diff --git a/src/main/java/org/jboss/netty/handler/codec/http/HttpMessageDecoder.java b/src/main/java/org/jboss/netty/handler/codec/http/HttpMessageDecoder.java
index 8e7bcb2e70..f85b855bd0 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/jboss/netty/handler/codec/http/HttpMessageDecoder.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/jboss/netty/handler/codec/http/HttpMessageDecoder.java
@@ -103,9 +103,12 @@ public abstract class HttpMessageDecoder extends ReplayingDecoder<HttpMessageDec
                 if (!mergeChunks) {
                     return message;
                 }
-            } else if (message.getContentLength(-1) == 0) {
-                content = ChannelBuffers.EMPTY_BUFFER;
-                return reset();
+            } else {
+                int contentLength = message.getContentLength(-1);
+                if (contentLength == 0 || contentLength == -1 && isDecodingRequest()) {
+                    content = ChannelBuffers.EMPTY_BUFFER;
+                    return reset();
+                }
             }
             //we return null here, this forces decode to be called again where we will decode the content
             return null;
@@ -246,6 +249,7 @@ public abstract class HttpMessageDecoder extends ReplayingDecoder<HttpMessageDec
         checkpoint(nextState);
     }
 
+    protected abstract boolean isDecodingRequest();
     protected abstract void readInitial(ChannelBuffer buffer) throws Exception;
 
     private int getChunkSize(String hex) {
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/jboss/netty/handler/codec/http/HttpRequestDecoder.java b/src/main/java/org/jboss/netty/handler/codec/http/HttpRequestDecoder.java
index 4875776fa9..08c94359e8 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/jboss/netty/handler/codec/http/HttpRequestDecoder.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/jboss/netty/handler/codec/http/HttpRequestDecoder.java
@@ -49,4 +49,9 @@ public class HttpRequestDecoder extends HttpMessageDecoder {
                 HttpVersion.valueOf(split[2]), HttpMethod.valueOf(split[0]), split[1]);
         checkpoint(State.READ_HEADER);
     }
+
+    @Override
+    protected boolean isDecodingRequest() {
+        return true;
+    }
 }
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/jboss/netty/handler/codec/http/HttpResponseDecoder.java b/src/main/java/org/jboss/netty/handler/codec/http/HttpResponseDecoder.java
index 1e843c8354..d5b55bb85d 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/jboss/netty/handler/codec/http/HttpResponseDecoder.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/jboss/netty/handler/codec/http/HttpResponseDecoder.java
@@ -48,4 +48,9 @@ public class HttpResponseDecoder extends HttpMessageDecoder {
         message = new DefaultHttpResponse(HttpVersion.valueOf(split[0]), new HttpResponseStatus(Integer.valueOf(split[1]), split[2]));
         checkpoint(State.READ_HEADER);
     }
+
+    @Override
+    protected boolean isDecodingRequest() {
+        return false;
+    }
 }