diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index 3934e3aa..130c84ed 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ members = [
   "examples/from_request",
   "examples/stream",
   "examples/json",
+  "examples/msgpack",
   "examples/handlebars_templates",
   "examples/form_kitchen_sink",
   "examples/config",
diff --git a/contrib/Cargo.toml b/contrib/Cargo.toml
index 48b2998b..849e8ecf 100644
--- a/contrib/Cargo.toml
+++ b/contrib/Cargo.toml
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ license = "MIT/Apache-2.0"
 [features]
 default = ["json"]
 json = ["serde", "serde_json"]
+msgpack = ["serde", "rmp-serde"]
 tera_templates = ["tera", "templates"]
 handlebars_templates = ["handlebars", "templates"]
 
@@ -27,9 +28,10 @@ log = "^0.3"
 # UUID dependencies.
 uuid = { version = "^0.4", optional = true }
 
-# JSON and templating dependencies.
+# Serialization and templating dependencies.
 serde = { version = "^0.9", optional = true }
 serde_json = { version = "^0.9.3", optional = true }
+rmp-serde = { version = "^0.12", optional = true }
 
 # Templating dependencies only.
 handlebars = { version = "^0.25", optional = true, features = ["serde_type"] }
diff --git a/contrib/src/lib.rs b/contrib/src/lib.rs
index 18945897..a90c4dbc 100644
--- a/contrib/src/lib.rs
+++ b/contrib/src/lib.rs
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@
 //! an asterisk next to the features that are enabled by default:
 //!
 //! * [json*](struct.JSON.html)
+//! * [msgpack](struct.MsgPack.html)
 //! * [handlebars_templates](struct.Template.html)
 //! * [tera_templates](struct.Template.html)
 //! * [uuid](struct.UUID.html)
@@ -55,6 +56,13 @@ pub mod json;
 #[cfg(feature = "json")]
 pub use json::{JSON, SerdeError, Value};
 
+#[cfg(feature = "msgpack")]
+#[doc(hidden)]
+pub mod msgpack;
+
+#[cfg(feature = "msgpack")]
+pub use msgpack::{MsgPack, MsgPackError};
+
 #[cfg(feature = "templates")]
 mod templates;
 
diff --git a/contrib/src/msgpack/mod.rs b/contrib/src/msgpack/mod.rs
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..acf47520
--- /dev/null
+++ b/contrib/src/msgpack/mod.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,134 @@
+extern crate rmp_serde;
+
+use std::ops::{Deref, DerefMut};
+use std::io::{Cursor, Read};
+
+use rocket::outcome::Outcome;
+use rocket::request::Request;
+use rocket::data::{self, Data, FromData};
+use rocket::response::{self, Responder, Response};
+use rocket::http::{ContentType, Status};
+
+use serde::{Serialize, Deserialize};
+
+pub use self::rmp_serde::decode::Error as MsgPackError;
+
+/// The `MsgPack` type: implements `FromData` and `Responder`, allowing you to easily
+/// consume and respond with MessagePack data.
+///
+/// If you're receiving MessagePack data, simply add a `data` parameter to your route
+/// arguments and ensure the type of the parameter is a `MsgPack<T>`, where `T` is
+/// some type you'd like to parse from MessagePack. `T` must implement `Deserialize`
+/// from [Serde](https://github.com/serde-rs/serde). The data is parsed from the
+/// HTTP request body.
+///
+/// ```rust,ignore
+/// #[post("/users/", format = "application/msgpack", data = "<user>")]
+/// fn new_user(user: MsgPack<User>) {
+///     ...
+/// }
+/// ```
+///
+/// You don't _need_ to use `format = "application/msgpack"`, but it _may_ be what
+/// you want. Using `format = application/msgpack` means that any request that
+/// doesn't specify "application/msgpack" as its first `Content-Type:` header
+/// parameter will not be routed to this handler. By default, Rocket will accept a
+/// Content Type of any of the following for MessagePack data:
+/// `application/msgpack`, `application/x-msgpack`, `bin/msgpack`, or `bin/x-msgpack`.
+///
+/// If you're responding with MessagePack data, return a `MsgPack<T>` type, where `T`
+/// implements `Serialize` from [Serde](https://github.com/serde-rs/serde). The
+/// content type of the response is set to `application/msgpack` automatically.
+///
+/// ```rust,ignore
+/// #[get("/users/<id>")]
+/// fn user(id: usize) -> MsgPack<User> {
+///     let user_from_id = User::from(id);
+///     ...
+///     MsgPack(user_from_id)
+/// }
+/// ```
+#[derive(Debug)]
+pub struct MsgPack<T>(pub T);
+
+impl<T> MsgPack<T> {
+    /// Consumes the `MsgPack` wrapper and returns the wrapped item.
+    ///
+    /// # Example
+    /// ```rust
+    /// # use rocket_contrib::MsgPack;
+    /// let string = "Hello".to_string();
+    /// let my_msgpack = MsgPack(string);
+    /// assert_eq!(my_msgpack.into_inner(), "Hello".to_string());
+    /// ```
+    pub fn into_inner(self) -> T {
+        self.0
+    }
+}
+
+/// Maximum size of MessagePack data is 1MB.
+/// TODO: Determine this size from some configuration parameter.
+const MAX_SIZE: u64 = 1048576;
+
+/// Accepted content types are:
+/// `application/msgpack`, `application/x-msgpack`, `bin/msgpack`, and `bin/x-msgpack`
+fn is_msgpack_content_type(ct: &ContentType) -> bool {
+    (ct.ttype == "application" || ct.ttype == "bin")
+        && (ct.subtype == "msgpack" || ct.subtype == "x-msgpack")
+}
+
+impl<T: Deserialize> FromData for MsgPack<T> {
+    type Error = MsgPackError;
+
+    fn from_data(request: &Request, data: Data) -> data::Outcome<Self, Self::Error> {
+        if !request.content_type().map_or(false, |ct| is_msgpack_content_type(&ct)) {
+            error_!("Content-Type is not MessagePack.");
+            return Outcome::Forward(data);
+        }
+
+        let mut buf = Vec::new();
+        if let Err(e) = data.open().take(MAX_SIZE).read_to_end(&mut buf) {
+            let e = MsgPackError::InvalidDataRead(e);
+            error_!("Couldn't read request data: {:?}", e);
+            return Outcome::Failure((Status::BadRequest, e));
+        };
+
+        match rmp_serde::from_slice(&buf).map(|val| MsgPack(val)) {
+            Ok(value) => Outcome::Success(value),
+            Err(e) => {
+                error_!("Couldn't parse MessagePack body: {:?}", e);
+                Outcome::Failure((Status::BadRequest, e))
+            }
+        }
+    }
+}
+
+/// Serializes the wrapped value into MessagePack. Returns a response with Content-Type
+/// MessagePack and a fixed-size body with the serialization. If serialization fails, an
+/// `Err` of `Status::InternalServerError` is returned.
+impl<T: Serialize> Responder<'static> for MsgPack<T> {
+    fn respond(self) -> response::Result<'static> {
+        rmp_serde::to_vec(&self.0).map_err(|e| {
+            error_!("MsgPack failed to serialize: {:?}", e);
+            Status::InternalServerError
+        }).and_then(|buf| {
+            Response::build()
+                .sized_body(Cursor::new(buf))
+                .ok()
+        })
+    }
+}
+
+impl<T> Deref for MsgPack<T> {
+    type Target = T;
+
+    fn deref<'a>(&'a self) -> &'a T {
+        &self.0
+    }
+}
+
+impl<T> DerefMut for MsgPack<T> {
+    fn deref_mut<'a>(&'a mut self) -> &'a mut T {
+        &mut self.0
+    }
+}
diff --git a/examples/msgpack/Cargo.toml b/examples/msgpack/Cargo.toml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..590e3349
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/msgpack/Cargo.toml
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+[package]
+name = "msgpack"
+version = "0.0.1"
+workspace = "../../"
+
+[dependencies]
+rocket = { path = "../../lib" }
+rocket_codegen = { path = "../../codegen" }
+serde = "0.9"
+serde_derive = "0.9"
+
+[dependencies.rocket_contrib]
+path = "../../contrib"
+default-features = false
+features = ["msgpack"]
+
+[dev-dependencies]
+rocket = { path = "../../lib", features = ["testing"] }
diff --git a/examples/msgpack/src/main.rs b/examples/msgpack/src/main.rs
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..ffff2400
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/msgpack/src/main.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+#![feature(plugin)]
+#![plugin(rocket_codegen)]
+
+extern crate rocket;
+extern crate rocket_contrib;
+#[macro_use] extern crate serde_derive;
+
+#[cfg(test)] mod tests;
+
+use rocket_contrib::MsgPack;
+
+#[derive(Serialize, Deserialize)]
+struct Message {
+    id: usize,
+    contents: String
+}
+
+#[get("/<id>", format = "application/msgpack")]
+fn get(id: usize) -> MsgPack<Message> {
+    MsgPack(Message {
+        id: id,
+        contents: "Hello, world!".to_string(),
+    })
+}
+
+#[post("/", data = "<data>", format = "application/msgpack")]
+fn create(data: MsgPack<Message>) -> Result<String, ()> {
+    Ok(data.into_inner().contents)
+}
+
+fn rocket() -> rocket::Rocket {
+    rocket::ignite()
+        .mount("/message", routes![get, create])
+}
+
+fn main() {
+    rocket().launch();
+}
diff --git a/examples/msgpack/src/tests.rs b/examples/msgpack/src/tests.rs
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..0419a075
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/msgpack/src/tests.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,44 @@
+use rocket;
+use rocket::testing::MockRequest;
+use rocket::http::Method::*;
+use rocket::http::{Status, ContentType};
+use rocket::Response;
+
+#[derive(Serialize, Deserialize)]
+struct Message {
+    id: usize,
+    contents: String
+}
+
+macro_rules! run_test {
+    ($rocket: expr, $req:expr, $test_fn:expr) => ({
+        let mut req = $req;
+        $test_fn(req.dispatch_with($rocket));
+    })
+}
+
+#[test]
+fn msgpack_get() {
+    let rocket = rocket();
+    let req = MockRequest::new(Get, "/message/1").header(ContentType::MsgPack);
+    run_test!(&rocket, req, |mut response: Response| {
+        assert_eq!(response.status(), Status::Ok);
+        let body = response.body().unwrap().into_bytes().unwrap();
+        // Represents a message of `[1, "Hello, world!"]`
+        assert_eq!(&body, &[146, 1, 173, 72, 101, 108, 108, 111, 44, 32, 119, 111,
+                            114, 108, 100, 33]);
+    });
+}
+
+#[test]
+fn msgpack_post() {
+    let rocket = rocket();
+    let req = MockRequest::new(Post, "/message")
+        .header(ContentType::MsgPack)
+        // Represents a message of `[2, "Goodbye, world!"]`
+        .body(&[146, 2, 175, 71, 111, 111, 100, 98, 121, 101, 44, 32, 119, 111, 114, 108, 100, 33]);
+    run_test!(&rocket, req, |mut response: Response| {
+        assert_eq!(response.status(), Status::Ok);
+        assert_eq!(response.body().unwrap().into_string().unwrap(), "Goodbye, world!");
+    });
+}
diff --git a/lib/src/http/content_type.rs b/lib/src/http/content_type.rs
index be35667f..7ec8e46c 100644
--- a/lib/src/http/content_type.rs
+++ b/lib/src/http/content_type.rs
@@ -104,6 +104,7 @@ impl ContentType {
         "HTML", HTML, is_html => "text", "html" ; "charset=utf-8",
         "Plain", Plain, is_plain => "text", "plain" ; "charset=utf-8",
         "JSON", JSON, is_json => "application", "json",
+        "MsgPack", MsgPack, is_msgpack => "application", "msgpack",
         "form", Form, is_form => "application", "x-www-form-urlencoded",
         "JavaScript", JavaScript, is_javascript => "application", "javascript",
         "CSS", CSS, is_css => "text", "css" ; "charset=utf-8",
diff --git a/lib/src/response/content.rs b/lib/src/response/content.rs
index dc15776d..38403e4b 100644
--- a/lib/src/response/content.rs
+++ b/lib/src/response/content.rs
@@ -82,6 +82,7 @@ macro_rules! ctrs {
 ctrs! {
     JSON: "JSON", "application/json",
     XML: "XML", "text/xml",
+    MsgPack: "MessagePack", "application/msgpack",
     HTML: "HTML", "text/html",
     Plain: "plain text", "text/plain",
     CSS: "CSS", "text/css",
diff --git a/lib/src/testing.rs b/lib/src/testing.rs
index d23ae494..a7e71eb8 100644
--- a/lib/src/testing.rs
+++ b/lib/src/testing.rs
@@ -224,8 +224,8 @@ impl<'r> MockRequest<'r> {
     ///     .body(r#"{ "key": "value", "array": [1, 2, 3], }"#);
     /// ```
     #[inline]
-    pub fn body<S: AsRef<str>>(mut self, body: S) -> Self {
-        self.data = Data::new(body.as_ref().as_bytes().into());
+    pub fn body<S: AsRef<[u8]>>(mut self, body: S) -> Self {
+        self.data = Data::new(body.as_ref().into());
         self
     }