diff --git a/docker-java-core/src/main/java/com/github/dockerjava/core/DefaultInvocationBuilder.java b/docker-java-core/src/main/java/com/github/dockerjava/core/DefaultInvocationBuilder.java
index c63daf42d..c7525279c 100644
--- a/docker-java-core/src/main/java/com/github/dockerjava/core/DefaultInvocationBuilder.java
+++ b/docker-java-core/src/main/java/com/github/dockerjava/core/DefaultInvocationBuilder.java
@@ -17,7 +17,6 @@
 import com.github.dockerjava.transport.DockerHttpClient;
 import org.apache.commons.io.IOUtils;
 
-import java.io.ByteArrayInputStream;
 import java.io.FilterInputStream;
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.io.InputStream;
@@ -97,7 +96,7 @@ public InputStream post(Object entity) {
         DockerHttpClient.Request request = requestBuilder
             .method(DockerHttpClient.Request.Method.POST)
             .putHeader("content-type", "application/json")
-            .body(encode(entity))
+            .bodyBytes(encode(entity))
             .build();
 
         DockerHttpClient.Response response = execute(request);
@@ -119,7 +118,7 @@ public <T> T post(Object entity, TypeReference<T> typeReference) {
             DockerHttpClient.Request request = requestBuilder
                 .method(DockerHttpClient.Request.Method.POST)
                 .putHeader("content-type", "application/json")
-                .body(new ByteArrayInputStream(objectMapper.writeValueAsBytes(entity)))
+                .bodyBytes(encode(entity))
                 .build();
 
             try (DockerHttpClient.Response response = execute(request)) {
@@ -132,11 +131,17 @@ public <T> T post(Object entity, TypeReference<T> typeReference) {
 
     @Override
     public <T> void post(Object entity, TypeReference<T> typeReference, ResultCallback<T> resultCallback) {
-        try {
-            post(typeReference, resultCallback, new ByteArrayInputStream(objectMapper.writeValueAsBytes(entity)));
-        } catch (JsonProcessingException e) {
-            throw new RuntimeException(e);
-        }
+        DockerHttpClient.Request request = requestBuilder
+            .method(DockerHttpClient.Request.Method.POST)
+            .putHeader("content-type", "application/json")
+            .bodyBytes(encode(entity))
+            .build();
+
+        executeAndStream(
+            request,
+            resultCallback,
+            new JsonSink<>(typeReference, resultCallback)
+        );
     }
 
     @Override
@@ -150,17 +155,12 @@ public <T> T post(TypeReference<T> typeReference, InputStream body) {
 
     @Override
     public void post(Object entity, InputStream stdin, ResultCallback<Frame> resultCallback) {
-        final DockerHttpClient.Request request;
-        try {
-            request = requestBuilder
-                .method(DockerHttpClient.Request.Method.POST)
-                .putHeader("content-type", "application/json")
-                .body(new ByteArrayInputStream(objectMapper.writeValueAsBytes(entity)))
-                .hijackedInput(stdin)
-                .build();
-        } catch (JsonProcessingException e) {
-            throw new RuntimeException(e);
-        }
+        DockerHttpClient.Request request = requestBuilder
+            .method(DockerHttpClient.Request.Method.POST)
+            .putHeader("content-type", "application/json")
+            .bodyBytes(encode(entity))
+            .hijackedInput(stdin)
+            .build();
 
         executeAndStream(
             request,
@@ -283,13 +283,13 @@ protected <T> void executeAndStream(
         thread.start();
     }
 
-    private InputStream encode(Object entity) {
+    private byte[] encode(Object entity) {
         if (entity == null) {
             return null;
         }
 
         try {
-            return new ByteArrayInputStream(objectMapper.writeValueAsBytes(entity));
+            return objectMapper.writeValueAsBytes(entity);
         } catch (JsonProcessingException e) {
             throw new RuntimeException(e);
         }
diff --git a/docker-java-transport-httpclient5/src/main/java/com/github/dockerjava/httpclient5/ApacheDockerHttpClientImpl.java b/docker-java-transport-httpclient5/src/main/java/com/github/dockerjava/httpclient5/ApacheDockerHttpClientImpl.java
index d06bd81ab..d8f17af66 100644
--- a/docker-java-transport-httpclient5/src/main/java/com/github/dockerjava/httpclient5/ApacheDockerHttpClientImpl.java
+++ b/docker-java-transport-httpclient5/src/main/java/com/github/dockerjava/httpclient5/ApacheDockerHttpClientImpl.java
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@
 import org.apache.hc.core5.http.config.RegistryBuilder;
 import org.apache.hc.core5.http.impl.DefaultContentLengthStrategy;
 import org.apache.hc.core5.http.impl.io.EmptyInputStream;
+import org.apache.hc.core5.http.io.entity.ByteArrayEntity;
 import org.apache.hc.core5.http.io.entity.InputStreamEntity;
 import org.apache.hc.core5.http.protocol.BasicHttpContext;
 import org.apache.hc.core5.http.protocol.HttpContext;
@@ -134,9 +135,14 @@ public Response execute(Request request) {
 
         request.headers().forEach(httpUriRequest::addHeader);
 
-        InputStream body = request.body();
-        if (body != null) {
-            httpUriRequest.setEntity(new InputStreamEntity(body, null));
+        byte[] bodyBytes = request.bodyBytes();
+        if (bodyBytes != null) {
+            httpUriRequest.setEntity(new ByteArrayEntity(bodyBytes, null));
+        } else {
+            InputStream body = request.body();
+            if (body != null) {
+                httpUriRequest.setEntity(new InputStreamEntity(body, null));
+            }
         }
 
         if (request.hijackedInput() != null) {
diff --git a/docker-java-transport-jersey/src/main/java/com/github/dockerjava/jaxrs/JerseyDockerHttpClient.java b/docker-java-transport-jersey/src/main/java/com/github/dockerjava/jaxrs/JerseyDockerHttpClient.java
index b6c723f5d..15c91745e 100644
--- a/docker-java-transport-jersey/src/main/java/com/github/dockerjava/jaxrs/JerseyDockerHttpClient.java
+++ b/docker-java-transport-jersey/src/main/java/com/github/dockerjava/jaxrs/JerseyDockerHttpClient.java
@@ -304,7 +304,11 @@ public Response execute(Request request) {
         }
     }
 
-    private Entity<InputStream> toEntity(Request request) {
+    private Entity<?> toEntity(Request request) {
+        byte[] bodyBytes = request.bodyBytes();
+        if (bodyBytes != null) {
+            return Entity.json(bodyBytes);
+        }
         InputStream body = request.body();
         if (body != null) {
             return Entity.entity(body, MediaType.APPLICATION_JSON_TYPE);
diff --git a/docker-java-transport-okhttp/src/main/java/com/github/dockerjava/okhttp/OkDockerHttpClient.java b/docker-java-transport-okhttp/src/main/java/com/github/dockerjava/okhttp/OkDockerHttpClient.java
index 5bb943bef..3778d8bb4 100644
--- a/docker-java-transport-okhttp/src/main/java/com/github/dockerjava/okhttp/OkDockerHttpClient.java
+++ b/docker-java-transport-okhttp/src/main/java/com/github/dockerjava/okhttp/OkDockerHttpClient.java
@@ -177,6 +177,11 @@ private OkDockerHttpClient(
     }
 
     private RequestBody toRequestBody(Request request) {
+        byte[] bodyBytes = request.bodyBytes();
+        if (bodyBytes != null) {
+            return RequestBody.create(null, bodyBytes);
+        }
+
         InputStream body = request.body();
         if (body != null) {
             return new RequestBody() {
diff --git a/docker-java-transport/src/main/java/com/github/dockerjava/transport/DockerHttpClient.java b/docker-java-transport/src/main/java/com/github/dockerjava/transport/DockerHttpClient.java
index 8c3fa580d..7b780cb06 100644
--- a/docker-java-transport/src/main/java/com/github/dockerjava/transport/DockerHttpClient.java
+++ b/docker-java-transport/src/main/java/com/github/dockerjava/transport/DockerHttpClient.java
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
 
 import javax.annotation.Nonnull;
 import javax.annotation.Nullable;
+import java.io.ByteArrayInputStream;
 import java.io.Closeable;
 import java.io.InputStream;
 import java.util.List;
@@ -70,7 +71,16 @@ public static Builder builder() {
         public abstract String path();
 
         @Nullable
-        public abstract InputStream body();
+        @Value.Default
+        public InputStream body() {
+            byte[] bodyBytes = bodyBytes();
+            return bodyBytes != null
+                ? new ByteArrayInputStream(bodyBytes)
+                : null;
+        }
+
+        @Nullable
+        public abstract byte[] bodyBytes();
 
         @Nullable
         public abstract InputStream hijackedInput();