diff --git a/modules/@angular/http/http.ts b/modules/@angular/http/http.ts
index 5dcd3bb082..61c3312ea0 100644
--- a/modules/@angular/http/http.ts
+++ b/modules/@angular/http/http.ts
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ export {JSONPBackend, JSONPConnection} from './src/backends/jsonp_backend';
 export {CookieXSRFStrategy, XHRBackend, XHRConnection} from './src/backends/xhr_backend';
 export {BaseRequestOptions, RequestOptions} from './src/base_request_options';
 export {BaseResponseOptions, ResponseOptions} from './src/base_response_options';
-export {ReadyState, RequestMethod, ResponseType} from './src/enums';
+export {ReadyState, RequestMethod, ResponseBuffer, ResponseType} from './src/enums';
 export {Headers} from './src/headers';
 export {Http, Jsonp} from './src/http';
 export {Connection, ConnectionBackend, RequestOptionsArgs, ResponseOptionsArgs, XSRFStrategy} from './src/interfaces';
diff --git a/modules/@angular/http/src/backends/xhr_backend.ts b/modules/@angular/http/src/backends/xhr_backend.ts
index d3a8c5184e..fbb379dcc7 100644
--- a/modules/@angular/http/src/backends/xhr_backend.ts
+++ b/modules/@angular/http/src/backends/xhr_backend.ts
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ import {Observable} from 'rxjs/Observable';
 import {Observer} from 'rxjs/Observer';
 
 import {ResponseOptions} from '../base_response_options';
-import {ContentType, ReadyState, RequestMethod, ResponseType} from '../enums';
+import {ContentType, ReadyState, RequestMethod, ResponseType, ResponseBuffer} from '../enums';
 import {isPresent, isString} from '../facade/lang';
 import {Headers} from '../headers';
 import {getResponseURL, isSuccess} from '../http_utils';
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ import {BrowserXhr} from './browser_xhr';
 
 const XSSI_PREFIX = /^\)\]\}',?\n/;
 
+
 /**
  * Creates connections using `XMLHttpRequest`. Given a fully-qualified
  * request, an `XHRConnection` will immediately create an `XMLHttpRequest` object and send the
@@ -51,7 +52,7 @@ export class XHRConnection implements Connection {
         _xhr.withCredentials = req.withCredentials;
       }
       // load event handler
-      let onLoad = () => {
+      let onLoad = () => { 
         // responseText is the old-school way of retrieving response (supported by IE8 & 9)
         // response/responseType properties were introduced in XHR Level2 spec (supported by
         // IE10)
@@ -108,6 +109,20 @@ export class XHRConnection implements Connection {
         req.headers.forEach((values, name) => _xhr.setRequestHeader(name, values.join(',')));
       }
 
+      // Select the correct buffer type to store the response
+      if (isPresent(req.buffer) && isPresent(_xhr.responseType)) switch (req.buffer) {
+          case ResponseBuffer.ArrayBuffer:
+            _xhr.responseType = "arraybuffer";
+            break;
+          case ResponseBuffer.Json:
+            _xhr.responseType = "json";
+            break;
+          default:
+          case ResponseBuffer.Text:
+            _xhr.responseType = "text";
+            break;
+        }
+
       _xhr.addEventListener('load', onLoad);
       _xhr.addEventListener('error', onError);
 
diff --git a/modules/@angular/http/src/base_request_options.ts b/modules/@angular/http/src/base_request_options.ts
index fd1cb7018f..54e274eefe 100644
--- a/modules/@angular/http/src/base_request_options.ts
+++ b/modules/@angular/http/src/base_request_options.ts
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ import {Injectable} from '@angular/core';
 
 import {isPresent, isString} from '../src/facade/lang';
 
-import {RequestMethod} from './enums';
+import {RequestMethod, ResponseBuffer} from './enums';
 import {Headers} from './headers';
 import {normalizeMethodName} from './http_utils';
 import {RequestOptionsArgs} from './interfaces';
@@ -69,7 +69,13 @@ export class RequestOptions {
    * Enable use credentials for a {@link Request}.
    */
   withCredentials: boolean;
-  constructor({method, headers, body, url, search, withCredentials}: RequestOptionsArgs = {}) {
+  /*
+   * Select a buffer to store the response, such as ArrayBuffer, Blob, Json (or Document)
+   */
+  buffer: ResponseBuffer;
+  
+  constructor({method, headers, body, url, search, withCredentials, buffer}: RequestOptionsArgs = {}) {
+
     this.method = isPresent(method) ? normalizeMethodName(method) : null;
     this.headers = isPresent(headers) ? headers : null;
     this.body = isPresent(body) ? body : null;
@@ -78,6 +84,7 @@ export class RequestOptions {
         (isString(search) ? new URLSearchParams(<string>(search)) : <URLSearchParams>(search)) :
         null;
     this.withCredentials = isPresent(withCredentials) ? withCredentials : null;
+    this.buffer = isPresent(buffer) ? buffer : null;
   }
 
   /**
@@ -117,7 +124,8 @@ export class RequestOptions {
           this.search,
       withCredentials: isPresent(options) && isPresent(options.withCredentials) ?
           options.withCredentials :
-          this.withCredentials
+          this.withCredentials,                 
+      buffer: isPresent(options) && isPresent(options.buffer) ? options.buffer : this.buffer
     });
   }
 }
diff --git a/modules/@angular/http/src/base_response_options.ts b/modules/@angular/http/src/base_response_options.ts
index 8de2d456e7..689bb89a32 100644
--- a/modules/@angular/http/src/base_response_options.ts
+++ b/modules/@angular/http/src/base_response_options.ts
@@ -44,11 +44,11 @@ import {ResponseOptionsArgs} from './interfaces';
  * @experimental
  */
 export class ResponseOptions {
-  // TODO: ArrayBuffer | FormData | Blob
+  // TODO: FormData | Blob
   /**
-   * String or Object representing the body of the {@link Response}.
+   * String, Object, ArrayBuffer representing the body of the {@link Response}.
    */
-  body: string|Object;
+  body: string | Object | ArrayBuffer;
   /**
    * Http {@link http://www.w3.org/Protocols/rfc2616/rfc2616-sec10.html status code}
    * associated with the response.
diff --git a/modules/@angular/http/src/enums.ts b/modules/@angular/http/src/enums.ts
index 31b25bd95b..1506cf50b5 100644
--- a/modules/@angular/http/src/enums.ts
+++ b/modules/@angular/http/src/enums.ts
@@ -61,3 +61,12 @@ export enum ContentType {
   BLOB,
   ARRAY_BUFFER
 }
+
+/*
+ * Define which buffer to use to store the response
+ */
+export enum ResponseBuffer {
+  ArrayBuffer,
+  Json,
+  Text
+}
diff --git a/modules/@angular/http/src/http.ts b/modules/@angular/http/src/http.ts
index 24554eb9da..d6cdaca4c8 100644
--- a/modules/@angular/http/src/http.ts
+++ b/modules/@angular/http/src/http.ts
@@ -35,7 +35,8 @@ function mergeOptions(
       search: providedOpts.search,
       headers: providedOpts.headers,
       body: providedOpts.body,
-      withCredentials: providedOpts.withCredentials
+      withCredentials: providedOpts.withCredentials,
+      buffer: providedOpts.buffer
     }));
   }
   if (isPresent(method)) {
diff --git a/modules/@angular/http/src/http_utils.ts b/modules/@angular/http/src/http_utils.ts
index b0e1605731..67fbcc4f33 100644
--- a/modules/@angular/http/src/http_utils.ts
+++ b/modules/@angular/http/src/http_utils.ts
@@ -38,4 +38,12 @@ export function getResponseURL(xhr: any): string {
   return;
 }
 
+export function stringToArrayBuffer(string: String): ArrayBuffer {
+  let view = new Uint16Array(string.length);
+  for (var i = 0, strLen = string.length; i < strLen; i++) {
+    view[i] = string.charCodeAt(i);
+  }
+  return view.buffer;
+}
+
 export {isJsObject} from '../src/facade/lang';
diff --git a/modules/@angular/http/src/interfaces.ts b/modules/@angular/http/src/interfaces.ts
index 796764ac96..50c30c030d 100644
--- a/modules/@angular/http/src/interfaces.ts
+++ b/modules/@angular/http/src/interfaces.ts
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
  * found in the LICENSE file at https://angular.io/license
  */
 
-import {ReadyState, RequestMethod, ResponseType} from './enums';
+import {ReadyState, RequestMethod, ResponseType, ResponseBuffer} from './enums';
 import {Headers} from './headers';
 import {Request} from './static_request';
 import {URLSearchParams} from './url_search_params';
@@ -52,6 +52,7 @@ export interface RequestOptionsArgs {
   headers?: Headers;
   body?: any;
   withCredentials?: boolean;
+  buffer?: ResponseBuffer;
 }
 
 /**
@@ -66,8 +67,8 @@ export interface RequestArgs extends RequestOptionsArgs { url: string; }
  * @experimental
  */
 export type ResponseOptionsArgs = {
-  // TODO: Support Blob, ArrayBuffer, JSON
-  body?: string | Object | FormData; status?: number; statusText?: string; headers?: Headers;
+  // TODO: Support Blob, JSON
+  body?: string | Object | FormData | ArrayBuffer; status?: number; statusText?: string; headers?: Headers;
   type?: ResponseType;
   url?: string;
 }
diff --git a/modules/@angular/http/src/static_request.ts b/modules/@angular/http/src/static_request.ts
index fe449cc9f9..08f30bd178 100644
--- a/modules/@angular/http/src/static_request.ts
+++ b/modules/@angular/http/src/static_request.ts
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@
 
 import {StringWrapper, isPresent} from '../src/facade/lang';
 
-import {ContentType, RequestMethod} from './enums';
+import {ContentType, RequestMethod, ResponseBuffer} from './enums';
 import {Headers} from './headers';
 import {normalizeMethodName} from './http_utils';
 import {RequestArgs} from './interfaces';
@@ -72,6 +72,8 @@ export class Request {
   private contentType: ContentType;
   /** Enable use credentials */
   withCredentials: boolean;
+  /* Select a buffer to store the response */
+  buffer: ResponseBuffer;
   constructor(requestOptions: RequestArgs) {
     // TODO: assert that url is present
     let url = requestOptions.url;
@@ -95,6 +97,7 @@ export class Request {
     // TODO(jeffbcross): implement behavior
     this.headers = new Headers(requestOptions.headers);
     this.withCredentials = requestOptions.withCredentials;
+    this.buffer = requestOptions.buffer;
   }
 
 
diff --git a/modules/@angular/http/src/static_response.ts b/modules/@angular/http/src/static_response.ts
index 4c341ba655..25b24d86c1 100644
--- a/modules/@angular/http/src/static_response.ts
+++ b/modules/@angular/http/src/static_response.ts
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ import {Json, isString} from '../src/facade/lang';
 import {ResponseOptions} from './base_response_options';
 import {ResponseType} from './enums';
 import {Headers} from './headers';
-import {isJsObject} from './http_utils';
+import {isJsObject, stringToArrayBuffer} from './http_utils';
 
 
 /**
@@ -83,8 +83,10 @@ export class Response {
    * Spec](https://fetch.spec.whatwg.org/#headers-class).
    */
   headers: Headers;
-  // TODO: Support ArrayBuffer, JSON, FormData, Blob
-  private _body: string|Object;
+
+  // TODO: Support FormData, Blob
+  private _body: string | Object | ArrayBuffer;
+
   constructor(responseOptions: ResponseOptions) {
     this._body = responseOptions.body;
     this.status = responseOptions.status;
@@ -95,12 +97,6 @@ export class Response {
     this.url = responseOptions.url;
   }
 
-  /**
-   * Not yet implemented
-   */
-  // TODO: Blob return type
-  blob(): any { throw new BaseException('"blob()" method not implemented on Response superclass'); }
-
   /**
    * Attempts to return body as parsed `JSON` object, or raises an exception.
    */
@@ -110,6 +106,10 @@ export class Response {
       jsonResponse = this._body;
     } else if (isString(this._body)) {
       jsonResponse = Json.parse(<string>this._body);
+    } else if (this._body instanceof ArrayBuffer) {
+      jsonResponse = Json.parse(this.text());
+    } else {
+      jsonResponse = this._body;
     }
     return jsonResponse;
   }
@@ -117,17 +117,40 @@ export class Response {
   /**
    * Returns the body as a string, presuming `toString()` can be called on the response body.
    */
-  text(): string { return this._body.toString(); }
+  text(): string {
+    var textResponse: string;
+    if (this._body instanceof ArrayBuffer) {
+      textResponse = String.fromCharCode.apply(null, new Uint16Array(<ArrayBuffer>this._body));
+    } else if (isJsObject(this._body)) {
+      textResponse = Json.stringify(this._body);
+    } else {
+      textResponse = this._body.toString();
+    }
+    return textResponse;
+  }
 
   /**
-   * Not yet implemented
+   * Return the body as an ArrayBuffer
    */
-  // TODO: ArrayBuffer return type
-  arrayBuffer(): any {
-    throw new BaseException('"arrayBuffer()" method not implemented on Response superclass');
+  arrayBuffer(): ArrayBuffer {
+    var bufferResponse: ArrayBuffer;
+    if (this._body instanceof ArrayBuffer) {
+      bufferResponse = <ArrayBuffer>this._body;
+    } else {
+      bufferResponse = stringToArrayBuffer(this.text());
+    }
+    return bufferResponse;
   }
 
+
   toString(): string {
     return `Response with status: ${this.status} ${this.statusText} for URL: ${this.url}`;
   }
+
+  /**
+   * Not yet implemented
+   */
+  // TODO: Blob return type
+  blob(): any { throw new BaseException('"blob()" method not implemented on Response superclass'); }
+
 }
diff --git a/modules/@angular/http/test/backends/xhr_backend_spec.ts b/modules/@angular/http/test/backends/xhr_backend_spec.ts
index 4072fd1fde..f1c75890fa 100644
--- a/modules/@angular/http/test/backends/xhr_backend_spec.ts
+++ b/modules/@angular/http/test/backends/xhr_backend_spec.ts
@@ -35,6 +35,7 @@ class MockBrowserXHR extends BrowserXhr {
   send: any;
   open: any;
   response: any;
+  responseType: string;
   responseText: string;
   setRequestHeader: any;
   callbacks = new Map<string, Function>();
diff --git a/modules/@angular/http/test/http_spec.ts b/modules/@angular/http/test/http_spec.ts
index 761aa2d456..05cf0c6f59 100644
--- a/modules/@angular/http/test/http_spec.ts
+++ b/modules/@angular/http/test/http_spec.ts
@@ -10,9 +10,12 @@ import {Injector, ReflectiveInjector, provide} from '@angular/core';
 import {afterEach, beforeEach, ddescribe, describe, expect, iit, inject, it, xit} from '@angular/core/testing/testing_internal';
 import {AsyncTestCompleter} from '@angular/core/testing/testing_internal';
 import {Observable} from 'rxjs/Observable';
+import 'rxjs/add/observable/zip';
 import {Subject} from 'rxjs/Subject';
+import {stringToArrayBuffer} from "../src/http_utils";
+import {Json} from "../src/facade/lang";
 
-import {BaseRequestOptions, ConnectionBackend, HTTP_PROVIDERS, Http, JSONPBackend, JSONP_PROVIDERS, Jsonp, Request, RequestMethod, RequestOptions, Response, ResponseOptions, URLSearchParams, XHRBackend} from '../http';
+import {BaseRequestOptions, ConnectionBackend, HTTP_PROVIDERS, Http, JSONPBackend, JSONP_PROVIDERS, Jsonp, Request, RequestMethod, RequestOptions, Response, ResponseBuffer, ResponseOptions, URLSearchParams, XHRBackend} from '../http';
 import {MockBackend, MockConnection} from '../testing/mock_backend';
 
 export function main() {
@@ -379,5 +382,122 @@ export function main() {
         });
       });
     });
+
+    describe('response buffer', () => {
+
+      it('should attach the provided buffer to the response',
+         inject([AsyncTestCompleter], (async: AsyncTestCompleter) => {
+           backend.connections.subscribe((c: MockConnection) => {
+             expect(c.request.buffer).toBe(ResponseBuffer.ArrayBuffer);
+             c.mockRespond(new Response(new ResponseOptions({body: new ArrayBuffer(32)})));
+             async.done();
+           });
+           http.get('https://www.google.com',
+                    new RequestOptions({buffer: ResponseBuffer.ArrayBuffer}))
+               .subscribe((res: Response) => {});
+         }));
+
+      it('should be able to consume a buffer containing a String as any response type',
+         inject([AsyncTestCompleter], (async: AsyncTestCompleter) => {
+           backend.connections.subscribe((c: MockConnection) => c.mockRespond(baseResponse));
+           http.get('https://www.google.com')
+               .subscribe((res: Response) => {
+                 expect(res.arrayBuffer()).toBeAnInstanceOf(ArrayBuffer);
+                 expect(res.text()).toBe("base response");
+                 async.done();
+               });
+         }));
+
+
+      it('should be able to consume a buffer containing an ArrayBuffer as any response type',
+         inject([AsyncTestCompleter], (async: AsyncTestCompleter) => {
+           let arrayBuffer = stringToArrayBuffer('{"response": "ok"}');
+           backend.connections.subscribe((c: MockConnection) => c.mockRespond(new Response(
+                                             new ResponseOptions({body: arrayBuffer}))));
+           http.get('https://www.google.com')
+               .subscribe((res: Response) => {
+                 expect(res.arrayBuffer()).toBe(arrayBuffer);
+                 expect(res.text()).toEqual('{"response": "ok"}');
+                 expect(res.json()).toEqual({response: "ok"});
+                 async.done();
+               });
+         }));
+
+      it('should be able to consume a buffer containing an Object as any response type',
+         inject([AsyncTestCompleter], (async: AsyncTestCompleter) => {
+           let simpleObject = {"content": "ok"};
+           backend.connections.subscribe((c: MockConnection) => c.mockRespond(new Response(
+                                             new ResponseOptions({body: simpleObject}))));
+           http.get('https://www.google.com')
+               .subscribe((res: Response) => {
+                 expect(res.arrayBuffer()).toBeAnInstanceOf(ArrayBuffer);
+                 expect(res.text()).toEqual(Json.stringify(simpleObject));
+                 expect(res.json()).toBe(simpleObject);
+                 async.done();
+               });
+         }));
+
+      it('should preserve encoding of ArrayBuffer response',
+         inject([AsyncTestCompleter], (async: AsyncTestCompleter) => {
+           let message = "é@θЂ";
+           let arrayBuffer = stringToArrayBuffer(message);
+           backend.connections.subscribe((c: MockConnection) => c.mockRespond(new Response(
+                                             new ResponseOptions({body: arrayBuffer}))));
+           http.get('https://www.google.com')
+               .subscribe((res: Response) => {
+                 expect(res.arrayBuffer()).toBeAnInstanceOf(ArrayBuffer);
+                 expect(res.text()).toEqual(message);
+                 async.done();
+               });
+         }));
+
+      it('should preserve encoding of String response',
+         inject([AsyncTestCompleter], (async: AsyncTestCompleter) => {
+           let message = "é@θЂ";
+           backend.connections.subscribe((c: MockConnection) => c.mockRespond(
+                                             new Response(new ResponseOptions({body: message}))));
+           http.get('https://www.google.com')
+               .subscribe((res: Response) => {
+                 expect(res.arrayBuffer()).toEqual(stringToArrayBuffer(message));
+                 async.done();
+               });
+         }));
+
+      it('should have an equivalent response independently of the buffer used',
+         inject([AsyncTestCompleter], (async: AsyncTestCompleter) => {
+           let message = {"param": "content"};
+
+           backend.connections.subscribe((c: MockConnection) => {
+             let body = (): any => {
+               switch (c.request.buffer) {
+                 case ResponseBuffer.Text:
+                   return Json.stringify(message);
+                 case ResponseBuffer.Json:
+                   return message;
+                 case ResponseBuffer.ArrayBuffer:
+                   return stringToArrayBuffer(Json.stringify(message));
+               }
+             };
+             c.mockRespond(new Response(new ResponseOptions({body: body()})))
+           });
+
+           Observable.zip(http.get('https://www.google.com',
+                                   new RequestOptions({buffer: ResponseBuffer.Text})),
+                          http.get('https://www.google.com',
+                                   new RequestOptions({buffer: ResponseBuffer.Json})),
+                          http.get('https://www.google.com',
+                                   new RequestOptions({buffer: ResponseBuffer.ArrayBuffer})),
+                          (x, y, z) => [x, y, z])
+               .subscribe((res: Array<Response>) => {
+                 expect(res[0].text()).toEqual(res[1].text());
+                 expect(res[1].text()).toEqual(res[2].text());
+                 async.done();
+               });
+         }));
+
+
+    });
+
+
   });
 }