diff --git a/lib/application.js b/lib/application.js
index 57b701cef..765c86771 100644
--- a/lib/application.js
+++ b/lib/application.js
@@ -253,7 +253,34 @@ function respond(ctx) {
   // responses
   if (Buffer.isBuffer(body)) return res.end(body);
   if ('string' == typeof body) return res.end(body);
-  if (body instanceof Stream) return body.pipe(res);
+  if (body instanceof Stream) {
+    // check if it's an objectMode stream
+    // readableObjectMode is available since Node 12.3
+    if (body.readableObjectMode ||
+        (body._readableState &&
+          body._readableState.objectMode)) {
+      let first = true;
+      res.write('[');
+      body = body
+        .pipe(new Stream.Transform({
+          writableObjectMode: true,
+          readableObjectMode: false,
+          transform(data, encoding, callback) {
+            if (!first) this.push(',');
+            else first = false;
+
+            this.push(JSON.stringify(data));
+            return callback();
+          },
+          flush(callback) {
+            this.push(']');
+            this.push(null);
+            return callback();
+          }
+        }));
+    }
+    return body.pipe(res);
+  }
 
   // body: json
   body = JSON.stringify(body);
diff --git a/lib/response.js b/lib/response.js
index 87ecc56a9..28e471bc0 100644
--- a/lib/response.js
+++ b/lib/response.js
@@ -166,14 +166,21 @@ module.exports = {
     }
 
     // stream
-    if ('function' == typeof val.pipe) {
+    if (val instanceof Stream) {
       onFinish(this.res, destroy.bind(null, val));
       ensureErrorHandler(val, err => this.ctx.onerror(err));
 
       // overwriting
       if (null != original && original != val) this.remove('Content-Length');
 
-      if (setType) this.type = 'bin';
+      if (setType) {
+        // check if it's an objectMode stream
+        // readableObjectMode is available since Node 12.3
+        this.type = (val.readableObjectMode ||
+                    (val._readableState &&
+                    val._readableState.objectMode))
+          ? 'json' : 'bin';
+      }
       return;
     }
 
diff --git a/test/application/respond.js b/test/application/respond.js
index d254ead6e..e2136d96a 100644
--- a/test/application/respond.js
+++ b/test/application/respond.js
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ const statuses = require('statuses');
 const assert = require('assert');
 const Koa = require('../..');
 const fs = require('fs');
+const { PassThrough } = require('stream');
 
 describe('app.respond', () => {
   describe('when ctx.respond === false', () => {
@@ -618,6 +619,46 @@ describe('app.respond', () => {
         assert.deepEqual(res.body, pkg);
       });
 
+    it('should serve object mode streams as JSON', async() => {
+      const app = new Koa();
+
+      app.use(ctx => {
+        const stream = new PassThrough({ objectMode: true, autoDestroy: false });
+        ctx.body = stream;
+        setImmediate(() => {
+          stream.write({ foo: 1 });
+          stream.write({ boo: [true] });
+          stream.end({ finish: true });
+        });
+      });
+
+      const server = app.listen();
+
+      const res = await request(server)
+        .get('/')
+        .expect('Content-Type', 'application/json; charset=utf-8')
+        .expect('[{"foo":1},{"boo":[true]},{"finish":true}]');
+      assert.strictEqual(res.headers.hasOwnProperty('content-length'), false);
+    });
+
+    it('empty object mode stream should result in empty array', async() => {
+      const app = new Koa();
+
+      app.use(ctx => {
+        const stream = new PassThrough({ objectMode: true, autoDestroy: false });
+        ctx.body = stream;
+        setImmediate(() => stream.end());
+      });
+
+      const server = app.listen();
+
+      const res = await request(server)
+        .get('/')
+        .expect('Content-Type', 'application/json; charset=utf-8')
+        .expect('[]');
+      assert.strictEqual(res.headers.hasOwnProperty('content-length'), false);
+    });
+
     it('should handle errors', done => {
       const app = new Koa();
 
diff --git a/test/response/body.js b/test/response/body.js
index 1dfcac55e..aa617c8da 100644
--- a/test/response/body.js
+++ b/test/response/body.js
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
 const response = require('../helpers/context').response;
 const assert = require('assert');
 const fs = require('fs');
+const { PassThrough } = require('stream');
 
 describe('res.body=', () => {
   describe('when Content-Type is set', () => {
@@ -108,6 +109,13 @@ describe('res.body=', () => {
       res.body = fs.createReadStream('LICENSE');
       assert.equal('application/octet-stream', res.header['content-type']);
     });
+
+    it('object mode stream', () => {
+      const res = response();
+      const stream = new PassThrough({ objectMode: true });
+      res.body = stream;
+      assert.equal('application/json; charset=utf-8', res.header['content-type']);
+    });
   });
 
   describe('when a buffer is given', () => {