diff --git a/spring-restdocs-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/restdocs/payload/FieldPathPayloadSubsectionExtractor.java b/spring-restdocs-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/restdocs/payload/FieldPathPayloadSubsectionExtractor.java
index 9b0b0fbb..94292aa9 100644
--- a/spring-restdocs-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/restdocs/payload/FieldPathPayloadSubsectionExtractor.java
+++ b/spring-restdocs-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/restdocs/payload/FieldPathPayloadSubsectionExtractor.java
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Set;
 
 import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ObjectMapper;
+import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.SerializationFeature;
 
 import org.springframework.http.MediaType;
 import org.springframework.restdocs.payload.JsonFieldProcessor.ExtractedField;
@@ -39,6 +40,9 @@ public class FieldPathPayloadSubsectionExtractor
 
 	private static final ObjectMapper objectMapper = new ObjectMapper();
 
+	private static final ObjectMapper prettyPrintingOjectMapper = new ObjectMapper()
+			.enable(SerializationFeature.INDENT_OUTPUT);
+
 	private final String fieldPath;
 
 	private final String subsectionId;
@@ -90,7 +94,7 @@ public class FieldPathPayloadSubsectionExtractor
 					throw new PayloadHandlingException(message);
 				}
 			}
-			return objectMapper.writeValueAsBytes(value);
+			return getObjectMapper(payload).writeValueAsBytes(value);
 		}
 		catch (IOException ex) {
 			throw new PayloadHandlingException(ex);
@@ -115,4 +119,20 @@ public class FieldPathPayloadSubsectionExtractor
 		return new FieldPathPayloadSubsectionExtractor(this.fieldPath, subsectionId);
 	}
 
+	private ObjectMapper getObjectMapper(byte[] payload) {
+		if (isPrettyPrinted(payload)) {
+			return prettyPrintingOjectMapper;
+		}
+		return objectMapper;
+	}
+
+	private boolean isPrettyPrinted(byte[] payload) {
+		for (byte b : payload) {
+			if (b == '\n') {
+				return true;
+			}
+		}
+		return false;
+	}
+
 }
diff --git a/spring-restdocs-core/src/test/java/org/springframework/restdocs/payload/FieldPathPayloadSubsectionExtractorTests.java b/spring-restdocs-core/src/test/java/org/springframework/restdocs/payload/FieldPathPayloadSubsectionExtractorTests.java
index 7ef2306f..9ffcd7d7 100644
--- a/spring-restdocs-core/src/test/java/org/springframework/restdocs/payload/FieldPathPayloadSubsectionExtractorTests.java
+++ b/spring-restdocs-core/src/test/java/org/springframework/restdocs/payload/FieldPathPayloadSubsectionExtractorTests.java
@@ -20,8 +20,10 @@ import java.io.IOException;
 import java.util.Map;
 
 import com.fasterxml.jackson.core.JsonParseException;
+import com.fasterxml.jackson.core.JsonProcessingException;
 import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.JsonMappingException;
 import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ObjectMapper;
+import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.SerializationFeature;
 import org.junit.Rule;
 import org.junit.Test;
 import org.junit.rules.ExpectedException;
@@ -116,4 +118,34 @@ public class FieldPathPayloadSubsectionExtractorTests {
 				MediaType.APPLICATION_JSON);
 	}
 
+	@Test
+	public void extractedSubsectionIsPrettyPrintedWhenInputIsPrettyPrinted()
+			throws JsonParseException, JsonMappingException, JsonProcessingException,
+			IOException {
+		ObjectMapper objectMapper = new ObjectMapper()
+				.enable(SerializationFeature.INDENT_OUTPUT);
+		byte[] prettyPrintedPayload = objectMapper.writeValueAsBytes(
+				objectMapper.readValue("{\"a\": { \"b\": { \"c\": 1 }}}", Object.class));
+		byte[] extractedSubsection = new FieldPathPayloadSubsectionExtractor("a.b")
+				.extractSubsection(prettyPrintedPayload, MediaType.APPLICATION_JSON);
+		byte[] prettyPrintedSubsection = objectMapper
+				.writeValueAsBytes(objectMapper.readValue("{\"c\": 1 }", Object.class));
+		assertThat(new String(extractedSubsection))
+				.isEqualTo(new String(prettyPrintedSubsection));
+	}
+
+	@Test
+	public void extractedSubsectionIsNotPrettyPrintedWhenInputIsNotPrettyPrinted()
+			throws JsonParseException, JsonMappingException, JsonProcessingException,
+			IOException {
+		ObjectMapper objectMapper = new ObjectMapper();
+		byte[] payload = objectMapper.writeValueAsBytes(
+				objectMapper.readValue("{\"a\": { \"b\": { \"c\": 1 }}}", Object.class));
+		byte[] extractedSubsection = new FieldPathPayloadSubsectionExtractor("a.b")
+				.extractSubsection(payload, MediaType.APPLICATION_JSON);
+		byte[] subsection = objectMapper
+				.writeValueAsBytes(objectMapper.readValue("{\"c\": 1 }", Object.class));
+		assertThat(new String(extractedSubsection)).isEqualTo(new String(subsection));
+	}
+
 }