diff --git a/api/src/main/java/io/cloudevents/format/EventDeserializationException.java b/api/src/main/java/io/cloudevents/format/EventDeserializationException.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..49ba60f8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/api/src/main/java/io/cloudevents/format/EventDeserializationException.java
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+package io.cloudevents.format;
+
+public class EventDeserializationException extends RuntimeException {
+    public EventDeserializationException(Throwable e) {
+        super(e);
+    }
+}
diff --git a/api/src/main/java/io/cloudevents/format/EventFormat.java b/api/src/main/java/io/cloudevents/format/EventFormat.java
index 496d6941..9e118d23 100644
--- a/api/src/main/java/io/cloudevents/format/EventFormat.java
+++ b/api/src/main/java/io/cloudevents/format/EventFormat.java
@@ -6,9 +6,9 @@ import java.util.Set;
 
 public interface EventFormat {
 
-    byte[] serialize(CloudEvent event);
+    byte[] serialize(CloudEvent event) throws EventSerializationException;
 
-    CloudEvent deserialize(byte[] event);
+    CloudEvent deserialize(byte[] event) throws EventDeserializationException;
 
     Set<String> supportedContentTypes();
 
diff --git a/api/src/main/java/io/cloudevents/format/EventSerializationException.java b/api/src/main/java/io/cloudevents/format/EventSerializationException.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..afb5e7df
--- /dev/null
+++ b/api/src/main/java/io/cloudevents/format/EventSerializationException.java
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+package io.cloudevents.format;
+
+public class EventSerializationException extends RuntimeException {
+    public EventSerializationException(Throwable e) {
+        super(e);
+    }
+}
diff --git a/api/src/main/java/io/cloudevents/impl/CloudEventImpl.java b/api/src/main/java/io/cloudevents/impl/CloudEventImpl.java
index 84925d7e..03a8c08d 100644
--- a/api/src/main/java/io/cloudevents/impl/CloudEventImpl.java
+++ b/api/src/main/java/io/cloudevents/impl/CloudEventImpl.java
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ public final class CloudEventImpl implements CloudEvent, BinaryMessage {
     private final byte[] data;
     private final Map<String, Object> extensions;
 
-    protected CloudEventImpl(Attributes attributes, byte[] data, Map<String, Object> extensions) {
+    public CloudEventImpl(Attributes attributes, byte[] data, Map<String, Object> extensions) {
         Objects.requireNonNull(attributes);
         this.attributes = (AttributesInternal) attributes;
         this.data = data;
diff --git a/formats/json-jackson/src/main/java/io/cloudevents/format/json/JsonFormat.java b/formats/json-jackson/src/main/java/io/cloudevents/format/json/JsonFormat.java
index 86db27fe..cbb2576a 100644
--- a/formats/json-jackson/src/main/java/io/cloudevents/format/json/JsonFormat.java
+++ b/formats/json-jackson/src/main/java/io/cloudevents/format/json/JsonFormat.java
@@ -15,11 +15,16 @@
  */
 package io.cloudevents.format.json;
 
+import com.fasterxml.jackson.core.JsonProcessingException;
 import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ObjectMapper;
 import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.module.SimpleModule;
 import io.cloudevents.CloudEvent;
+import io.cloudevents.format.EventDeserializationException;
 import io.cloudevents.format.EventFormat;
+import io.cloudevents.format.EventSerializationException;
+import io.cloudevents.impl.CloudEventImpl;
 
+import java.io.IOException;
 import java.time.ZonedDateTime;
 import java.util.Collections;
 import java.util.Set;
@@ -36,18 +41,39 @@ public final class JsonFormat implements EventFormat {
         MAPPER.registerModule(module);
     }
 
+    private boolean forceDataBase64Serialization = false;
+    private boolean forceStringSerialization = false;
+
     @Override
-    public byte[] serialize(CloudEvent event) {
-        return new byte[0];
+    public byte[] serialize(CloudEvent event) throws EventSerializationException {
+        try {
+            return MAPPER.writeValueAsBytes(event);
+        } catch (JsonProcessingException e) {
+            throw new EventSerializationException(e);
+        }
     }
 
     @Override
-    public CloudEvent deserialize(byte[] event) {
-        return null;
+    public CloudEvent deserialize(byte[] event) throws EventDeserializationException {
+        try {
+            return MAPPER.readValue(event, CloudEventImpl.class);
+        } catch (IOException e) {
+            throw new EventDeserializationException(e);
+        }
     }
 
     @Override
     public Set<String> supportedContentTypes() {
         return Collections.singleton("application/cloudevents+json");
     }
+
+    public JsonFormat forceDataBase64Serialization(boolean forceBase64Serialization) {
+        this.forceDataBase64Serialization = forceBase64Serialization;
+        return this;
+    }
+
+    public JsonFormat forceDataStringSerialization(boolean forceStringSerialization) {
+        this.forceStringSerialization = forceStringSerialization;
+        return this;
+    }
 }
diff --git a/formats/json-jackson/src/test/java/io/cloudevents/format/json/JsonFormatTest.java b/formats/json-jackson/src/test/java/io/cloudevents/format/json/JsonFormatTest.java
index 8b66d6ec..498510f0 100644
--- a/formats/json-jackson/src/test/java/io/cloudevents/format/json/JsonFormatTest.java
+++ b/formats/json-jackson/src/test/java/io/cloudevents/format/json/JsonFormatTest.java
@@ -66,6 +66,14 @@ class JsonFormatTest {
     }
 
     private static Stream<Arguments> serializeTestArguments() {
+        return deserializeTestArguments().map(a -> {
+            List<Object> vals = new ArrayList<>(Arrays.asList(a.get()));
+            Collections.reverse(vals);
+            return Arguments.of(vals.toArray());
+        });
+    }
+
+    private static Stream<Arguments> deserializeTestArguments() {
         return Stream.of(
             Arguments.of("v03/min.json", V03_MIN),
             Arguments.of("v03/json_data.json", V03_WITH_JSON_DATA),
@@ -84,14 +92,6 @@ class JsonFormatTest {
         );
     }
 
-    private static Stream<Arguments> deserializeTestArguments() {
-        return serializeTestArguments().map(a -> {
-            List<Object> vals = new ArrayList<>(Arrays.asList(a.get()));
-            Collections.reverse(vals);
-            return Arguments.of(vals.toArray());
-        });
-    }
-
     private static Stream<String> roundTripTestArguments() {
         return Stream.of(
             "v03/min.json",
@@ -123,7 +123,7 @@ class JsonFormatTest {
     }
 
     private EventFormat getFormat() {
-        return EventFormatProvider.getInstance().resolveFormat("application/json");
+        return EventFormatProvider.getInstance().resolveFormat("application/cloudevents+json");
     }
 
 }