diff --git a/spring-cloud-contract-wiremock/src/main/java/org/springframework/cloud/contract/wiremock/WireMockRestServiceServer.java b/spring-cloud-contract-wiremock/src/main/java/org/springframework/cloud/contract/wiremock/WireMockRestServiceServer.java
index 08507355a9..5a7ab3219c 100644
--- a/spring-cloud-contract-wiremock/src/main/java/org/springframework/cloud/contract/wiremock/WireMockRestServiceServer.java
+++ b/spring-cloud-contract-wiremock/src/main/java/org/springframework/cloud/contract/wiremock/WireMockRestServiceServer.java
@@ -323,9 +323,9 @@ public final class WireMockRestServiceServer {
 				.contentType(contentType(response)).headers(responseHeaders(response));
 	}
 
-	private String body(ResponseDefinition response) {
-		if (response.getBody() != null) {
-			return response.getBody();
+	private byte[] body(ResponseDefinition response) {
+		if (response.getByteBody() != null) {
+			return response.getByteBody();
 		}
 		String file = response.getBodyFileName();
 		if (file != null) {
@@ -340,8 +340,7 @@ public final class WireMockRestServiceServer {
 							try {
 								Resource resource = files.createRelative(file);
 								if (resource.exists()) {
-									return StreamUtils.copyToString(resource.getInputStream(),
-											Charset.forName("UTF-8"));
+									return StreamUtils.copyToByteArray(resource.getInputStream());
 								}
 							}
 							catch (IOException e) {
@@ -355,7 +354,7 @@ public final class WireMockRestServiceServer {
 				}
 			}
 		}
-		return "";
+		return new byte[0];
 	}
 
 	private void requestHeaders(ResponseActions expect, RequestPattern request) {
diff --git a/spring-cloud-contract-wiremock/src/test/java/org/springframework/cloud/contract/wiremock/WiremockMockServerApplicationTests.java b/spring-cloud-contract-wiremock/src/test/java/org/springframework/cloud/contract/wiremock/WiremockMockServerApplicationTests.java
index e7c6dc1f07..a75c900ffd 100644
--- a/spring-cloud-contract-wiremock/src/test/java/org/springframework/cloud/contract/wiremock/WiremockMockServerApplicationTests.java
+++ b/spring-cloud-contract-wiremock/src/test/java/org/springframework/cloud/contract/wiremock/WiremockMockServerApplicationTests.java
@@ -75,6 +75,30 @@ public class WiremockMockServerApplicationTests {
 		server.verify();
 	}
 
+	@Test
+	public void simpleGetWithJsonBody() throws Exception {
+		MockRestServiceServer server = WireMockRestServiceServer.with(this.restTemplate)
+				.baseUrl("https://example.org")
+				.stubs("classpath:/mappings/resource-with-json-body.json").build();
+
+		String response = this.restTemplate.getForObject("https://example.org/resource", String.class);
+
+		assertThat(response).isEqualToIgnoringWhitespace("{\"message\":\"Hello World\"}");
+		server.verify();
+	}
+
+	@Test
+	public void simpleGetWithBase64Body() throws Exception {
+		MockRestServiceServer server = WireMockRestServiceServer.with(this.restTemplate)
+				.baseUrl("https://example.org")
+				.stubs("classpath:/mappings/resource-with-base64-body.json").build();
+
+		String response = this.restTemplate.getForObject("https://example.org/resource", String.class);
+
+		assertThat(response).isEqualToIgnoringWhitespace("Hello World");
+		server.verify();
+	}
+
 	@Test
 	public void simpleGetWithBodyFileCustomLocation() throws Exception {
 		MockRestServiceServer server = WireMockRestServiceServer.with(this.restTemplate) //
diff --git a/spring-cloud-contract-wiremock/src/test/resources/mappings/resource-with-base64-body.json b/spring-cloud-contract-wiremock/src/test/resources/mappings/resource-with-base64-body.json
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..779883bdef
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spring-cloud-contract-wiremock/src/test/resources/mappings/resource-with-base64-body.json
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+{
+  "priority": 100,
+  "request": {
+    "urlPath": "/resource",
+    "method": "GET"
+  },
+  "response": {
+    "status": 200,
+    "base64Body": "SGVsbG8gV29ybGQ="
+  }
+}
diff --git a/spring-cloud-contract-wiremock/src/test/resources/mappings/resource-with-json-body.json b/spring-cloud-contract-wiremock/src/test/resources/mappings/resource-with-json-body.json
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..d404db1207
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spring-cloud-contract-wiremock/src/test/resources/mappings/resource-with-json-body.json
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+{
+  "priority": 100,
+  "request": {
+    "urlPath": "/resource",
+    "method": "GET"
+  },
+  "response": {
+    "status": 200,
+    "jsonBody": {
+      "message": "Hello World"
+    }
+  }
+}