diff --git a/client/jackson/src/main/kotlin/net/corda/client/jackson/JacksonSupport.kt b/client/jackson/src/main/kotlin/net/corda/client/jackson/JacksonSupport.kt
index d360997fbf..af64d56aa4 100644
--- a/client/jackson/src/main/kotlin/net/corda/client/jackson/JacksonSupport.kt
+++ b/client/jackson/src/main/kotlin/net/corda/client/jackson/JacksonSupport.kt
@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@ import net.corda.core.utilities.toBase58String
 import org.bouncycastle.asn1.x509.KeyPurposeId
 import java.lang.reflect.Modifier
 import java.math.BigDecimal
+import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets.UTF_8
 import java.security.PublicKey
 import java.security.cert.CertPath
 import java.security.cert.CertificateFactory
@@ -416,7 +417,7 @@ object JacksonSupport {
     @Deprecated("This is an internal class, do not use")
     object OpaqueBytesDeserializer : JsonDeserializer<OpaqueBytes>() {
         override fun deserialize(parser: JsonParser, ctxt: DeserializationContext): OpaqueBytes {
-            return OpaqueBytes(parser.binaryValue)
+            return OpaqueBytes(parser.text?.toByteArray(UTF_8) ?: parser.binaryValue)
         }
     }
 
diff --git a/client/jackson/src/test/kotlin/net/corda/client/jackson/JacksonSupportTest.kt b/client/jackson/src/test/kotlin/net/corda/client/jackson/JacksonSupportTest.kt
index 4283523a33..86c50a4160 100644
--- a/client/jackson/src/test/kotlin/net/corda/client/jackson/JacksonSupportTest.kt
+++ b/client/jackson/src/test/kotlin/net/corda/client/jackson/JacksonSupportTest.kt
@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@ import org.junit.runner.RunWith
 import org.junit.runners.Parameterized
 import org.junit.runners.Parameterized.Parameters
 import java.math.BigInteger
+import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets.*
 import java.security.PublicKey
 import java.security.cert.CertPath
 import java.security.cert.X509Certificate
@@ -103,12 +104,17 @@ class JacksonSupportTest(@Suppress("unused") private val name: String, factory:
     }
 
     @Test
-    fun OpaqueBytes() {
+    fun `OpaqueBytes serialization`() {
         val opaqueBytes = OpaqueBytes(secureRandomBytes(128))
         val json = mapper.valueToTree<BinaryNode>(opaqueBytes)
         assertThat(json.binaryValue()).isEqualTo(opaqueBytes.bytes)
         assertThat(json.asText()).isEqualTo(opaqueBytes.bytes.toBase64())
-        assertThat(mapper.convertValue<OpaqueBytes>(json)).isEqualTo(opaqueBytes)
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    fun `OpaqueBytes deserialization`() {
+        assertThat(mapper.convertValue<OpaqueBytes>(TextNode("1234"))).isEqualTo(OpaqueBytes("1234".toByteArray(UTF_8)))
+        assertThat(mapper.convertValue<OpaqueBytes>(BinaryNode(byteArrayOf(1, 2, 3, 4)))).isEqualTo(OpaqueBytes.of(1, 2, 3, 4))
     }
 
     @Test
diff --git a/docs/source/shell.rst b/docs/source/shell.rst
index b03bf70601..a83c018655 100644
--- a/docs/source/shell.rst
+++ b/docs/source/shell.rst
@@ -267,9 +267,9 @@ SecureHash
 ~~~~~~~~~~
 A parameter of type ``SecureHash`` can be written as a hexadecimal string: ``F69A7626ACC27042FEEAE187E6BFF4CE666E6F318DC2B32BE9FAF87DF687930C``
 
-OpaqueBytes and SerializedBytes
-~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-A parameter of type ``OpaqueBytes`` can be provided as a string in Base64.
+OpaqueBytes
+~~~~~~~~~~~
+A parameter of type ``OpaqueBytes`` can be provided as a UTF-8 string.
 
 PublicKey and CompositeKey
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~