diff --git a/influxql/ast.go b/influxql/ast.go
index 160d1db2b5..7e0447f1ba 100644
--- a/influxql/ast.go
+++ b/influxql/ast.go
@@ -12,23 +12,23 @@ import (
 )
 
 // DataType represents the primitive data types available in InfluxQL.
-type DataType string
+type DataType int
 
 const (
 	// Unknown primitive data type.
-	Unknown = DataType("")
+	Unknown DataType = 0
 	// Float means the data type is a float
-	Float = DataType("float")
+	Float = 1
 	// Integer means the data type is a integer
-	Integer = DataType("integer")
+	Integer = 2
 	// Boolean means the data type is a boolean.
-	Boolean = DataType("boolean")
+	Boolean = 3
 	// String means the data type is a string of text.
-	String = DataType("string")
+	String = 4
 	// Time means the data type is a time.
-	Time = DataType("time")
+	Time = 5
 	// Duration means the data type is a duration of time.
-	Duration = DataType("duration")
+	Duration = 6
 )
 
 // InspectDataType returns the data type of a given value.
diff --git a/tsdb/internal/meta.pb.go b/tsdb/internal/meta.pb.go
index b338b9dc7d..43d3eb3bf0 100644
--- a/tsdb/internal/meta.pb.go
+++ b/tsdb/internal/meta.pb.go
@@ -1,12 +1,12 @@
-// Code generated by protoc-gen-gogo.
-// source: internal/meta.proto
+// Code generated by protoc-gen-go.
+// source: meta.proto
 // DO NOT EDIT!
 
 /*
 Package internal is a generated protocol buffer package.
 
 It is generated from these files:
-	internal/meta.proto
+	meta.proto
 
 It has these top-level messages:
 	Series
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ It has these top-level messages:
 */
 package internal
 
-import proto "github.com/gogo/protobuf/proto"
+import proto "github.com/golang/protobuf/proto"
 import math "math"
 
 // Reference imports to suppress errors if they are not otherwise used.
@@ -90,7 +90,7 @@ func (m *MeasurementFields) GetFields() []*Field {
 type Field struct {
 	ID               *int32  `protobuf:"varint,1,req" json:"ID,omitempty"`
 	Name             *string `protobuf:"bytes,2,req" json:"Name,omitempty"`
-	Type             *string `protobuf:"bytes,3,req" json:"Type,omitempty"`
+	Type             *int32  `protobuf:"varint,3,req" json:"Type,omitempty"`
 	XXX_unrecognized []byte  `json:"-"`
 }
 
@@ -112,11 +112,11 @@ func (m *Field) GetName() string {
 	return ""
 }
 
-func (m *Field) GetType() string {
+func (m *Field) GetType() int32 {
 	if m != nil && m.Type != nil {
 		return *m.Type
 	}
-	return ""
+	return 0
 }
 
 func init() {
diff --git a/tsdb/internal/meta.proto b/tsdb/internal/meta.proto
index eea1f1073d..d1deff6c5a 100644
--- a/tsdb/internal/meta.proto
+++ b/tsdb/internal/meta.proto
@@ -23,5 +23,5 @@ message MeasurementFields {
 message Field {
   required int32 ID = 1;
   required string Name = 2;
-  required string Type = 3;
+  required int32 Type = 3;
 }
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/tsdb/shard.go b/tsdb/shard.go
index 96180298f9..8c415db806 100644
--- a/tsdb/shard.go
+++ b/tsdb/shard.go
@@ -426,7 +426,7 @@ func (m *measurementFields) MarshalBinary() ([]byte, error) {
 	for _, f := range m.Fields {
 		id := int32(f.ID)
 		name := f.Name
-		t := string(f.Type)
+		t := int32(f.Type)
 		pb.Fields = append(pb.Fields, &internal.Field{ID: &id, Name: &name, Type: &t})
 	}
 	return proto.Marshal(&pb)