diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/bulk/BulkProcessor.java b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/bulk/BulkProcessor.java
index 6dacb21b239..cbfc8431628 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/bulk/BulkProcessor.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/bulk/BulkProcessor.java
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@ import org.elasticsearch.common.unit.ByteSizeValue;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.unit.TimeValue;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.util.concurrent.EsExecutors;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.util.concurrent.FutureUtils;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.XContentType;
 
 import java.io.Closeable;
 import java.util.Objects;
@@ -288,16 +289,46 @@ public class BulkProcessor implements Closeable {
         executeIfNeeded();
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Adds the data from the bytes to be processed by the bulk processor
+     * @deprecated use {@link #add(BytesReference, String, String, XContentType)} instead to avoid content type auto-detection
+     */
+    @Deprecated
     public BulkProcessor add(BytesReference data, @Nullable String defaultIndex, @Nullable String defaultType) throws Exception {
         return add(data, defaultIndex, defaultType, null, null);
     }
 
-    public synchronized BulkProcessor add(BytesReference data, @Nullable String defaultIndex, @Nullable String defaultType, @Nullable String defaultPipeline, @Nullable Object payload) throws Exception {
+    /**
+     * Adds the data from the bytes to be processed by the bulk processor
+     */
+    public BulkProcessor add(BytesReference data, @Nullable String defaultIndex, @Nullable String defaultType,
+                             XContentType xContentType) throws Exception {
+        return add(data, defaultIndex, defaultType, null, null, xContentType);
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Adds the data from the bytes to be processed by the bulk processor
+     * @deprecated use {@link #add(BytesReference, String, String, String, Object, XContentType)} instead to avoid content type
+     * auto-detection
+     */
+    @Deprecated
+    public synchronized BulkProcessor add(BytesReference data, @Nullable String defaultIndex, @Nullable String defaultType,
+                                          @Nullable String defaultPipeline, @Nullable Object payload) throws Exception {
         bulkRequest.add(data, defaultIndex, defaultType, null, null, null, defaultPipeline, payload, true);
         executeIfNeeded();
         return this;
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Adds the data from the bytes to be processed by the bulk processor
+     */
+    public synchronized BulkProcessor add(BytesReference data, @Nullable String defaultIndex, @Nullable String defaultType,
+                                  @Nullable String defaultPipeline, @Nullable Object payload, XContentType xContentType) throws Exception {
+        bulkRequest.add(data, defaultIndex, defaultType, null, null, null, defaultPipeline, payload, true, xContentType);
+        executeIfNeeded();
+        return this;
+    }
+
     private void executeIfNeeded() {
         ensureOpen();
         if (!isOverTheLimit()) {
diff --git a/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/action/bulk/BulkProcessorIT.java b/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/action/bulk/BulkProcessorIT.java
index 7e608815c43..e6eb9afe704 100644
--- a/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/action/bulk/BulkProcessorIT.java
+++ b/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/action/bulk/BulkProcessorIT.java
@@ -27,10 +27,13 @@ import org.elasticsearch.action.index.IndexRequest;
 import org.elasticsearch.client.Client;
 import org.elasticsearch.client.Requests;
 import org.elasticsearch.cluster.metadata.IndexMetaData;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.bytes.BytesArray;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.settings.Settings;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.unit.ByteSizeUnit;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.unit.ByteSizeValue;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.unit.TimeValue;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.XContentType;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.json.JsonXContent;
 import org.elasticsearch.env.Environment;
 import org.elasticsearch.test.ESIntegTestCase;
 import org.elasticsearch.transport.MockTransportClient;
@@ -54,7 +57,7 @@ import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.is;
 import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.lessThanOrEqualTo;
 
 public class BulkProcessorIT extends ESIntegTestCase {
-    public void testThatBulkProcessorCountIsCorrect() throws InterruptedException {
+    public void testThatBulkProcessorCountIsCorrect() throws Exception {
         final CountDownLatch latch = new CountDownLatch(1);
         BulkProcessorTestListener listener = new BulkProcessorTestListener(latch);
 
@@ -77,7 +80,7 @@ public class BulkProcessorIT extends ESIntegTestCase {
         }
     }
 
-    public void testBulkProcessorFlush() throws InterruptedException {
+    public void testBulkProcessorFlush() throws Exception {
         final CountDownLatch latch = new CountDownLatch(1);
         BulkProcessorTestListener listener = new BulkProcessorTestListener(latch);
 
@@ -296,11 +299,18 @@ public class BulkProcessorIT extends ESIntegTestCase {
         assertMultiGetResponse(multiGetRequestBuilder.get(), testDocs);
     }
 
-    private static MultiGetRequestBuilder indexDocs(Client client, BulkProcessor processor, int numDocs) {
+    private static MultiGetRequestBuilder indexDocs(Client client, BulkProcessor processor, int numDocs) throws Exception {
         MultiGetRequestBuilder multiGetRequestBuilder = client.prepareMultiGet();
         for (int i = 1; i <= numDocs; i++) {
-            processor.add(new IndexRequest("test", "test", Integer.toString(i))
-                .source(Requests.INDEX_CONTENT_TYPE, "field", randomRealisticUnicodeOfLengthBetween(1, 30)));
+            if (randomBoolean()) {
+                processor.add(new IndexRequest("test", "test", Integer.toString(i))
+                    .source(Requests.INDEX_CONTENT_TYPE, "field", randomRealisticUnicodeOfLengthBetween(1, 30)));
+            } else {
+                final String source = "{ \"index\":{\"_index\":\"test\",\"_type\":\"test\",\"_id\":\"" + Integer.toString(i) + "\"} }\n"
+                    + JsonXContent.contentBuilder()
+                        .startObject().field("field", randomRealisticUnicodeOfLengthBetween(1, 30)).endObject().string() + "\n";
+                processor.add(new BytesArray(source), null, null, XContentType.JSON);
+            }
             multiGetRequestBuilder.add("test", "test", Integer.toString(i));
         }
         return multiGetRequestBuilder;
@@ -313,7 +323,8 @@ public class BulkProcessorIT extends ESIntegTestCase {
             assertThat(bulkItemResponse.getIndex(), equalTo("test"));
             assertThat(bulkItemResponse.getType(), equalTo("test"));
             assertThat(bulkItemResponse.getId(), equalTo(Integer.toString(i++)));
-            assertThat(bulkItemResponse.isFailed(), equalTo(false));
+            assertThat("item " + i + " failed with cause: " + bulkItemResponse.getFailureMessage(),
+                bulkItemResponse.isFailed(), equalTo(false));
         }
     }