diff --git a/DESCRIPTION b/DESCRIPTION
index 6249a500..d51816e0 100644
--- a/DESCRIPTION
+++ b/DESCRIPTION
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 Package: anndataR
 Title: AnnData interoperability in R
-Version: 1.3.1
+Version: 1.3.2
 Authors@R: c(
     person("Robrecht", "Cannoodt", , "rcannood@gmail.com", role = c("aut", "cre"),
            comment = c(ORCID = "0000-0003-3641-729X", github = "rcannood")),
@@ -56,7 +56,7 @@ Suggests:
     knitr,
     processx,
     rhdf5 (>= 2.52.1),
-    Rarr (>= 2.1.13),
+    Rarr (>= 2.1.31),
     rmarkdown,
     S4Vectors,
     Seurat,
diff --git a/NEWS.md b/NEWS.md
index a466544a..8dbf38c9 100644
--- a/NEWS.md
+++ b/NEWS.md
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 - Add support for `nullable-string-array` elements in H5AD and Zarr (PR #480)
 - Check `RELEASE_*` branches against Bioconductor release and `devel` against Bioconductor devel, instead of checking `devel` against both (PR #502).
 - Run BiocCheck on `RELEASE_*` branches as well as on `devel` (PR #504).
+- Write consolidated metadata on non-readonly anndata stores. Consolidated metadata is used to read encoding type and version of elements one level deep into the store (PR #492).
 
 # anndataR 1.3.1
 
diff --git a/R/ZarrAnnData.R b/R/ZarrAnnData.R
index dcf515b2..2b0b5bfb 100644
--- a/R/ZarrAnnData.R
+++ b/R/ZarrAnnData.R
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ ZarrAnnData <- R6::R6Class(
   private = list(
     .zarrobj = NULL,
     .zarrformat = NULL,
+    .consolidated_metadata = NULL,
     .compression = NULL,
     .readonly = NULL,
 
@@ -39,6 +40,10 @@ ZarrAnnData <- R6::R6Class(
           call = rlang::caller_env()
         )
       }
+    },
+
+    .get_attrs_from_consolidated = function(slot, attr) {
+      private$.consolidated_metadata[[slot]]$attributes[[attr]]
     }
   ),
   active = list(
@@ -48,7 +53,12 @@ ZarrAnnData <- R6::R6Class(
 
       if (missing(value)) {
         # trackstatus: class=ZarrAnnData, feature=get_X, status=done
-        read_zarr_element(private$.zarrobj, "X") |>
+        read_zarr_element(
+          private$.zarrobj,
+          "X",
+          private$.get_attrs_from_consolidated("X", "encoding-type"),
+          private$.get_attrs_from_consolidated("X", "encoding-version")
+        ) |>
           private$.add_matrix_dimnames("X")
       } else {
         private$.check_writeable()
@@ -74,7 +84,12 @@ ZarrAnnData <- R6::R6Class(
 
       if (missing(value)) {
         # trackstatus: class=ZarrAnnData, feature=get_layers, status=done
-        read_zarr_element(private$.zarrobj, "layers") |>
+        read_zarr_element(
+          private$.zarrobj,
+          "layers",
+          private$.get_attrs_from_consolidated("layers", "encoding-type"),
+          private$.get_attrs_from_consolidated("layers", "encoding-version")
+        ) |>
           private$.add_mapping_dimnames("layers")
       } else {
         private$.check_writeable()
@@ -100,7 +115,12 @@ ZarrAnnData <- R6::R6Class(
 
       if (missing(value)) {
         # trackstatus: class=ZarrAnnData, feature=get_obsm, status=done
-        read_zarr_element(private$.zarrobj, "obsm") |>
+        read_zarr_element(
+          private$.zarrobj,
+          "obsm",
+          private$.get_attrs_from_consolidated("obsm", "encoding-type"),
+          private$.get_attrs_from_consolidated("obsm", "encoding-version")
+        ) |>
           private$.add_mapping_dimnames("obsm")
       } else {
         private$.check_writeable()
@@ -128,7 +148,12 @@ ZarrAnnData <- R6::R6Class(
 
       if (missing(value)) {
         # trackstatus: class=ZarrAnnData, feature=get_varm, status=done
-        read_zarr_element(private$.zarrobj, "varm") |>
+        read_zarr_element(
+          private$.zarrobj,
+          "varm",
+          private$.get_attrs_from_consolidated("varm", "encoding-type"),
+          private$.get_attrs_from_consolidated("varm", "encoding-version")
+        ) |>
           private$.add_mapping_dimnames("varm")
       } else {
         private$.check_writeable()
@@ -156,7 +181,12 @@ ZarrAnnData <- R6::R6Class(
 
       if (missing(value)) {
         # trackstatus: class=ZarrAnnData, feature=get_obsp, status=done
-        read_zarr_element(private$.zarrobj, "obsp") |>
+        read_zarr_element(
+          private$.zarrobj,
+          "obsp",
+          private$.get_attrs_from_consolidated("obsp", "encoding-type"),
+          private$.get_attrs_from_consolidated("obsp", "encoding-version")
+        ) |>
           private$.add_mapping_dimnames("obsp")
       } else {
         private$.check_writeable()
@@ -182,7 +212,12 @@ ZarrAnnData <- R6::R6Class(
 
       if (missing(value)) {
         # trackstatus: class=ZarrAnnData, feature=get_varp, status=done
-        read_zarr_element(private$.zarrobj, "varp") |>
+        read_zarr_element(
+          private$.zarrobj,
+          "varp",
+          private$.get_attrs_from_consolidated("varp", "encoding-type"),
+          private$.get_attrs_from_consolidated("varp", "encoding-version")
+        ) |>
           private$.add_mapping_dimnames("varp")
       } else {
         private$.check_writeable()
@@ -208,7 +243,12 @@ ZarrAnnData <- R6::R6Class(
 
       if (missing(value)) {
         # trackstatus: class=ZarrAnnData, feature=get_obs, status=done
-        read_zarr_element(private$.zarrobj, "obs")
+        read_zarr_element(
+          private$.zarrobj,
+          "obs",
+          private$.get_attrs_from_consolidated("obs", "encoding-type"),
+          private$.get_attrs_from_consolidated("obs", "encoding-version")
+        )
       } else {
         private$.check_writeable()
         # trackstatus: class=ZarrAnnData, feature=set_obs, status=done
@@ -227,7 +267,12 @@ ZarrAnnData <- R6::R6Class(
 
       if (missing(value)) {
         # trackstatus: class=ZarrAnnData, feature=get_var, status=done
-        read_zarr_element(private$.zarrobj, "var")
+        read_zarr_element(
+          private$.zarrobj,
+          "var",
+          private$.get_attrs_from_consolidated("var", "encoding-type"),
+          private$.get_attrs_from_consolidated("var", "encoding-version")
+        )
       } else {
         private$.check_writeable()
         # trackstatus: class=ZarrAnnData, feature=set_var, status=done
@@ -246,7 +291,13 @@ ZarrAnnData <- R6::R6Class(
 
       if (missing(value)) {
         # trackstatus: class=ZarrAnnData, feature=get_obs_names, status=done
-        read_zarr_element_keys(private$.zarrobj, "obs", dim = "rows")
+        read_zarr_element_keys(
+          private$.zarrobj,
+          "obs",
+          private$.get_attrs_from_consolidated("obs", "encoding-type"),
+          private$.get_attrs_from_consolidated("obs", "encoding-version"),
+          dim = "rows"
+        )
       } else {
         private$.check_writeable()
         # trackstatus: class=ZarrAnnData, feature=set_obs_names, status=done
@@ -259,7 +310,13 @@ ZarrAnnData <- R6::R6Class(
 
       if (missing(value)) {
         # trackstatus: class=ZarrAnnData, feature=get_var_names, status=done
-        read_zarr_element_keys(private$.zarrobj, "var", dim = "rows")
+        read_zarr_element_keys(
+          private$.zarrobj,
+          "var",
+          private$.get_attrs_from_consolidated("var", "encoding-type"),
+          private$.get_attrs_from_consolidated("var", "encoding-version"),
+          dim = "rows"
+        )
       } else {
         private$.check_writeable()
         # trackstatus: class=ZarrAnnData, feature=set_var_names, status=done
@@ -272,7 +329,12 @@ ZarrAnnData <- R6::R6Class(
 
       if (missing(value)) {
         # trackstatus: class=ZarrAnnData, feature=get_uns, status=done
-        read_zarr_element(private$.zarrobj, "uns")
+        read_zarr_element(
+          private$.zarrobj,
+          "uns",
+          private$.get_attrs_from_consolidated("uns", "encoding-type"),
+          private$.get_attrs_from_consolidated("uns", "encoding-version")
+        )
       } else {
         private$.check_writeable()
         # trackstatus: class=ZarrAnnData, feature=set_uns, status=done
@@ -493,8 +555,17 @@ ZarrAnnData <- R6::R6Class(
             self[[slot]] <- value
           }
         }
+        Rarr::zarr_consolidate_metadata(file)
       }
 
+      # Create consolidated metadata on the fly, in memory,
+      # if it doesn't exist on disk (only happens for readonly stores).
+      private$.consolidated_metadata <- Rarr::read_zarr_consolidated_metadata(
+        file,
+        consolidate = "missing"
+      ) |>
+        list2env(hash = TRUE, parent = emptyenv())
+
       self
     },