diff --git a/glib/gvarianttype-private.h b/glib/gvarianttype-private.h
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..08cbd5cb8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/glib/gvarianttype-private.h
@@ -0,0 +1,67 @@
+/* gvarianttype-private.h
+ *
+ * Copyright © 2007, 2008 Ryan Lortie
+ * Copyright © 2009, 2010 Codethink Limited
+ * Copyright © 2024 Christian Hergert
+ *
+ * This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
+ * it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License as
+ * published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2.1 of the
+ * License, or (at your option) any later version.
+ *
+ * This library is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
+ * WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+ * MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU
+ * Lesser General Public License for more details.
+ *
+ * You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along
+ * with this program.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+ *
+ * SPDX-License-Identifier: LGPL-2.1-or-later
+ */
+
+#pragma once
+
+#include "gvarianttype.h"
+
+G_BEGIN_DECLS
+
+static inline gboolean
+_g_variant_type_equal (const GVariantType *type1,
+                       const GVariantType *type2)
+{
+  const char *str1 = (const char *)type1;
+  const char *str2 = (const char *)type2;
+  gsize index = 0;
+  int brackets = 0;
+
+  if (str1 == str2)
+    return TRUE;
+
+  do
+    {
+      if (str1[index] != str2[index])
+        return FALSE;
+
+      while (str1[index] == 'a' || str1[index] == 'm')
+        {
+          index++;
+
+          if (str1[index] != str2[index])
+            return FALSE;
+        }
+
+      if (str1[index] == '(' || str1[index] == '{')
+        brackets++;
+
+      else if (str1[index] == ')' || str1[index] == '}')
+        brackets--;
+
+      index++;
+    }
+  while (brackets);
+
+  return TRUE;
+}
+
+G_END_DECLS
diff --git a/glib/gvarianttype.c b/glib/gvarianttype.c
index 3d8c0ae81..0bb784a47 100644
--- a/glib/gvarianttype.c
+++ b/glib/gvarianttype.c
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@
 
 #include "config.h"
 
-#include "gvarianttype.h"
+#include "gvarianttype-private.h"
 
 #include <glib/gtestutils.h>
 #include <glib/gstrfuncs.h>
@@ -817,25 +817,10 @@ gboolean
 g_variant_type_equal (gconstpointer type1,
                       gconstpointer type2)
 {
-  const gchar *string1, *string2;
-  gsize size1, size2;
-
   g_return_val_if_fail (g_variant_type_check (type1), FALSE);
   g_return_val_if_fail (g_variant_type_check (type2), FALSE);
 
-  if (type1 == type2)
-    return TRUE;
-
-  size1 = g_variant_type_get_string_length (type1);
-  size2 = g_variant_type_get_string_length (type2);
-
-  if (size1 != size2)
-    return FALSE;
-
-  string1 = g_variant_type_peek_string (type1);
-  string2 = g_variant_type_peek_string (type2);
-
-  return memcmp (string1, string2, size1) == 0;
+  return _g_variant_type_equal (type1, type2);
 }
 
 /**