diff --git a/Libraries/Blob/RCTBlobManager.mm b/Libraries/Blob/RCTBlobManager.mm
index 56235ee04b6dfe..7c0cbb8673f064 100755
--- a/Libraries/Blob/RCTBlobManager.mm
+++ b/Libraries/Blob/RCTBlobManager.mm
@@ -258,6 +258,9 @@ - (BOOL)canHandleNetworkingResponse:(NSString *)responseType
 
 - (id)handleNetworkingResponse:(NSURLResponse *)response data:(NSData *)data
 {
+  // An empty body will have nil for data, in this case we need to return
+  // an empty blob as per the XMLHttpRequest spec.
+  data = data ?: [NSData new];
   return @{
     @"blobId": [self store:data],
     @"offset": @0,
diff --git a/Libraries/Network/RCTNetworking.mm b/Libraries/Network/RCTNetworking.mm
index fe86d31e67e0ff..f8de23abf0127f 100644
--- a/Libraries/Network/RCTNetworking.mm
+++ b/Libraries/Network/RCTNetworking.mm
@@ -439,10 +439,6 @@ - (void)sendData:(NSData *)data
 {
   RCTAssertThread(_methodQueue, @"sendData: must be called on method queue");
 
-  if (data.length == 0) {
-    return;
-  }
-
   id responseData = nil;
   for (id<RCTNetworkingResponseHandler> handler in _responseHandlers) {
     if ([handler canHandleNetworkingResponse:responseType]) {
@@ -452,6 +448,10 @@ - (void)sendData:(NSData *)data
   }
 
   if (!responseData) {
+    if (data.length == 0) {
+      return;
+    }
+
     if ([responseType isEqualToString:@"text"]) {
       // No carry storage is required here because the entire data has been loaded.
       responseData = [RCTNetworking decodeTextData:data fromResponse:task.response withCarryData:nil];