diff --git a/consumer/junit5/src/main/kotlin/au/com/dius/pact/consumer/junit5/PactConsumerTestExt.kt b/consumer/junit5/src/main/kotlin/au/com/dius/pact/consumer/junit5/PactConsumerTestExt.kt
index bb15342e6..015f92241 100644
--- a/consumer/junit5/src/main/kotlin/au/com/dius/pact/consumer/junit5/PactConsumerTestExt.kt
+++ b/consumer/junit5/src/main/kotlin/au/com/dius/pact/consumer/junit5/PactConsumerTestExt.kt
@@ -531,7 +531,7 @@ class PactConsumerTestExt : Extension, BeforeTestExecutionCallback, BeforeAllCal
 
     pactsToWrite.merge(
       Pair(pact.consumer, pact.provider),
-      Pair(pact as BasePact, version)
+      Pair(pact, version)
     ) { (currentPact, currentVersion), _ ->
       val mergedPact = currentPact.mergeInteractions(pact.interactions) as BasePact
       Pair(mergedPact, maxOf(version, currentVersion))
diff --git a/consumer/junit5/src/test/groovy/au/com/dius/pact/consumer/junit5/JsonStringAtRootTest.groovy b/consumer/junit5/src/test/groovy/au/com/dius/pact/consumer/junit5/JsonStringAtRootTest.groovy
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..f9d7c5048
--- /dev/null
+++ b/consumer/junit5/src/test/groovy/au/com/dius/pact/consumer/junit5/JsonStringAtRootTest.groovy
@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+package au.com.dius.pact.consumer.junit5
+
+import au.com.dius.pact.consumer.MockServer
+import au.com.dius.pact.consumer.dsl.PactDslJsonRootValue
+import au.com.dius.pact.consumer.dsl.PactDslWithProvider
+import au.com.dius.pact.core.model.PactSpecVersion
+import au.com.dius.pact.core.model.V4Pact
+import au.com.dius.pact.core.model.annotations.Pact
+import org.apache.hc.client5.http.fluent.Request
+import org.apache.hc.core5.http.ClassicHttpResponse
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.extension.ExtendWith
+
+@ExtendWith(PactConsumerTestExt)
+@PactTestFor(providerName = 'JsonStringAtRootTest', pactVersion = PactSpecVersion.V4)
+class JsonStringAtRootTest {
+  final static String JOB_ID = '08f7a210-95db-4827-bcc8-d2025ba506cf'
+
+  @Pact(consumer = 'Consumer')
+  V4Pact pact(PactDslWithProvider builder) {
+    builder
+      .uponReceiving('a request for some JSON')
+      .path('/endpoint')
+      .willRespondWith()
+      .status(201)
+      .body(PactDslJsonRootValue.uuid(JOB_ID))
+      .toPact(V4Pact)
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  void test(MockServer mockServer) {
+    ClassicHttpResponse httpResponse = Request.get("${mockServer.url}/endpoint")
+      .execute().returnResponse() as ClassicHttpResponse
+    assert httpResponse.code == 201
+    assert httpResponse.getHeader('content-type').value == 'application/json; charset=UTF-8'
+    assert httpResponse.entity.content.text == '"' + JOB_ID + '"'
+  }
+}
diff --git a/core/model/src/main/kotlin/au/com/dius/pact/core/model/OptionalBody.kt b/core/model/src/main/kotlin/au/com/dius/pact/core/model/OptionalBody.kt
index 60f10c366..e50f34554 100644
--- a/core/model/src/main/kotlin/au/com/dius/pact/core/model/OptionalBody.kt
+++ b/core/model/src/main/kotlin/au/com/dius/pact/core/model/OptionalBody.kt
@@ -179,7 +179,7 @@ data class OptionalBody @JvmOverloads constructor(
             mapOf(
               "content" to JsonParser.parseString(valueAsString()),
               "contentType" to contentType.toString(),
-              "encoded" to false
+              "encoded" to "json"
             )
           } else {
             mapOf(
diff --git a/core/model/src/main/kotlin/au/com/dius/pact/core/model/PactWriter.kt b/core/model/src/main/kotlin/au/com/dius/pact/core/model/PactWriter.kt
index d73367359..5fc073db2 100644
--- a/core/model/src/main/kotlin/au/com/dius/pact/core/model/PactWriter.kt
+++ b/core/model/src/main/kotlin/au/com/dius/pact/core/model/PactWriter.kt
@@ -56,7 +56,7 @@ object DefaultPactWriter : PactWriter, KLogging() {
    * @param pactSpecVersion Pact version to use to control writing
    */
   override fun writePact(pact: Pact, writer: PrintWriter, pactSpecVersion: PactSpecVersion) : Result<Int, Throwable> {
-    val json = if (pactSpecVersion == PactSpecVersion.V4) {
+    val json = if (pactSpecVersion >= PactSpecVersion.V4) {
       Json.prettyPrint(pact.sortInteractions().asV4Pact()
         .expect { "Failed to upcast to a V4 pact" }.toMap(pactSpecVersion))
     } else {
diff --git a/core/model/src/main/kotlin/au/com/dius/pact/core/model/V4Pact.kt b/core/model/src/main/kotlin/au/com/dius/pact/core/model/V4Pact.kt
index c0f2c55fc..28de57ea2 100644
--- a/core/model/src/main/kotlin/au/com/dius/pact/core/model/V4Pact.kt
+++ b/core/model/src/main/kotlin/au/com/dius/pact/core/model/V4Pact.kt
@@ -59,12 +59,14 @@ fun bodyFromJson(field: String, json: JsonValue, headers: Map<String, Any>): Opt
         val bodyBytes = if (encoded) {
           when (encoding) {
             "base64" -> Base64.getDecoder().decode(Json.toString(jsonBody["content"]))
-            "json" -> Json.toString(jsonBody["content"]).toByteArray(contentType.asCharset())
+            "json" -> jsonBody["content"].serialise().toByteArray(contentType.asCharset())
             else -> {
               logger.warn { "Unrecognised body encoding scheme '$encoding', will use the raw body" }
               Json.toString(jsonBody["content"]).toByteArray(contentType.asCharset())
             }
           }
+        } else if (contentType.isJson()) {
+          jsonBody["content"].serialise().toByteArray(contentType.asCharset())
         } else {
           Json.toString(jsonBody["content"]).toByteArray(contentType.asCharset())
         }
diff --git a/core/model/src/test/groovy/au/com/dius/pact/core/model/OptionalBodySpec.groovy b/core/model/src/test/groovy/au/com/dius/pact/core/model/OptionalBodySpec.groovy
index ba5f9fd7f..0dbbb72dc 100644
--- a/core/model/src/test/groovy/au/com/dius/pact/core/model/OptionalBodySpec.groovy
+++ b/core/model/src/test/groovy/au/com/dius/pact/core/model/OptionalBodySpec.groovy
@@ -163,8 +163,8 @@ class OptionalBodySpec extends Specification {
     body                                                                                                    | v4Format
     OptionalBody.missing()                                                                                  | [:]
     OptionalBody.body(''.bytes, ContentType.UNKNOWN)                                                        | [content: '']
-    OptionalBody.body('{}'.bytes, ContentType.UNKNOWN)                                                      | [content: new JsonValue.Object(), contentType: 'application/json', encoded: false]
-    OptionalBody.body('{}'.bytes, ContentType.JSON)                                                         | [content: new JsonValue.Object(), contentType: 'application/json', encoded: false]
+    OptionalBody.body('{}'.bytes, ContentType.UNKNOWN)                                                      | [content: new JsonValue.Object(), contentType: 'application/json', encoded: 'json']
+    OptionalBody.body('{}'.bytes, ContentType.JSON)                                                         | [content: new JsonValue.Object(), contentType: 'application/json', encoded: 'json']
     OptionalBody.body([0xff, 0xd8, 0xff, 0xe0] as byte[], new ContentType('image/jpeg'))                    | [content: '/9j/4A==', contentType: 'image/jpeg', encoded: 'base64', contentTypeHint: 'DEFAULT']
     OptionalBody.body('kjlkjlkjkl'.bytes, new ContentType('application/other'), ContentTypeHint.BINARY) | [content: 'a2psa2psa2prbA==', contentType: 'application/other', encoded: 'base64', contentTypeHint: 'BINARY']
   }
diff --git a/core/model/src/test/groovy/au/com/dius/pact/core/model/PactWriterSpec.groovy b/core/model/src/test/groovy/au/com/dius/pact/core/model/PactWriterSpec.groovy
index f5bd3a520..d4d43b005 100644
--- a/core/model/src/test/groovy/au/com/dius/pact/core/model/PactWriterSpec.groovy
+++ b/core/model/src/test/groovy/au/com/dius/pact/core/model/PactWriterSpec.groovy
@@ -345,7 +345,7 @@ class PactWriterSpec extends Specification {
     |        "contents": {
     |          "content": "this is a message",
     |          "contentType": "application/json",
-    |          "encoded": false
+    |          "encoded": "json"
     |        }
     |      },
     |      "response": [
@@ -353,7 +353,7 @@ class PactWriterSpec extends Specification {
     |          "contents": {
     |            "content": "this is a response",
     |            "contentType": "application/json",
-    |            "encoded": false
+    |            "encoded": "json"
     |          }
     |        }
     |      ],
diff --git a/core/model/src/test/groovy/au/com/dius/pact/core/model/V4PactKtSpec.groovy b/core/model/src/test/groovy/au/com/dius/pact/core/model/V4PactKtSpec.groovy
index 1c0273b1e..377493b5b 100644
--- a/core/model/src/test/groovy/au/com/dius/pact/core/model/V4PactKtSpec.groovy
+++ b/core/model/src/test/groovy/au/com/dius/pact/core/model/V4PactKtSpec.groovy
@@ -18,4 +18,26 @@ class V4PactKtSpec extends Specification {
     [body: new JsonValue.StringValue('')]                                  | OptionalBody.empty()
     [body: new JsonValue.Object([content: new JsonValue.StringValue('')])] | OptionalBody.empty()
   }
+
+  @SuppressWarnings('LineLength')
+  def 'bodyFromJson - handling different types of encoding'() {
+    expect:
+    bodyFromJson('body', new JsonValue.Object([
+      body: new JsonValue.Object([
+        content: content,
+        encoded: encoding,
+        contentType: new JsonValue.StringValue(contentType)
+      ])
+    ]), [:]) == body
+
+    where:
+
+    content                                | encoding                            | contentType        | body
+    new JsonValue.Object([:])              | JsonValue.False.INSTANCE            | 'application/json' | OptionalBody.body('{}'.bytes, ContentType.JSON)
+    new JsonValue.Object([:])              | JsonValue.False.INSTANCE            | ''                 | OptionalBody.body('{}'.bytes, ContentType.JSON)
+    new JsonValue.StringValue('ABC')       | JsonValue.False.INSTANCE            | 'application/json' | OptionalBody.body('"ABC"'.bytes, ContentType.JSON)
+    new JsonValue.StringValue('ABC')       | new JsonValue.StringValue('json')   | 'application/json' | OptionalBody.body('"ABC"'.bytes, ContentType.JSON)
+    new JsonValue.StringValue('IkFCQyI=')  | JsonValue.True.INSTANCE             | 'application/json' | OptionalBody.body('"ABC"'.bytes, ContentType.JSON)
+    new JsonValue.StringValue('IkFCQyI=')  | new JsonValue.StringValue('base64') | 'application/json' | OptionalBody.body('"ABC"'.bytes, ContentType.JSON)
+  }
 }
diff --git a/core/support/src/test/groovy/au/com/dius/pact/core/support/JsonSpec.groovy b/core/support/src/test/groovy/au/com/dius/pact/core/support/JsonSpec.groovy
index 7d14b6814..8371712de 100644
--- a/core/support/src/test/groovy/au/com/dius/pact/core/support/JsonSpec.groovy
+++ b/core/support/src/test/groovy/au/com/dius/pact/core/support/JsonSpec.groovy
@@ -83,4 +83,22 @@ class JsonSpec extends Specification {
     '{"a": "A", "b": 1, "c": [100], "d": {"href": "blah"}}' | '{\n  "a": "A",\n  "b": 1,\n  "c": [\n    100\n  ],\n  "d": {\n    "href": "blah"\n  }\n}'
   }
 
+  @Unroll
+  def 'toString - #desc'() {
+    expect:
+    Json.INSTANCE.toString(json == null ? json : JsonParser.parseString(json)) == value
+
+    where:
+
+    desc            | json                                    | value
+    'Null'          | null                                    | 'null'
+    'Json Null'     | 'null'                                  | 'null'
+    'Boolean True'  | 'true'                                  | 'true'
+    'Boolean False' | 'false'                                 | 'false'
+    'integer'       | '112'                                   | '112'
+    'float'         | '112.66'                                | '112.66'
+    'string'        | '"hello"'                               | 'hello'
+    'list'          | '["hello", 1, true, {"a": "A"}]'        | '["hello",1,true,{"a":"A"}]'
+    'object'        | '{"hello": "world", "list": [1, 2, 3]}' | '{"hello":"world","list":[1,2,3]}'
+  }
 }