diff --git a/pywb/rewrite/content_rewriter.py b/pywb/rewrite/content_rewriter.py
index ebbdf4ea..0918e9a1 100644
--- a/pywb/rewrite/content_rewriter.py
+++ b/pywb/rewrite/content_rewriter.py
@@ -312,6 +312,7 @@ class StreamingRewriter(object):
 # ============================================================================
 class RewriteInfo(object):
     TAG_REGEX = re.compile(b'^\s*\<')
+    JSON_REGEX = re.compile(b'^\s*[{[][{"]')  # if it starts with this then highly likely not HTML
 
     JSONP_CONTAINS = ['callback=jQuery',
                       'callback=jsonp',
@@ -363,6 +364,10 @@ class RewriteInfo(object):
                 text_type = 'json'
 
         if (text_type and orig_text_type != text_type) or text_type == 'html':
+            if url.endswith('.json'):
+                buff = self.read_and_keep(56)
+                if self.JSON_REGEX.match(buff) is not None:
+                    return 'json', charset
             # check if default content_type that needs to be set
             new_mime = content_rewriter.default_content_types.get(text_type)
 
@@ -392,7 +397,7 @@ class RewriteInfo(object):
         # if html or no-content type, allow resolving on js, css,
         # or other templates
         if text_type == 'guess-text':
-            if not is_js_or_css and not mod in ('if_', 'mp_', ''):
+            if not is_js_or_css and mod not in ('if_', 'mp_', ''):
                 return None
 
         # if application/octet-stream binary, only resolve if in js/css content
diff --git a/pywb/rewrite/test/test_content_rewriter.py b/pywb/rewrite/test/test_content_rewriter.py
index e43051cf..53f395d3 100644
--- a/pywb/rewrite/test/test_content_rewriter.py
+++ b/pywb/rewrite/test/test_content_rewriter.py
@@ -617,3 +617,11 @@ http://example.com/video_4.m3u8
 
         assert b''.join(gen).decode('utf-8') == filtered
 
+    def test_json_body_but_mime_html(self):
+        headers = {'Content-Type': 'text/html'}
+        content = '{"foo":"bar", "dash": {"on": "true"}'
+        headers, gen, is_rw = self.rewrite_record(headers, content, ts='201701mp_',
+                                                  url='http://example.com/path/file.json')
+        assert headers.headers == [('Content-Type', 'text/html')]
+        result = b''.join(gen).decode('utf-8')
+        assert result == content