diff --git a/modules/transport-netty4/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/http/netty4/Netty4HttpRequest.java b/modules/transport-netty4/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/http/netty4/Netty4HttpRequest.java
index 56cbbe0265927..d5cf31d54fe82 100644
--- a/modules/transport-netty4/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/http/netty4/Netty4HttpRequest.java
+++ b/modules/transport-netty4/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/http/netty4/Netty4HttpRequest.java
@@ -127,6 +127,12 @@ public HttpRequest releaseAndCopy() {
         }
         try {
             final ByteBuf copiedContent = Unpooled.copiedBuffer(request.content());
+            HttpBody newContent;
+            if (content.isStream()) {
+                newContent = content;
+            } else {
+                newContent = Netty4Utils.fullHttpBodyFrom(copiedContent);
+            }
             return new Netty4HttpRequest(
                 sequence,
                 new DefaultFullHttpRequest(
@@ -139,7 +145,7 @@ public HttpRequest releaseAndCopy() {
                 ),
                 new AtomicBoolean(false),
                 false,
-                content
+                newContent
             );
         } finally {
             release();