diff --git a/client/src/main/java/org/asynchttpclient/netty/NettyResponse.java b/client/src/main/java/org/asynchttpclient/netty/NettyResponse.java
index 31c7cb2f0..8d80bcbb1 100755
--- a/client/src/main/java/org/asynchttpclient/netty/NettyResponse.java
+++ b/client/src/main/java/org/asynchttpclient/netty/NettyResponse.java
@@ -224,9 +224,19 @@ public String getResponseBody() {
         return getResponseBody(withDefault(extractContentTypeCharsetAttribute(getContentType()), UTF_8));
     }
 
+    /**
+     * The body as bytes, for callers that keep the array to themselves. A lone part's own array is returned
+     * rather than a copy of it, so a caller that let it out would let the part's buffer be mutated through it;
+     * {@link #getResponseBodyAsBytes()} is the copying variant for those. Several parts are concatenated
+     * because a multi-byte character can straddle a part boundary.
+     */
+    private byte[] sharedBodyBytes() {
+        return bodyParts.size() == 1 ? bodyParts.get(0).getBodyPartBytes() : getResponseBodyAsBytes();
+    }
+
     @Override
     public String getResponseBody(Charset charset) {
-        return new String(getResponseBodyAsBytes(), charset);
+        return new String(sharedBodyBytes(), charset);
     }
 
     @Override
diff --git a/client/src/test/java/org/asynchttpclient/netty/NettyAsyncResponseTest.java b/client/src/test/java/org/asynchttpclient/netty/NettyAsyncResponseTest.java
index 5172bae7a..5ce4982d5 100644
--- a/client/src/test/java/org/asynchttpclient/netty/NettyAsyncResponseTest.java
+++ b/client/src/test/java/org/asynchttpclient/netty/NettyAsyncResponseTest.java
@@ -19,7 +19,10 @@
 import io.netty.handler.codec.http.HttpHeaders;
 import io.netty.handler.codec.http.cookie.Cookie;
 import org.asynchttpclient.HttpResponseBodyPart;
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
 
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.io.OutputStream;
 import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets;
 import java.text.SimpleDateFormat;
 import java.util.Date;
@@ -30,6 +33,7 @@
 
 import static io.netty.handler.codec.http.HttpHeaderNames.SET_COOKIE;
 import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertEquals;
+import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertNotSame;
 import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertTrue;
 
 public class NettyAsyncResponseTest {
@@ -90,4 +94,73 @@ public void testGetResponseBodyAsByteBuffer() {
         assertEquals("Hello World", body.toString(StandardCharsets.UTF_8));
         body.release();
     }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testGetResponseBodyDecodesOnePartAndSplitPartsIdentically() {
+        byte[] utf8 = {'c', 'a', 'f', (byte) 0xC3, (byte) 0xA9, ' ', (byte) 0xC3, (byte) 0xBC, 'b', 'e', 'r'};
+        String expected = new String(utf8, StandardCharsets.UTF_8);
+        // 0xC3 0xA9 encodes U+00E9; split between its two bytes so neither half decodes on its own
+        int split = 4;
+
+        List<HttpResponseBodyPart> onePart = new LinkedList<>();
+        onePart.add(new EagerResponseBodyPart(Unpooled.wrappedBuffer(utf8), true));
+        NettyResponse single = new NettyResponse(new NettyResponseStatus(null, null, null), null, onePart);
+
+        List<HttpResponseBodyPart> splitParts = new LinkedList<>();
+        splitParts.add(new EagerResponseBodyPart(Unpooled.wrappedBuffer(utf8, 0, split), false));
+        splitParts.add(new EagerResponseBodyPart(Unpooled.wrappedBuffer(utf8, split, utf8.length - split), true));
+        NettyResponse multiple = new NettyResponse(new NettyResponseStatus(null, null, null), null, splitParts);
+
+        assertEquals(expected, single.getResponseBody(StandardCharsets.UTF_8));
+        assertEquals(expected, multiple.getResponseBody(StandardCharsets.UTF_8));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testGetResponseBodyReadsOnlyALazyPartsReadableRegion() throws IOException {
+        // A Lazy part's getBodyPartBytes returns just the readable region, not the whole backing array, so a
+        // single-part shortcut must go through it rather than reach for getBodyByteBuf().array().
+        byte[] backing = "XXXHello WorldYYY".getBytes(StandardCharsets.UTF_8);
+        List<HttpResponseBodyPart> bodyParts = new LinkedList<>();
+        bodyParts.add(new LazyResponseBodyPart(Unpooled.wrappedBuffer(backing, 3, 11), true));
+        NettyResponse response = new NettyResponse(new NettyResponseStatus(null, null, null), null, bodyParts);
+
+        assertEquals("Hello World", response.getResponseBody(StandardCharsets.UTF_8));
+        assertEquals("Hello World",
+                new String(response.getResponseBodyAsStream().readAllBytes(), StandardCharsets.UTF_8));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testGetResponseBodyAsBytesDoesNotShareTheBodyPartArray() {
+        List<HttpResponseBodyPart> bodyParts = new LinkedList<>();
+        bodyParts.add(new EagerResponseBodyPart(Unpooled.wrappedBuffer("Hello World".getBytes(StandardCharsets.UTF_8)), true));
+        NettyResponse response = new NettyResponse(new NettyResponseStatus(null, null, null), null, bodyParts);
+
+        // getResponseBody may decode a lone part in place, but getResponseBodyAsBytes hands the array to the
+        // caller, so it must keep copying rather than expose the part's own array.
+        assertNotSame(response.getResponseBodyAsBytes(), response.getResponseBodyAsBytes());
+        assertNotSame(bodyParts.get(0).getBodyPartBytes(), response.getResponseBodyAsBytes());
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testGetResponseBodyAsStreamDoesNotShareTheBodyPartArray() throws IOException {
+        List<HttpResponseBodyPart> bodyParts = new LinkedList<>();
+        bodyParts.add(new EagerResponseBodyPart(Unpooled.wrappedBuffer("Hello World".getBytes(StandardCharsets.UTF_8)), true));
+        NettyResponse response = new NettyResponse(new NettyResponseStatus(null, null, null), null, bodyParts);
+
+        // On JDK 11 ByteArrayInputStream.transferTo passes its own array to the OutputStream, so a stream over
+        // a part's array would put that array in the caller's hands.
+        byte[][] handedOut = new byte[1][];
+        response.getResponseBodyAsStream().transferTo(new OutputStream() {
+            @Override
+            public void write(int b) {
+            }
+
+            @Override
+            public void write(byte[] b, int off, int len) {
+                handedOut[0] = b;
+            }
+        });
+
+        assertNotSame(bodyParts.get(0).getBodyPartBytes(), handedOut[0]);
+    }
 }