diff --git a/pysam/libcbcf.pyx b/pysam/libcbcf.pyx
index 8ecfe5f3..c84ef90d 100644
--- a/pysam/libcbcf.pyx
+++ b/pysam/libcbcf.pyx
@@ -239,29 +239,57 @@ cdef inline int is_gt_fmt(bcf_hdr_t *hdr, int fmt_id):
 
 
 cdef inline int bcf_genotype_count(bcf_hdr_t *hdr, bcf1_t *rec, int sample) except -1:
-
     if sample < 0:
         raise ValueError('genotype is only valid as a format field')
 
-    cdef int32_t *gt_arr = NULL
-    cdef int ngt = 0
-    ngt = bcf_get_genotypes(hdr, rec, &gt_arr, &ngt)
+    cdef int ploidy = bcf_get_ploidy(hdr, rec, sample)
+    return bcf_geno_combinations(ploidy, rec.n_allele)
+
+cdef inline int bcf_get_ploidy(bcf_hdr_t *hdr, bcf1_t *rec, int sample) except -1:
+    # compute sample ploidy by counting number of values in GT field
+    cdef int32_t n = rec.n_sample
+
+    if bcf_unpack(rec, BCF_UN_ALL) < 0:
+        raise ValueError('Error unpacking VariantRecord')
 
-    if ngt <= 0 or not gt_arr:
+    if sample < 0 or sample >= n or not rec.n_fmt:
         return 0
 
-    assert ngt % rec.n_sample == 0
-    cdef int max_ploidy = ngt // rec.n_sample
-    cdef int32_t *gt = gt_arr + sample * max_ploidy
-    cdef int ploidy = 0
+    cdef bcf_fmt_t *fmt0 = rec.d.fmt
+    cdef int gt0 = is_gt_fmt(hdr, fmt0.id)
 
-    while ploidy < max_ploidy and gt[0] != bcf_int32_vector_end:
-        gt += 1
-        ploidy += 1
+    if not gt0 or not fmt0.n:
+        return 0
 
-    free(<void*>gt_arr)
+    cdef int ploidy = 0
+    cdef int8_t  *data8
+    cdef int16_t *data16
+    cdef int32_t *data32
+    cdef int32_t a, nalleles = rec.n_allele
 
-    return bcf_geno_combinations(ploidy, rec.n_allele)
+    if fmt0.type == BCF_BT_INT8:
+        data8 = <int8_t *>(fmt0.p + sample * fmt0.size)
+        for i in range(fmt0.n):
+            if data8[i] == bcf_int8_vector_end:
+                break
+            else:
+                ploidy += 1
+    elif fmt0.type == BCF_BT_INT16:
+        data16 = <int16_t *>(fmt0.p + sample * fmt0.size)
+        for i in range(fmt0.n):
+            if data16[i] == bcf_int16_vector_end:
+                break
+            else:
+                ploidy += 1
+    elif fmt0.type == BCF_BT_INT32:
+        data32 = <int32_t *>(fmt0.p + sample * fmt0.size)
+        for i in range(fmt0.n):
+            if data32[i] == bcf_int32_vector_end:
+                break
+            else:
+                ploidy += 1
+
+    return ploidy
 
 
 cdef tuple char_array_to_tuple(const char **a, ssize_t n, int free_after=0):
diff --git a/tests/VariantRecordPL_bench.py b/tests/VariantRecordPL_bench.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..65188daa
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/VariantRecordPL_bench.py
@@ -0,0 +1,74 @@
+import pytest
+
+from pysam import VariantFile, VariantHeader
+
+
+@pytest.mark.benchmark(min_rounds=1)
+def test_access_pl_values_10_samples(benchmark, vcf_with_n_samples):
+    vcf = vcf_with_n_samples(10)
+    result = benchmark(access_pl_values, vcf)
+    assert result == (0, 1, 2)
+
+
+@pytest.mark.benchmark(min_rounds=1)
+def test_access_pl_values_100_samples(benchmark, vcf_with_n_samples):
+    vcf = vcf_with_n_samples(100)
+    result = benchmark(access_pl_values, vcf)
+    assert result == (0, 1, 2)
+
+
+@pytest.mark.benchmark(min_rounds=1)
+def test_access_pl_values_1000_samples(benchmark, vcf_with_n_samples):
+    vcf = vcf_with_n_samples(1000)
+    result = benchmark(access_pl_values, vcf)
+    assert result == (0, 1, 2)
+
+
+@pytest.mark.benchmark(min_rounds=1)
+def test_access_pl_values_10000_samples(benchmark, vcf_with_n_samples):
+    vcf = vcf_with_n_samples(10000)
+    result = benchmark(access_pl_values, vcf)
+    assert result == (0, 1, 2)
+
+
+@pytest.mark.benchmark(min_rounds=1)
+def test_access_pl_values_100000_samples(benchmark, vcf_with_n_samples):
+    vcf = vcf_with_n_samples(100000)
+    result = benchmark(access_pl_values, vcf)
+    assert result == (0, 1, 2)
+
+
+def access_pl_values(data):
+    pl = None
+    with VariantFile(data) as vcf:
+        for record in vcf:
+            for sample in record.samples.values():
+                pl = sample["PL"]
+    return pl
+
+
+@pytest.fixture()
+def vcf_with_n_samples(tmp_path):
+    def vcf_with_n_samples(n_samples):
+        vcfh = VariantHeader()
+        for s in (f"s{i}" for i in range(n_samples)):
+            vcfh.add_sample(s)
+        vcfh.add_meta("contig", items=[("ID", "chr20")])
+        vcfh.add_meta(
+            "FORMAT",
+            items=dict(ID="PL", Number="G", Type="Integer", Description="Phred Scaled Likelihood").items(),
+        )
+        vcfh.add_meta(
+            "FORMAT",
+            items=dict(ID="GT", Number="1", Type="String", Description="True Genotype").items(),
+        )
+
+        vcf = tmp_path / "large.vcf.gz"
+        with VariantFile(vcf, "w", header=vcfh) as vcf_out:
+            r = vcf_out.new_record(contig="chr20", start=1, stop=1, alleles=["C", "T"])
+            for n, samp in enumerate(r.samples.values()):
+                samp["GT"] = (0, 0)
+                samp["PL"] = [0, 1, 2]
+            vcf_out.write(r)
+        return vcf
+    return vcf_with_n_samples