diff --git a/index.js b/index.js
index b096476..62a485e 100644
--- a/index.js
+++ b/index.js
@@ -195,7 +195,9 @@ function got(url, opts, cb) {
 			readAllStream(res, encoding, function (err, data) {
 				if (err) {
 					err = new GotError('Reading ' + url + ' response failed', err);
-				} else if (json) {
+				} else if (json && statusCode !== 204) {
+					// only parse json if the option is enabled, and the response
+					// is not a 204 (empty reponse)
 					try {
 						data = JSON.parse(data);
 					} catch (e) {
diff --git a/test/test-json.js b/test/test-json.js
index cd67fd1..86fcbd3 100644
--- a/test/test-json.js
+++ b/test/test-json.js
@@ -12,6 +12,11 @@ s.on('/invalid', function (req, res) {
 	res.end('/');
 });
 
+s.on('/204', function (req, res) {
+	res.statusCode = 204;
+	res.end();
+});
+
 s.on('/non200', function (req, res) {
 	res.statusCode = 500;
 	res.end('{"data":"dog"}');
@@ -43,6 +48,13 @@ test('json option should parse response', function (t) {
 	});
 });
 
+test('json option should not parse responses without a body', function (t) {
+	got(s.url + '/204', {json: true}, function (err) {
+		t.error(err);
+		t.end();
+	});
+});
+
 test('json option wrap parsing errors', function (t) {
 	got(s.url + '/invalid', {json: true}, function (err) {
 		t.ok(err);