diff --git a/tests/integration/test_requests.py b/tests/integration/test_requests.py
index 84a992b..804ab2e 100644
--- a/tests/integration/test_requests.py
+++ b/tests/integration/test_requests.py
@@ -38,6 +38,18 @@ def test_body(tmpdir, httpbin_both):
         assert content == requests.get(url).content
 
 
+def test_get_empty_content_type_json(tmpdir, httpbin_both):
+    '''Ensure GET with application/json content-type and empty request body doesn't crash'''
+    url = httpbin_both + '/status/200'
+    headers = {'Content-Type': 'application/json'}
+
+    with vcr.use_cassette(str(tmpdir.join('get_empty_json.yaml')), match_on=('body',)):
+        status = requests.get(url, headers=headers).status_code
+
+    with vcr.use_cassette(str(tmpdir.join('get_empty_json.yaml')), match_on=('body',)):
+        assert status == requests.get(url, headers=headers).status_code
+
+
 def test_effective_url(tmpdir, httpbin_both):
     '''Ensure that the effective_url is captured'''
     url = httpbin_both.url + '/redirect-to?url=/html'
diff --git a/vcr/matchers.py b/vcr/matchers.py
index b54ed2f..8fe334e 100644
--- a/vcr/matchers.py
+++ b/vcr/matchers.py
@@ -49,7 +49,8 @@ def _transform_json(body):
     # Request body is always a byte string, but json.loads() wants a text
     # string. RFC 7159 says the default encoding is UTF-8 (although UTF-16
     # and UTF-32 are also allowed: hmmmmm).
-    return json.loads(body.decode('utf-8'))
+    if body:
+        return json.loads(body.decode('utf-8'))
 
 
 _xml_header_checker = _header_checker('text/xml')