diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index fa3c95f..51ac1bd 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,5 +1,10 @@
 # bedrock-jsonld-document-loader ChangeLog
 
+## 5.2.0 - 2024-12-xx
+
+### Changed
+- Handle parsing of JSON internally when `content-type` does not include `json`.
+
 ## 5.1.0 - 2024-07-31
 
 ### Changed
diff --git a/lib/index.js b/lib/index.js
index 917cac4..d3ae753 100644
--- a/lib/index.js
+++ b/lib/index.js
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ import {agent} from '@bedrock/https-agent';
 import {config} from '@bedrock/core';
 import {httpClient} from '@digitalbazaar/http-client';
 import {JsonLdDocumentLoader} from 'jsonld-document-loader';
+import {logger} from './logger.js';
 
 import './config.js';
 
@@ -31,10 +32,24 @@ export const httpClientHandler = {
       throw new Error('NotFoundError');
     }
 
-    return result.data;
+    return _getJsonData(result);
   }
 };
 
+async function _getJsonData(result) {
+  if(result.data) {
+    return result.data;
+  }
+
+  try {
+    return await result.json();
+  } catch(e) {
+    const {url} = result;
+    logger.error(`DataError: could not parse JSON from: "${url}"`);
+    throw new Error('DataError');
+  }
+}
+
 export const jsonLdDocumentLoader = jdl;
 export const documentLoader = jdl.documentLoader.bind(jdl);
 export {JsonLdDocumentLoader};
diff --git a/lib/logger.js b/lib/logger.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0e11c25
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/logger.js
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+/*!
+ * Copyright (c) 2024 Digital Bazaar, Inc. All rights reserved.
+ */
+import {loggers} from '@bedrock/core';
+
+const pkgName = 'bedrock-jsonld-document-loader';
+export const logger = loggers.get('app').child(pkgName);