diff --git a/django/test/client.py b/django/test/client.py
index 129377c232..05d3d78603 100644
--- a/django/test/client.py
+++ b/django/test/client.py
@@ -34,6 +34,8 @@ __all__ = ('Client', 'RedirectCycleError', 'RequestFactory', 'encode_file', 'enc
 BOUNDARY = 'BoUnDaRyStRiNg'
 MULTIPART_CONTENT = 'multipart/form-data; boundary=%s' % BOUNDARY
 CONTENT_TYPE_RE = re.compile(r'.*; charset=([\w\d-]+);?')
+# JSON Vendor Tree spec: https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc6838#section-3.2
+JSON_CONTENT_TYPE_RE = re.compile(r'^application\/(vnd\..+\+)?json$')
 
 
 class RedirectCycleError(Exception):
@@ -690,7 +692,7 @@ class Client(RequestFactory):
 
     def _parse_json(self, response, **extra):
         if not hasattr(response, '_json'):
-            if 'application/json' not in response.get('Content-Type'):
+            if not JSON_CONTENT_TYPE_RE.match(response.get('Content-Type')):
                 raise ValueError(
                     'Content-Type header is "{0}", not "application/json"'
                     .format(response.get('Content-Type'))
diff --git a/tests/test_client_regress/tests.py b/tests/test_client_regress/tests.py
index 7a633ee7a3..2c1a9b346a 100644
--- a/tests/test_client_regress/tests.py
+++ b/tests/test_client_regress/tests.py
@@ -1209,6 +1209,12 @@ class RequestMethodStringDataTests(SimpleTestCase):
         response = self.client.get('/json_response/')
         self.assertEqual(response.json(), {'key': 'value'})
 
+    def test_json_vendor(self):
+        for content_type in ('application/vnd.api+json', 'application/vnd.api.foo+json'):
+            response = self.client.get('/json_response/', {'content_type': content_type})
+            self.assertEqual(response['Content-Type'], content_type)
+            self.assertEqual(response.json(), {'key': 'value'})
+
     def test_json_multiple_access(self):
         response = self.client.get('/json_response/')
         self.assertIs(response.json(), response.json())
diff --git a/tests/test_client_regress/views.py b/tests/test_client_regress/views.py
index a50b0e1ed3..ce60c0398c 100644
--- a/tests/test_client_regress/views.py
+++ b/tests/test_client_regress/views.py
@@ -106,7 +106,9 @@ def return_undecodable_binary(request):
 
 
 def return_json_response(request):
-    return JsonResponse({'key': 'value'})
+    content_type = request.GET.get('content_type')
+    kwargs = {'content_type': content_type} if content_type else {}
+    return JsonResponse({'key': 'value'}, **kwargs)
 
 
 def return_json_file(request):