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Revisit converters and codecs default setup in HTTP stacks  #33894

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Revisit converters and codecs default setup in HTTP stacks #33894
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bclozel
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in: webIssues in web modules (web, webmvc, webflux, websocket)type: enhancementA general enhancement
Milestone
7.0.0-M7

Description

@bclozel
bclozel
opened on Nov 15, 2024

The order of codecs has been the same for a very long time and applications might rely on it.

On the other hand, Spring Boot has been consistently reordering converters and codecs to align with industry trends. For example, reordering XML last in favor of JSON and other converters.

Unfortunately, this creates a disconnect between the order as declared in the application context and what Spring Boot applies in practice. This also causes inconsistencies like spring-projects/spring-boot#43143.

We should consider a change here, as long as there is minimal disruption for Framework and Boot developers.

Activity

  1. bclozel
    added
    in: webIssues in web modules (web, webmvc, webflux, websocket)
    type: enhancementA general enhancement
    on Nov 15, 2024
  2. bclozel
    added this to the 7.0.x milestone on Nov 15, 2024
  3. bclozel
    self-assigned this
    on Nov 15, 2024
  4. bclozel
    changed the title [-]Consider reordering converters and codecs in HTTP stacks [/-] [+]Consider revisiting converters and codecs default setup in HTTP stacks [/+] on Apr 2, 2025
  5. bclozel
    modified the milestones: 7.0.x, 7.0.0-M6 on May 21, 2025
  6. bclozel
    modified the milestones: 7.0.0-M6, 7.0.x, 7.0.0-M7 on Jun 11, 2025
  7. bclozel
    added a commit that references this issue on Jun 26, 2025

    Add HttpMessageConverters

    1af25e9
  8. bclozel
    closed this as completedin beedf0aon Jun 26, 2025
  9. bclozel
    added a commit that references this issue on Jun 26, 2025

    Adapt to HttpMessageConverters changes in Framework

    aae3df0
  10. pull
    added a commit that references this issue on Jun 26, 2025

    Use HttpMessageConverters in client and server config

    beedf0a

  11. 1 remaining item

  12. bclozel
    reopened this on Jun 27, 2025
  13. bclozel
    closed this as completedin 7e919d2on Jun 27, 2025
  14. bclozel
    added a commit that references this issue on Jun 27, 2025

    Make HttpMessageConverters classpath detection static

    da124a9
  15. pull
    added a commit that references this issue on Jun 27, 2025

    Reorder multipart converter for server converters

    7e919d2
  16. bclozel
    added 3 commits that reference this issue on Jun 27, 2025

    Revert temporary workaround for HttpMessageConverters

    3168b59

    Simplify media files detection in WebMvcConfigurationSupport

    1749f2f

    Simplify media files detection in WebMvcConfigurationSupport

    28f9adf
  17. bclozel
    added 2 commits that reference this issue on Jul 11, 2025

    Align HttpMessageConverters builder with WebFlux codecs variants

    b59dca9

    Refine multipart converter registration in HttpMessageConverters

    ad007ca
  18. sbrannen
    changed the title [-]Consider revisiting converters and codecs default setup in HTTP stacks [/-] [+]Revisit converters and codecs default setup in HTTP stacks [/+] on Jul 17, 2025

  19. Ixiodor commented on Sep 11, 2025

    @Ixiodor
    Ixiodor
    on Sep 11, 2025

    How can I fix this behavior? Right now, RestTemplate uses XML by default, and the same happens with @ControllerAdvice.

  20. bclozel commented on Sep 11, 2025

    @bclozel
    bclozel
    on Sep 11, 2025
    MemberAuthor

    @Ixiodor I don't understand. Can you elaborate? Did you upgrade an application to a 7.0 milestone and see a behavior change? Maybe you can share a minimal sample application that demonstrates one behavior with 6.x and another with 7.0?

  21. Ixiodor commented on Sep 11, 2025

    @Ixiodor
    Ixiodor
    on Sep 11, 2025

    Hi,
    I'm on:

    <parent>
    <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
    <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-parent</artifactId>
    <version>3.5.3</version>
    <relativePath/>
</parent>

    When I check the registered message converters, I see:

    org.springframework.http.converter.ByteArrayHttpMessageConverter
    org.springframework.http.converter.StringHttpMessageConverter
    org.springframework.http.converter.ResourceHttpMessageConverter
    org.springframework.http.converter.support.AllEncompassingFormHttpMessageConverter
    org.springframework.http.converter.xml.MappingJackson2XmlHttpMessageConverter
    org.springframework.http.converter.json.MappingJackson2HttpMessageConverter

    Because the XML converter is listed before JSON, the default behavior ends up preferring XML over JSON when the request does not explicitly specify an Accept header.

    This causes some unexpected behavior, for example:

    • Default error pages are returned in XML
    • @ControllerAdvice responses are serialized as XML
    • RestTemplate post uses XML instead of JSON by default

    (Coming from 3.2.2)

  22. bclozel commented on Sep 11, 2025

    @bclozel
    bclozel
    on Sep 11, 2025
    MemberAuthor

    @Ixiodor In this case it's completely unrelated to this issue. You can ask this question on StackOverflow and share here the link, I will have a look.

  23. Ixiodor commented on Sep 11, 2025

    @Ixiodor
    Ixiodor
    on Sep 11, 2025

    @Ixiodor In this case it's completely unrelated to this issue. You can ask this question on StackOverflow and share here the link, I will have a look.

    https://stackoverflow.com/questions/79762083/spring-changed-converters-order-prefering-xml Thanks

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