diff --git a/tests/unit/test_matchers.py b/tests/unit/test_matchers.py
index d4b32de..5efc507 100644
--- a/tests/unit/test_matchers.py
+++ b/tests/unit/test_matchers.py
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 import itertools
 
+import pytest
+
 from vcr import matchers
 from vcr import request
 
@@ -35,36 +37,105 @@ def test_uri_matcher():
             assert matched
 
 
-def test_body_matcher():
-    # raw
-    req1 = request.Request('POST', 'http://host.com/', '123', {})
-    req2 = request.Request('POST', 'http://another-host.com/', '123', {'Some-Header': 'value'})
-    assert matchers.body(req1, req2)
+req1_body = (b"<?xml version='1.0'?><methodCall><methodName>test</methodName>"
+             b"<params><param><value><array><data><value><struct>"
+             b"<member><name>a</name><value><string>1</string></value></member>"
+             b"<member><name>b</name><value><string>2</string></value></member>"
+             b"</struct></value></data></array></value></param></params></methodCall>")
+req2_body = (b"<?xml version='1.0'?><methodCall><methodName>test</methodName>"
+             b"<params><param><value><array><data><value><struct>"
+             b"<member><name>b</name><value><string>2</string></value></member>"
+             b"<member><name>a</name><value><string>1</string></value></member>"
+             b"</struct></value></data></array></value></param></params></methodCall>")
 
-    # application/x-www-form-urlencoded
-    req1 = request.Request('POST', 'http://host.com/', 'a=1&b=2', {'Content-Type': 'application/x-www-form-urlencoded'})
-    req2 = request.Request('POST', 'http://host.com/', 'b=2&a=1', {'Content-Type': 'application/x-www-form-urlencoded'})
-    assert matchers.body(req1, req2)
 
-    # application/json
-    req1 = request.Request('POST', 'http://host.com/', '{"a": 1, "b": 2}', {'Content-Type': 'application/json'})
-    req2 = request.Request('POST', 'http://host.com/', '{"b": 2, "a": 1}', {'content-type': 'application/json'})
-    assert matchers.body(req1, req2)
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("r1, r2", [
+    (
+        request.Request('POST', 'http://host.com/', '123', {}),
+        request.Request('POST', 'http://another-host.com/',
+                        '123', {'Some-Header': 'value'})
+    ),
+    (
+        request.Request('POST', 'http://host.com/', 'a=1&b=2',
+                        {'Content-Type': 'application/x-www-form-urlencoded'}),
+        request.Request('POST', 'http://host.com/', 'b=2&a=1',
+                        {'Content-Type': 'application/x-www-form-urlencoded'})
+    ),
+    (
+        request.Request('POST', 'http://host.com/', '123', {}),
+        request.Request('POST', 'http://another-host.com/', '123', {'Some-Header': 'value'})
+    ),
+    (
+        request.Request(
+            'POST', 'http://host.com/', 'a=1&b=2',
+            {'Content-Type': 'application/x-www-form-urlencoded'}
+        ),
+        request.Request(
+            'POST', 'http://host.com/', 'b=2&a=1',
+            {'Content-Type': 'application/x-www-form-urlencoded'}
+        )
+    ),
+    (
+        request.Request(
+            'POST', 'http://host.com/', '{"a": 1, "b": 2}',
+            {'Content-Type': 'application/json'}
+        ),
+        request.Request(
+            'POST', 'http://host.com/', '{"b": 2, "a": 1}',
+            {'content-type': 'application/json'}
+        )
+    ),
+    (
+        request.Request(
+            'POST', 'http://host.com/', req1_body,
+            {'User-Agent': 'xmlrpclib', 'Content-Type': 'text/xml'}
+        ),
+        request.Request(
+            'POST', 'http://host.com/', req2_body,
+            {'user-agent': 'somexmlrpc', 'content-type': 'text/xml'}
+        )
+    ),
+    (
+        request.Request(
+            'POST', 'http://host.com/',
+            '{"a": 1, "b": 2}', {'Content-Type': 'application/json'}
+        ),
+        request.Request(
+            'POST', 'http://host.com/',
+            '{"b": 2, "a": 1}', {'content-type': 'application/json'}
+        )
+    )
+])
+def test_body_matcher_does_match(r1, r2):
+    assert matchers.body(r1, r2)
 
-    # xmlrpc
-    req1_body = (b"<?xml version='1.0'?><methodCall><methodName>test</methodName>"
-                 b"<params><param><value><array><data><value><struct>"
-                 b"<member><name>a</name><value><string>1</string></value></member>"
-                 b"<member><name>b</name><value><string>2</string></value></member>"
-                 b"</struct></value></data></array></value></param></params></methodCall>")
-    req2_body = (b"<?xml version='1.0'?><methodCall><methodName>test</methodName>"
-                 b"<params><param><value><array><data><value><struct>"
-                 b"<member><name>b</name><value><string>2</string></value></member>"
-                 b"<member><name>a</name><value><string>1</string></value></member>"
-                 b"</struct></value></data></array></value></param></params></methodCall>")
-    req1 = request.Request('POST', 'http://host.com/', req1_body, {'User-Agent': 'xmlrpclib', 'Content-Type': 'text/xml'})
-    req2 = request.Request('POST', 'http://host.com/', req2_body, {'user-agent': 'somexmlrpc', 'content-type': 'text/xml'})
-    assert matchers.body(req1, req2)
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("r1, r2", [
+    (
+        request.Request('POST', 'http://host.com/', '{"a": 1, "b": 2}', {}),
+        request.Request('POST', 'http://host.com/', '{"b": 2, "a": 1}', {}),
+    ),
+    (
+        request.Request(
+            'POST', 'http://host.com/',
+            '{"a": 1, "b": 3}', {'Content-Type': 'application/json'}
+        ),
+        request.Request(
+            'POST', 'http://host.com/',
+            '{"b": 2, "a": 1}', {'content-type': 'application/json'}
+        )
+    ),
+    (
+        request.Request(
+            'POST', 'http://host.com/', req1_body, {'Content-Type': 'text/xml'}
+        ),
+        request.Request(
+            'POST', 'http://host.com/', req2_body, {'content-type': 'text/xml'}
+        )
+    )
+])
+def test_body_match_does_not_match(r1, r2):
+    assert not matchers.body(r1, r2)
 
 
 def test_query_matcher():
diff --git a/vcr/matchers.py b/vcr/matchers.py
index 39c5949..34bd4e6 100644
--- a/vcr/matchers.py
+++ b/vcr/matchers.py
@@ -37,19 +37,39 @@ def raw_body(r1, r2):
     return read_body(r1) == read_body(r2)
 
 
+def _header_checker(value, header='Content-Type'):
+    def checker(headers):
+        return value in headers.get(header, '').lower()
+    return checker
+
+
+_xml_header_checker = _header_checker('text/xml')
+_xmlrpc_header_checker = _header_checker('xmlrpc', header='User-Agent')
+_checker_transformer_pairs = (
+    (_header_checker('application/x-www-form-urlencoded'), urllib.parse.parse_qs),
+    (_header_checker('application/json'), json.loads),
+    (lambda request: _xml_header_checker(request) and _xmlrpc_header_checker(request), xmlrpc_client.loads),
+)
+
+
+def _identity(x):
+    return x
+
+
+def _get_transformer(request):
+    headers = CaseInsensitiveDict(request.headers)
+    for checker, transformer in _checker_transformer_pairs:
+        if checker(headers): return transformer
+    else:
+        return _identity
+
+
 def body(r1, r2):
-    r1_body = read_body(r1)
-    r2_body  = read_body(r2)
-    r1_headers = CaseInsensitiveDict(r1.headers)
-    r2_headers = CaseInsensitiveDict(r2.headers)
-    if r1_headers.get('Content-Type') == r2_headers.get('Content-Type') == 'application/x-www-form-urlencoded':
-        return urllib.parse.parse_qs(r1_body) == urllib.parse.parse_qs(r2_body)
-    if r1_headers.get('Content-Type') == r2_headers.get('Content-Type') == 'application/json':
-        return json.loads(r1_body) == json.loads(r2_body)
-    if ('xmlrpc' in r1_headers.get('User-Agent', '') and 'xmlrpc' in r2_headers.get('User-Agent', '') and
-        r1_headers.get('Content-Type') == r2_headers.get('Content-Type') == 'text/xml'):
-        return xmlrpc_client.loads(r1_body) == xmlrpc_client.loads(r2_body)
-    return r1_body == r2_body
+    transformer = _get_transformer(r1)
+    r2_transformer = _get_transformer(r2)
+    if transformer != r2_transformer:
+        transformer = _identity
+    return transformer(read_body(r1)) == transformer(read_body(r2))
 
 
 def headers(r1, r2):