diff --git a/extras/retrofit2/src/main/java/org/asynchttpclient/extras/retrofit/AsyncHttpClientCall.java b/extras/retrofit2/src/main/java/org/asynchttpclient/extras/retrofit/AsyncHttpClientCall.java
index 6ffd3f1a88..e8980fddab 100644
--- a/extras/retrofit2/src/main/java/org/asynchttpclient/extras/retrofit/AsyncHttpClientCall.java
+++ b/extras/retrofit2/src/main/java/org/asynchttpclient/extras/retrofit/AsyncHttpClientCall.java
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@
  */
 package org.asynchttpclient.extras.retrofit;
 
+import io.netty.handler.codec.http.HttpHeaderNames;
 import lombok.*;
 import lombok.extern.slf4j.Slf4j;
 import okhttp3.*;
@@ -249,7 +250,8 @@ private Response toOkhttpResponse(org.asynchttpclient.Response asyncHttpClientRe
 
     // body
     if (asyncHttpClientResponse.hasResponseBody()) {
-      val contentType = MediaType.parse(asyncHttpClientResponse.getContentType());
+      val contentType = asyncHttpClientResponse.getContentType() == null
+              ? null : MediaType.parse(asyncHttpClientResponse.getContentType());
       val okHttpBody = ResponseBody.create(contentType, asyncHttpClientResponse.getResponseBodyAsBytes());
       rspBuilder.body(okHttpBody);
     }
@@ -287,6 +289,9 @@ protected org.asynchttpclient.Request createRequest(@NonNull Request request) {
     // set request body
     val body = request.body();
     if (body != null && body.contentLength() > 0) {
+      if (body.contentType() != null) {
+        requestBuilder.setHeader(HttpHeaderNames.CONTENT_TYPE, body.contentType().toString());
+      }
       // write body to buffer
       val okioBuffer = new Buffer();
       body.writeTo(okioBuffer);
diff --git a/extras/retrofit2/src/test/java/org/asynchttpclient/extras/retrofit/AsyncHttpClientCallTest.java b/extras/retrofit2/src/test/java/org/asynchttpclient/extras/retrofit/AsyncHttpClientCallTest.java
index 71f07ce2b5..68ef94624c 100644
--- a/extras/retrofit2/src/test/java/org/asynchttpclient/extras/retrofit/AsyncHttpClientCallTest.java
+++ b/extras/retrofit2/src/test/java/org/asynchttpclient/extras/retrofit/AsyncHttpClientCallTest.java
@@ -12,18 +12,23 @@
  */
 package org.asynchttpclient.extras.retrofit;
 
+import io.netty.handler.codec.http.DefaultHttpHeaders;
 import io.netty.handler.codec.http.EmptyHttpHeaders;
 import lombok.val;
+import okhttp3.MediaType;
 import okhttp3.Request;
+import okhttp3.RequestBody;
 import org.asynchttpclient.AsyncCompletionHandler;
 import org.asynchttpclient.AsyncHttpClient;
 import org.asynchttpclient.BoundRequestBuilder;
 import org.asynchttpclient.Response;
+import org.mockito.ArgumentCaptor;
 import org.testng.Assert;
 import org.testng.annotations.DataProvider;
 import org.testng.annotations.Test;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
+import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets;
 import java.util.Arrays;
 import java.util.Collection;
 import java.util.concurrent.ExecutionException;
@@ -34,8 +39,8 @@
 import static org.asynchttpclient.extras.retrofit.AsyncHttpClientCall.runConsumer;
 import static org.asynchttpclient.extras.retrofit.AsyncHttpClientCall.runConsumers;
 import static org.mockito.Matchers.any;
-import static org.mockito.Mockito.mock;
-import static org.mockito.Mockito.when;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.*;
+import static org.testng.Assert.assertEquals;
 import static org.testng.Assert.assertTrue;
 
 public class AsyncHttpClientCallTest {
@@ -226,6 +231,98 @@ Object[][] dataProvider5th() {
         };
     }
 
+    @Test
+    public void contentTypeHeaderIsPassedInRequest() throws Exception {
+        Request request = requestWithBody();
+
+        ArgumentCaptor<org.asynchttpclient.Request> capture = ArgumentCaptor.forClass(org.asynchttpclient.Request.class);
+        AsyncHttpClient client = mock(AsyncHttpClient.class);
+
+        givenResponseIsProduced(client, aResponse());
+
+        whenRequestIsMade(client, request);
+
+        verify(client).executeRequest(capture.capture(), any());
+
+        org.asynchttpclient.Request ahcRequest = capture.getValue();
+
+        assertTrue(ahcRequest.getHeaders().containsValue("accept", "application/vnd.hal+json", true),
+                "Accept header not found");
+        assertEquals(ahcRequest.getHeaders().get("content-type"), "application/json",
+                "Content-Type header not found");
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void contenTypeIsOptionalInResponse() throws Exception {
+        AsyncHttpClient client = mock(AsyncHttpClient.class);
+
+        givenResponseIsProduced(client, responseWithBody(null, "test"));
+
+        okhttp3.Response response = whenRequestIsMade(client, REQUEST);
+
+        assertEquals(response.code(), 200);
+        assertEquals(response.header("Server"), "nginx");
+        assertEquals(response.body().contentType(), null);
+        assertEquals(response.body().string(), "test");
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void contentTypeIsProperlyParsedIfPresent() throws Exception {
+        AsyncHttpClient client = mock(AsyncHttpClient.class);
+
+        givenResponseIsProduced(client, responseWithBody("text/plain", "test"));
+
+        okhttp3.Response response = whenRequestIsMade(client, REQUEST);
+
+        assertEquals(response.code(), 200);
+        assertEquals(response.header("Server"), "nginx");
+        assertEquals(response.body().contentType(), MediaType.parse("text/plain"));
+        assertEquals(response.body().string(), "test");
+
+    }
+
+    private void givenResponseIsProduced(AsyncHttpClient client, Response response) {
+        when(client.executeRequest(any(org.asynchttpclient.Request.class), any())).thenAnswer(invocation -> {
+            AsyncCompletionHandler<Response> handler = invocation.getArgumentAt(1, AsyncCompletionHandler.class);
+            handler.onCompleted(response);
+            return null;
+        });
+    }
+
+    private okhttp3.Response whenRequestIsMade(AsyncHttpClient client, Request request) throws IOException {
+        AsyncHttpClientCall call = AsyncHttpClientCall.builder().httpClient(client).request(request).build();
+
+        return call.execute();
+    }
+
+    private Request requestWithBody() {
+        return new Request.Builder()
+                .post(RequestBody.create(MediaType.parse("application/json"), "{\"hello\":\"world\"}".getBytes(StandardCharsets.UTF_8)))
+                .url("http://example.org/resource")
+                .addHeader("Accept", "application/vnd.hal+json")
+                .build();
+    }
+
+    private Response aResponse() {
+        Response response = mock(Response.class);
+        when(response.getStatusCode()).thenReturn(200);
+        when(response.getStatusText()).thenReturn("OK");
+        when(response.hasResponseHeaders()).thenReturn(true);
+        when(response.getHeaders()).thenReturn(new DefaultHttpHeaders()
+                .add("Server", "nginx")
+        );
+        when(response.hasResponseBody()).thenReturn(false);
+        return response;
+    }
+
+    private Response responseWithBody(String contentType, String content) {
+        Response response = aResponse();
+        when(response.hasResponseBody()).thenReturn(true);
+        when(response.getContentType()).thenReturn(contentType);
+        when(response.getResponseBodyAsBytes()).thenReturn(content.getBytes(StandardCharsets.UTF_8));
+        return response;
+    }
+
     private void doThrow(String message) {
         throw new RuntimeException(message);
     }