        let segment = batch.segment();
+        batch
+            .lines
+            .iter()
+            .zip(batch.line_info.iter())
+            .map(|(line, info)| {
+                serde_json::from_str(line).map_err(|err| {
+                    anyhow::anyhow!(
+                        "Failed to parse a line from {segment} (byte offset {}) \
+                         as json: {err}. Is the file corrupt? You may need to move \
+                         the file aside to make progress",
+                        info.byte_offset
+                    )
+                })
+            })
+            .collect()
+    }
+}
+
+impl TryFrom<LogBatch> for Vec<serde_json::Value> {
+    type Error = anyhow::Error;
+
+    fn try_from(batch: LogBatch) -> anyhow::Result<Self> {
+        Vec::try_from(&batch)
+    }
+}
diff --git a/crates/kumo-log-tailer/src/decompress.rs b/crates/kumo-log-tailer/src/decompress.rs
index 6615b244..410c7ba4 100644
--- a/crates/kumo-log-tailer/src/decompress.rs
+++ b/crates/kumo-log-tailer/src/decompress.rs
@@ -7,6 +7,13 @@ use zstd_safe::{DCtx, InBuffer, OutBuffer};
 #[error("{}", zstd_safe::get_error_name(*.0))]
 pub struct ZStdError(pub usize);
 
+/// A line extracted from the decompressed stream, along with its
+/// byte offset in the decompressed data.
+pub struct DecompressedLine {
+    pub text: String,
+    pub byte_offset: u64,
+}
+
 /// State for incremental zstd decompression and line extraction from a single file.
 pub struct FileDecompressor {
     file: BufReader<std::fs::File>,
@@ -23,9 +30,13 @@ pub struct FileDecompressor {
     /// Equals skip_before + number of lines actually returned to caller.
     pub lines_consumed: usize,
     /// Buffered lines that have been extracted but not yet consumed.
-    pending_lines: VecDeque<String>,
+    pending_lines: VecDeque<DecompressedLine>,
     /// Whether we've seen EOF on the compressed input.
     saw_eof: bool,
+    /// Cumulative byte offset in the decompressed stream.
+    /// Tracks the position of `line_start` relative to the start
+    /// of the decompressed output.
+    decompressed_offset: u64,
 }
 
 impl FileDecompressor {
@@ -55,6 +66,7 @@ impl FileDecompressor {
             lines_consumed: 0,
             pending_lines: VecDeque::new(),
             saw_eof: false,
+            decompressed_offset: 0,
         })
     }
 
@@ -66,7 +78,7 @@ impl FileDecompressor {
     /// - `Ok(Some(line))` — a complete line was extracted.
     /// - `Ok(None)` — no more data available right now. The caller should check
     ///   if the file is done or retry later.
-    pub fn next_line(&mut self, skip_before: usize) -> anyhow::Result<Option<String>> {
+    pub fn next_line(&mut self, skip_before: usize) -> anyhow::Result<Option<DecompressedLine>> {
         // Return a buffered line if available
         if let Some(line) = self.pending_lines.pop_front() {
             self.lines_consumed += 1;
@@ -116,12 +128,19 @@ impl FileDecompressor {
             while let Some(idx) =
                 memchr::memchr(b'\n', &self.out_buffer[self.line_start..self.out_pos])
             {
+                let line_byte_offset = self.decompressed_offset;
                 if self.lines_decompressed >= skip_before {
                     let this_line = &self.out_buffer[self.line_start..self.line_start + idx];
                     let line = String::from_utf8_lossy(this_line).into_owned();
-                    self.pending_lines.push_back(line);
+                    self.pending_lines.push_back(DecompressedLine {
+                        text: line,
+                        byte_offset: line_byte_offset,
+                    });
                 }
-                self.line_start += idx + 1;
+                // Advance past the line content + newline
+                let consumed = idx + 1;
+                self.decompressed_offset += consumed as u64;
+                self.line_start += consumed;
                 self.lines_decompressed += 1;
             }
 
diff --git a/crates/kumo-log-tailer/src/lib.rs b/crates/kumo-log-tailer/src/lib.rs
index f1dde16b..21b2c73a 100644
--- a/crates/kumo-log-tailer/src/lib.rs
+++ b/crates/kumo-log-tailer/src/lib.rs
@@ -1,8 +1,10 @@
+pub mod batch;
 pub mod checkpoint;
 pub mod decompress;
 #[cfg(feature = "lua")]
 pub mod lua;
 pub mod tailer;
 
+pub use batch::LogBatch;
 pub use checkpoint::CheckpointData;
 pub use tailer::{CloseHandle, LogTailer, LogTailerConfig};
diff --git a/crates/kumo-log-tailer/src/lua.rs b/crates/kumo-log-tailer/src/lua.rs
index 7bba7b6a..2c7b75fb 100644
--- a/crates/kumo-log-tailer/src/lua.rs
+++ b/crates/kumo-log-tailer/src/lua.rs
@@ -27,31 +27,18 @@ impl LuaLogTailer {
     /// polls the underlying stream for the next batch.
     async fn batches(lua: Lua, this: UserDataRef<Self>, _: ()) -> mlua::Result<mlua::Function> {
         let stream = this.stream.clone();
-        let close_handle = this.close_handle.clone();
         lua.create_async_function(move |lua, ()| {
             let stream = stream.clone();
-            let close_handle = close_handle.clone();
             async move {
                 let mut guard = stream.lock().await;
                 match guard.next().await {
                     Some(Ok(batch)) => {
+                        let values: Vec<serde_json::Value> =
+                            (&batch).try_into().map_err(any_err)?;
                         let table = lua.create_table()?;
                         let options = config::serialize_options();
-                        let file_name = close_handle
-                            .current_file()
-                            .await
-                            .map(|p| p.to_string())
-                            .unwrap_or_else(|| "<unknown>".to_string());
-                        for (i, record) in batch.into_iter().enumerate() {
-                            let json_value: serde_json::Value = serde_json::from_str(&record)
-                                .map_err(|err| {
-                                    any_err(format!(
-                                        "Failed to parse a line from {file_name} as json: \
-                                         {err}. Is the file corrupt? You may need to move \
-                                         the file aside to make progress"
-                                    ))
-                                })?;
-                            let lua_value = lua.to_value_with(&json_value, options)?;
+                        for (i, value) in values.into_iter().enumerate() {
+                            let lua_value = lua.to_value_with(&value, options)?;
                             table.raw_set(i + 1, lua_value)?;
                         }
                         Ok(mlua::Value::Table(table))
diff --git a/crates/kumo-log-tailer/src/tailer.rs b/crates/kumo-log-tailer/src/tailer.rs
index 112d3d62..d8b58f36 100644
--- a/crates/kumo-log-tailer/src/tailer.rs
+++ b/crates/kumo-log-tailer/src/tailer.rs
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+use crate::batch::LogBatch;
 use crate::checkpoint::CheckpointData;
 use crate::decompress::FileDecompressor;
 use camino::Utf8PathBuf;
@@ -253,7 +254,7 @@ impl CloseHandle {
 pub struct LogTailer {
     close_handle: CloseHandle,
     _watcher: Box<dyn Watcher + Send>,
-    stream: std::pin::Pin<Box<dyn Stream<Item = anyhow::Result<Vec<String>>> + Send>>,
+    stream: std::pin::Pin<Box<dyn Stream<Item = anyhow::Result<LogBatch>> + Send>>,
 }
 
 impl LogTailer {
@@ -272,7 +273,7 @@ impl LogTailer {
 }
 
 impl Stream for LogTailer {
-    type Item = anyhow::Result<Vec<String>>;
+    type Item = anyhow::Result<LogBatch>;
 
     fn poll_next(
         mut self: std::pin::Pin<&mut Self>,
@@ -348,7 +349,7 @@ fn make_stream(
     shared: Arc<TailerShared>,
     pos_file: Arc<tokio::sync::Mutex<Option<Utf8PathBuf>>>,
     pos_line: Arc<std::sync::atomic::AtomicUsize>,
-) -> impl Stream<Item = anyhow::Result<Vec<String>>> + Send {
+) -> impl Stream<Item = anyhow::Result<LogBatch>> + Send {
     async_stream::try_stream! {
         let mut last_processed: Option<Utf8PathBuf> = None;
         let mut checkpoint = initial_checkpoint;
@@ -419,7 +420,7 @@ fn make_stream(
                         }
                     }
 
-                    let mut batch = Vec::new();
+                    let mut batch = LogBatch::new(path.clone());
                     let mut hit_eof = false;
                     let batch_deadline = tokio::time::Instant::now() + max_batch_latency;
 
@@ -431,7 +432,7 @@ fn make_stream(
 
                         match decomp.next_line(skip_lines) {
                             Ok(Some(line)) => {
-                                batch.push(line);
+                                batch.push(line.text, line.byte_offset);
                                 if batch.len() >= max_batch_size {
                                     break;
                                 }
@@ -467,7 +468,7 @@ fn make_stream(
                                 loop {
                                     match decomp.next_line(skip_lines) {
                                         Ok(Some(line)) => {
-                                            batch.push(line);
+                                            batch.push(line.text, line.byte_offset);
                                             if batch.len() >= max_batch_size {
                                                 break;
                                             }
diff --git a/crates/kumo-log-tailer/tests/integration.rs b/crates/kumo-log-tailer/tests/integration.rs
index 9e583f4d..8c2ca140 100644
--- a/crates/kumo-log-tailer/tests/integration.rs
+++ b/crates/kumo-log-tailer/tests/integration.rs
@@ -62,7 +62,7 @@ async fn test_checkpoint_resume_one_at_a_time() {
             .unwrap_or_else(|| panic!("expected a batch on iteration {i}"))
             .unwrap_or_else(|e| panic!("expected Ok batch on iteration {i}: {e}"));
         k9::assert_equal!(batch.len(), 1);
-        all_records.push(batch[0].clone());
+        all_records.push(batch.as_ref()[0].clone());
 
         tailer.as_mut().close().await.unwrap();
     }
@@ -125,7 +125,7 @@ async fn test_multiple_files_in_order() {
             batch = tailer.next() => {
                 match batch {
                     Some(Ok(records)) => {
-                        all_records.extend(records);
+                        all_records.extend(records.as_ref().iter().cloned());
                         if all_records.len() >= 4 {
                             break;
                         }
@@ -190,7 +190,7 @@ async fn test_checkpoint_across_multiple_files() {
             .unwrap_or_else(|| panic!("expected batch on iteration {i}"))
             .unwrap_or_else(|e| panic!("error on iteration {i}: {e}"));
         k9::assert_equal!(batch.len(), 1);
-        all_records.push(batch[0].clone());
+        all_records.push(batch.as_ref()[0].clone());
 
         tailer.as_mut().close().await.unwrap();
     }
@@ -234,7 +234,7 @@ async fn test_close_advances_checkpoint_past_consumed_batch() {
         .await
         .expect("should yield a batch")
         .expect("batch should be Ok");
-    k9::assert_equal!(first, vec![r#"{"n":1}"#.to_string()]);
+    k9::assert_equal!(first.as_ref(), &[r#"{"n":1}"#.to_string()]);
 
     tailer.as_mut().close().await.unwrap();
 
@@ -254,7 +254,7 @@ async fn test_close_advances_checkpoint_past_consumed_batch() {
         .await
         .expect("should yield a batch")
         .expect("batch should be Ok");
-    k9::assert_equal!(second, vec![r#"{"n":2}"#.to_string()]);
+    k9::assert_equal!(second.as_ref(), &[r#"{"n":2}"#.to_string()]);
 
     tailer2.as_mut().close().await.unwrap();
 }
@@ -291,7 +291,7 @@ async fn test_drop_without_close_does_not_advance_checkpoint() {
             .await
             .expect("should yield a batch")
             .expect("batch should be Ok");
-        k9::assert_equal!(first, vec![r#"{"n":1}"#.to_string()]);
+        k9::assert_equal!(first.as_ref(), &[r#"{"n":1}"#.to_string()]);
 
         // tailer is dropped here without calling close()
     }
@@ -314,7 +314,7 @@ async fn test_drop_without_close_does_not_advance_checkpoint() {
         .await
         .expect("should yield a batch")
         .expect("batch should be Ok");
-    k9::assert_equal!(second, vec![r#"{"n":1}"#.to_string()]);
+    k9::assert_equal!(second.as_ref(), &[r#"{"n":1}"#.to_string()]);
 
     tailer2.as_mut().close().await.unwrap();
 }
@@ -361,7 +361,7 @@ async fn test_tail_starts_from_latest_segment() {
             batch = tailer.next() => {
                 match batch {
                     Some(Ok(records)) => {
-                        all_records.extend(records);
+                        all_records.extend(records.as_ref().iter().cloned());
                         if all_records.len() >= 2 {
                             break;
                         }
diff --git a/crates/tailer/src/main.rs b/crates/tailer/src/main.rs
index 413e7359..3714152d 100644
--- a/crates/tailer/src/main.rs
+++ b/crates/tailer/src/main.rs
@@ -59,7 +59,7 @@ async fn main() -> anyhow::Result<()> {
 
     while let Some(result) = tailer.next().await {
         let batch = result?;
-        for line in &batch {
+        for line in batch.as_ref() {
             println!("{line}");
         }
     }