diff --git a/spec/HTTPRequest.spec.js b/spec/HTTPRequest.spec.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..01efe42b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spec/HTTPRequest.spec.js
@@ -0,0 +1,181 @@
+var httpRequest = require("../src/httpRequest"),
+    bodyParser = require('body-parser'),
+    express = require("express");
+
+var port = 13371;
+var httpRequestServer = "http://localhost:"+port;
+
+var app = express();
+app.use(bodyParser.json({ 'type': '*/*' }));
+app.get("/hello", function(req, res){
+  res.json({response: "OK"});
+});
+
+app.get("/404", function(req, res){
+  res.status(404);
+  res.send("NO");
+});
+
+app.get("/301", function(req, res){
+  res.status(301);
+  res.location("/hello");
+  res.send();
+});
+
+app.post('/echo', function(req, res){
+  res.json(req.body);
+})
+
+app.listen(13371);
+
+
+describe("httpRequest", () => {
+  
+  it("should do /hello", (done) => {
+    httpRequest({
+      url: httpRequestServer+"/hello"
+    }).then(function(httpResponse){
+      expect(httpResponse.status).toBe(200);
+      expect(httpResponse.buffer).toEqual(new Buffer('{"response":"OK"}'));
+      expect(httpResponse.text).toEqual('{"response":"OK"}');
+      expect(httpResponse.data.response).toEqual("OK");
+      done();
+    }, function(){
+      fail("should not fail");
+      done();
+    })
+  });
+  
+  it("should do /hello with callback and promises", (done) => {
+    var calls = 0;
+    httpRequest({
+      url: httpRequestServer+"/hello",
+      success: function() { calls++; },
+      error: function() { calls++; }
+    }).then(function(httpResponse){
+      expect(calls).toBe(1);
+      expect(httpResponse.status).toBe(200);
+      expect(httpResponse.buffer).toEqual(new Buffer('{"response":"OK"}'));
+      expect(httpResponse.text).toEqual('{"response":"OK"}');
+      expect(httpResponse.data.response).toEqual("OK");
+      done();
+    }, function(){
+      fail("should not fail");
+      done();
+    })
+  });
+  
+  it("should do not follow redirects by default", (done) => {
+
+    httpRequest({
+      url: httpRequestServer+"/301"
+    }).then(function(httpResponse){
+      expect(httpResponse.status).toBe(301);
+      done();
+    }, function(){
+      fail("should not fail");
+      done();
+    })
+  });
+  
+  it("should follow redirects when set", (done) => {
+
+    httpRequest({
+      url: httpRequestServer+"/301",
+      followRedirects: true
+    }).then(function(httpResponse){
+      expect(httpResponse.status).toBe(200);
+      expect(httpResponse.buffer).toEqual(new Buffer('{"response":"OK"}'));
+      expect(httpResponse.text).toEqual('{"response":"OK"}');
+      expect(httpResponse.data.response).toEqual("OK");
+      done();
+    }, function(){
+      fail("should not fail");
+      done();
+    })
+  });
+  
+  it("should fail on 404", (done) => {
+    var calls = 0;
+    httpRequest({
+      url: httpRequestServer+"/404",
+      success: function() { 
+        calls++;
+        fail("should not succeed");
+        done();
+      },
+      error: function(httpResponse) { 
+        calls++;
+        expect(calls).toBe(1);
+        expect(httpResponse.status).toBe(404);
+        expect(httpResponse.buffer).toEqual(new Buffer('NO'));
+        expect(httpResponse.text).toEqual('NO');
+        expect(httpResponse.data).toBe(undefined);
+        done();
+      }
+    });
+  })
+  
+  it("should fail on 404", (done) => {
+    httpRequest({
+      url: httpRequestServer+"/404",
+    }).then(function(httpResponse){
+      fail("should not succeed");
+      done();
+    }, function(httpResponse){
+      expect(httpResponse.status).toBe(404);
+      expect(httpResponse.buffer).toEqual(new Buffer('NO'));
+      expect(httpResponse.text).toEqual('NO');
+      expect(httpResponse.data).toBe(undefined);
+      done();
+    })
+  })
+  
+  it("should post on echo", (done) => {
+    var calls = 0;
+    httpRequest({
+      method: "POST",
+      url: httpRequestServer+"/echo",
+      body: {
+         foo: "bar"
+      },
+      headers: {
+        'Content-Type': 'application/json'
+      },
+      success: function() { calls++; },
+      error: function() { calls++; }
+    }).then(function(httpResponse){
+      expect(calls).toBe(1);
+      expect(httpResponse.status).toBe(200);
+      expect(httpResponse.data).toEqual({foo: "bar"});
+      done();
+    }, function(httpResponse){
+      fail("should not fail");
+      done();
+    })
+  });
+  it("should encode a JSON body", (done) => {
+    
+    var result = httpRequest.encodeBody({"foo": "bar"}, {'Content-Type': 'application/json'});
+    expect(result).toEqual('{"foo":"bar"}');
+    done();
+    
+  })
+   it("should encode a www-form body", (done) => {
+    
+    var result = httpRequest.encodeBody({"foo": "bar", "bar": "baz"}, {'cOntent-tYpe': 'application/x-www-form-urlencoded'});
+    expect(result).toEqual("foo=bar&bar=baz");
+    done();
+  });
+  it("should not encode a wrong content type", (done) => {
+    
+    var result = httpRequest.encodeBody({"foo": "bar", "bar": "baz"}, {'cOntent-tYpe': 'mime/jpeg'});
+    expect(result).toEqual({"foo": "bar", "bar": "baz"});
+    done();
+  });
+  it("should not encode when missing content type", (done) => {
+    var result = httpRequest.encodeBody({"foo": "bar", "bar": "baz"}, {'X-Custom-Header': 'my-header'});
+    expect(result).toEqual({"foo": "bar", "bar": "baz"});
+    done();
+  })
+});
diff --git a/src/httpRequest.js b/src/httpRequest.js
index db696c65..2b5f9bff 100644
--- a/src/httpRequest.js
+++ b/src/httpRequest.js
@@ -1,6 +1,27 @@
 var request = require("request"),
   Parse = require('parse/node').Parse;
 
+var encodeBody = function(body, headers = {}) {
+  if (typeof body !== 'object') {
+    return body;
+  }
+  var contentTypeKeys = Object.keys(headers).filter((key) => {
+    return key.match(/content-type/i) != null;
+  });
+
+  if (contentTypeKeys.length == 1) {
+    var contentType = contentTypeKeys[0];
+    if (headers[contentType].match(/application\/json/i)) {
+      body = JSON.stringify(body);
+    } else if(headers[contentType].match(/application\/x-www-form-urlencoded/i)) {
+      body = Object.keys(body).map(function(key){
+        return `${key}=${encodeURIComponent(body[key])}`
+      }).join("&");
+    }
+  }
+  return body;
+}
+
 module.exports = function(options) {
   var promise = new Parse.Promise();
   var callbacks = {
@@ -9,13 +30,11 @@ module.exports = function(options) {
   };
   delete options.success;
   delete options.error;
-  if (options.uri && !options.url) {
-    options.uri = options.url;
-    delete options.url;
-  }
-  if (typeof options.body === 'object') {
-    options.body = JSON.stringify(options.body);
-  }
+  delete options.uri; // not supported
+  options.body = encodeBody(options.body, options.headers);
+  // set follow redirects to false by default
+  options.followRedirect = options.followRedirects == true;
+  
   request(options, (error, response, body) => {
     var httpResponse = {};
     httpResponse.status = response.statusCode;
@@ -29,15 +48,17 @@ module.exports = function(options) {
     // Consider <200 && >= 400 as errors 
     if (error || httpResponse.status <200 || httpResponse.status >=400) {
       if (callbacks.error) {
-        return callbacks.error(httpResponse);
+        callbacks.error(httpResponse);
       }
       return promise.reject(httpResponse);
     } else {
       if (callbacks.success) {
-        return callbacks.success(httpResponse);
+        callbacks.success(httpResponse);
       }
       return promise.resolve(httpResponse);
     }
   });
   return promise;
-};
\ No newline at end of file
+};
+
+module.exports.encodeBody = encodeBody;