diff --git a/src/core/devices/nm-device-wireguard.c b/src/core/devices/nm-device-wireguard.c
index 09030dd8f..ca552a2c8 100644
--- a/src/core/devices/nm-device-wireguard.c
+++ b/src/core/devices/nm-device-wireguard.c
@@ -1939,11 +1939,9 @@ get_property(GObject *object, guint prop_id, GValue *value, GParamSpec *pspec)
 
     switch (prop_id) {
     case PROP_PUBLIC_KEY:
-        g_value_take_variant(value,
-                             g_variant_new_fixed_array(G_VARIANT_TYPE_BYTE,
-                                                       priv->lnk_curr.public_key,
-                                                       sizeof(priv->lnk_curr.public_key),
-                                                       1));
+        g_value_take_variant(
+            value,
+            nm_g_variant_new_ay(priv->lnk_curr.public_key, sizeof(priv->lnk_curr.public_key)));
         break;
     case PROP_LISTEN_PORT:
         g_value_set_uint(value, priv->lnk_curr.listen_port);
diff --git a/src/core/dhcp/nm-dhcp-helper.c b/src/core/dhcp/nm-dhcp-helper.c
index 4ffe93f4b..b076840f9 100644
--- a/src/core/dhcp/nm-dhcp-helper.c
+++ b/src/core/dhcp/nm-dhcp-helper.c
@@ -92,7 +92,7 @@ build_signal_parameters(void)
         g_variant_builder_add(&builder,
                               "{sv}",
                               name,
-                              g_variant_new_fixed_array(G_VARIANT_TYPE_BYTE, val, strlen(val), 1));
+                              nm_g_variant_new_ay((const guint8 *) val, strlen(val)));
 
 next:;
     }
diff --git a/src/core/dns/nm-dns-systemd-resolved.c b/src/core/dns/nm-dns-systemd-resolved.c
index de01cf9fb..2a8a22890 100644
--- a/src/core/dns/nm-dns-systemd-resolved.c
+++ b/src/core/dns/nm-dns-systemd-resolved.c
@@ -201,10 +201,7 @@ update_add_ip_config(NMDnsSystemdResolved *self,
         g_variant_builder_add(dns, "i", addr_family);
         g_variant_builder_add_value(
             dns,
-            g_variant_new_fixed_array(G_VARIANT_TYPE_BYTE,
-                                      nm_ip_config_get_nameserver(data->ip_config, i),
-                                      addr_size,
-                                      1));
+            nm_g_variant_new_ay(nm_ip_config_get_nameserver(data->ip_config, i), addr_size));
         g_variant_builder_close(dns);
         has_config = TRUE;
     }
diff --git a/src/core/nm-ip6-config.c b/src/core/nm-ip6-config.c
index 155594c8f..ce7a4009f 100644
--- a/src/core/nm-ip6-config.c
+++ b/src/core/nm-ip6-config.c
@@ -2409,9 +2409,7 @@ nameservers_to_gvalue(GArray *array, GValue *value)
         struct in6_addr *addr;
 
         addr = &g_array_index(array, struct in6_addr, i++);
-        g_variant_builder_add(&builder,
-                              "@ay",
-                              g_variant_new_fixed_array(G_VARIANT_TYPE_BYTE, addr, 16, 1));
+        g_variant_builder_add(&builder, "@ay", nm_g_variant_new_ay_in6addr(addr));
     }
 
     g_value_take_variant(value, g_variant_builder_end(&builder));
diff --git a/src/core/supplicant/nm-supplicant-config.c b/src/core/supplicant/nm-supplicant-config.c
index a4bbb0efc..c216159ca 100644
--- a/src/core/supplicant/nm-supplicant-config.c
+++ b/src/core/supplicant/nm-supplicant-config.c
@@ -334,11 +334,10 @@ nm_supplicant_config_to_variant(NMSupplicantConfig *self)
             break;
         case NM_SUPPL_OPT_TYPE_BYTES:
         case NM_SUPPL_OPT_TYPE_UTF8:
-            g_variant_builder_add(
-                &builder,
-                "{sv}",
-                key,
-                g_variant_new_fixed_array(G_VARIANT_TYPE_BYTE, option->value, option->len, 1));
+            g_variant_builder_add(&builder,
+                                  "{sv}",
+                                  key,
+                                  nm_g_variant_new_ay((const guint8 *) option->value, option->len));
             break;
         case NM_SUPPL_OPT_TYPE_KEYWORD:
         case NM_SUPPL_OPT_TYPE_STRING:
diff --git a/src/core/supplicant/nm-supplicant-interface.c b/src/core/supplicant/nm-supplicant-interface.c
index 7cb3df9ad..168dd39c8 100644
--- a/src/core/supplicant/nm-supplicant-interface.c
+++ b/src/core/supplicant/nm-supplicant-interface.c
@@ -1619,11 +1619,10 @@ _wps_handle_set_pc_cb(GVariant *res, GError *error, gpointer user_data)
          * enroll with any BSS in range. */
         if (!nm_utils_hwaddr_aton(wps_data->bssid, bssid_buf, sizeof(bssid_buf)))
             nm_assert_not_reached();
-        g_variant_builder_add(
-            &start_args,
-            "{sv}",
-            "Bssid",
-            g_variant_new_fixed_array(G_VARIANT_TYPE_BYTE, bssid_buf, ETH_ALEN, sizeof(guint8)));
+        g_variant_builder_add(&start_args,
+                              "{sv}",
+                              "Bssid",
+                              nm_g_variant_new_ay(bssid_buf, ETH_ALEN));
     }
 
     wps_data->needs_cancelling = TRUE;
diff --git a/src/libnm-core-impl/nm-utils.c b/src/libnm-core-impl/nm-utils.c
index 84565e650..b4762fab7 100644
--- a/src/libnm-core-impl/nm-utils.c
+++ b/src/libnm-core-impl/nm-utils.c
@@ -4227,7 +4227,7 @@ _nm_utils_hwaddr_to_dbus_impl(const char *str)
     if (!_nm_utils_hwaddr_aton(str, buf, sizeof(buf), &len))
         return NULL;
 
-    return g_variant_new_fixed_array(G_VARIANT_TYPE_BYTE, buf, len, 1);
+    return nm_g_variant_new_ay(buf, len);
 }
 
 static GVariant *
diff --git a/src/libnm-glib-aux/nm-shared-utils.c b/src/libnm-glib-aux/nm-shared-utils.c
index 41c1a4088..aa1be1f28 100644
--- a/src/libnm-glib-aux/nm-shared-utils.c
+++ b/src/libnm-glib-aux/nm-shared-utils.c
@@ -516,16 +516,15 @@ nm_utils_gbytes_equal_mem(GBytes *bytes, gconstpointer mem_data, gsize mem_len)
 GVariant *
 nm_utils_gbytes_to_variant_ay(GBytes *bytes)
 {
-    const guint8 *p;
-    gsize         l;
+    const guint8 *p = NULL;
+    gsize         l = 0;
 
     if (!bytes) {
         /* for convenience, accept NULL to return an empty variant */
-        return g_variant_new_array(G_VARIANT_TYPE_BYTE, NULL, 0);
-    }
+    } else
+        p = g_bytes_get_data(bytes, &l);
 
-    p = g_bytes_get_data(bytes, &l);
-    return g_variant_new_fixed_array(G_VARIANT_TYPE_BYTE, p, l, 1);
+    return nm_g_variant_new_ay(p, l);
 }
 
 /*****************************************************************************/
diff --git a/src/libnm-glib-aux/nm-shared-utils.h b/src/libnm-glib-aux/nm-shared-utils.h
index d413bd474..d173db7c4 100644
--- a/src/libnm-glib-aux/nm-shared-utils.h
+++ b/src/libnm-glib-aux/nm-shared-utils.h
@@ -1497,10 +1497,7 @@ nm_g_variant_new_au(const guint32 *data, gsize len)
 static inline GVariant *
 nm_g_variant_new_ay_inaddr(int addr_family, gconstpointer addr)
 {
-    return g_variant_new_fixed_array(G_VARIANT_TYPE_BYTE,
-                                     addr ?: &nm_ip_addr_zero,
-                                     nm_utils_addr_family_to_size(addr_family),
-                                     1);
+    return nm_g_variant_new_ay(addr ?: &nm_ip_addr_zero, nm_utils_addr_family_to_size(addr_family));
 }
 
 static inline GVariant *
@@ -1527,10 +1524,7 @@ nm_g_variant_builder_add_sv_bytearray(GVariantBuilder *builder,
                                       const guint8 *   arr,
                                       gsize            len)
 {
-    g_variant_builder_add(builder,
-                          "{sv}",
-                          key,
-                          g_variant_new_fixed_array(G_VARIANT_TYPE_BYTE, arr, len, 1));
+    g_variant_builder_add(builder, "{sv}", key, nm_g_variant_new_ay(arr, len));
 }
 
 static inline void
diff --git a/src/nmcli/devices.c b/src/nmcli/devices.c
index 6cd8d0d19..f44c167c4 100644
--- a/src/nmcli/devices.c
+++ b/src/nmcli/devices.c
@@ -3774,10 +3774,9 @@ do_device_wifi_connect(const NMCCommand *cmd, NmCli *nmc, int argc, const char *
 
         g_variant_builder_init(&builder, G_VARIANT_TYPE_VARDICT);
         g_variant_builder_init(&array_builder, G_VARIANT_TYPE("aay"));
-        g_variant_builder_add(
-            &array_builder,
-            "@ay",
-            g_variant_new_fixed_array(G_VARIANT_TYPE_BYTE, param_user, strlen(param_user), 1));
+        g_variant_builder_add(&array_builder,
+                              "@ay",
+                              nm_g_variant_new_ay((const guint8 *) param_user, strlen(param_user)));
         g_variant_builder_add(&builder, "{sv}", "ssids", g_variant_builder_end(&array_builder));
         options = g_variant_builder_end(&builder);
 
@@ -4538,10 +4537,9 @@ do_device_wifi_rescan(const NMCCommand *cmd, NmCli *nmc, int argc, const char *c
         for (i = 0; i < ssids->len; i++) {
             const char *ssid = g_ptr_array_index(ssids, i);
 
-            g_variant_builder_add(
-                &array_builder,
-                "@ay",
-                g_variant_new_fixed_array(G_VARIANT_TYPE_BYTE, ssid, strlen(ssid), 1));
+            g_variant_builder_add(&array_builder,
+                                  "@ay",
+                                  nm_g_variant_new_ay((const guint8 *) ssid, strlen(ssid)));
         }
 
         g_variant_builder_add(&builder, "{sv}", "ssids", g_variant_builder_end(&array_builder));