diff --git a/lib/event_source/operations/mime_decode.rb b/lib/event_source/operations/mime_decode.rb
index f147182..b5726d7 100644
--- a/lib/event_source/operations/mime_decode.rb
+++ b/lib/event_source/operations/mime_decode.rb
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ class MimeDecode
       # @return [Dry::Monads::Success<String>] if decoding is successful
       # @return [Dry::Monads::Failure<String>] if an error occurs (e.g., invalid MIME type, decoding failure)
       def call(mime_type, payload)
-        valid_payload = yield validate_payload(payload, mime_type)
+        valid_payload, mime_type = yield validate_payload(payload, mime_type.to_s)
         decoded_data = yield decode(valid_payload, mime_type)
 
         Success(decoded_data)
@@ -38,15 +38,15 @@ def call(mime_type, payload)
       # @return [Dry::Monads::Success<String>] if the payload is valid
       # @return [Dry::Monads::Failure<String>] if the payload is invalid
       def validate_payload(payload, mime_type)
-        unless MIME_TYPES.include?(mime_type.to_s)
+        unless MIME_TYPES.include?(mime_type)
           return Failure("Invalid MIME type '#{mime_type}'. Supported types are: #{MIME_TYPES.join(', ')}.")
         end
 
-        if mime_type.to_s == 'application/zlib' && !binary_payload?(payload)
-          return Failure("Payload must be binary-encoded for MIME type 'application/zlib'.")
+        if mime_type == 'application/zlib'
+          return Failure("Payload must be binary-encoded for MIME type 'application/zlib'.") unless binary_payload?(payload) || valid_json_string?(payload)
         end
 
-        Success(payload)
+        Success([payload, mime_type])
       end
 
       # Decodes the payload using the specified MIME type.
@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@ def validate_payload(payload, mime_type)
       # @return [Dry::Monads::Success<String>] if decoding is successful
       # @return [Dry::Monads::Failure<String>] if decoding fails
       def decode(payload, mime_type)
-        decoded_data = Zlib.inflate(payload) if mime_type.to_s == 'application/zlib'
+        decoded_data = Zlib.inflate(payload) if mime_type == 'application/zlib' && binary_payload?(payload)
 
         Success(decoded_data || payload)
       rescue Zlib::Error => e
@@ -75,6 +75,10 @@ def binary_payload?(payload)
 
         payload.encoding == Encoding::BINARY
       end
+
+      def valid_json_string?(data)
+        data.is_a?(String) && JSON.parse(data) rescue false
+      end
     end
   end
 end
diff --git a/lib/event_source/operations/mime_encode.rb b/lib/event_source/operations/mime_encode.rb
index c5b6f8e..689b7cf 100644
--- a/lib/event_source/operations/mime_encode.rb
+++ b/lib/event_source/operations/mime_encode.rb
@@ -18,60 +18,68 @@ class MimeEncode
       # For example, compresses the payload using Zlib for 'application/zlib'.
       #
       # @param mime_type [String] the MIME type for encoding (e.g., 'application/zlib', 'application/json')
-      # @param payload [String, Hash] the payload to encode; must be a Hash or String
+      # @param payload [Any] the payload to encode;
       #
       # @return [Dry::Monads::Success<String>] if encoding is successful
       # @return [Dry::Monads::Failure<String>] if an error occurs (e.g., invalid MIME type, payload type, or encoding failure)
       def call(mime_type, payload)
-        json_payload = yield validate_payload(payload, mime_type)
-        encoded_data = yield encode(json_payload, mime_type)
+        mime_type = yield validate(mime_type)
+        encoded_data = yield encode(mime_type, payload)
 
         Success(encoded_data)
       end
 
       private
 
-      # Validates the payload and MIME type before encoding.
-      # Ensures the MIME type is supported and the payload is either a Hash or a String.
+      # Validates theMIME type before encoding.
+      # Ensures the MIME type is supported
       #
-      # @param payload [String, Hash] the payload to validate
       # @param mime_type [String] the MIME type for encoding
       #
       # @return [Dry::Monads::Success<String>] if the payload and MIME type are valid
       # @return [Dry::Monads::Failure<String>] if the MIME type is unsupported or the payload is invalid
-      def validate_payload(payload, mime_type)
+      def validate(mime_type)
         unless MIME_TYPES.include?(mime_type.to_s)
           return Failure("Invalid MIME type '#{mime_type}'. Supported types are: #{MIME_TYPES.join(', ')}.")
         end
 
-        unless payload.is_a?(Hash) || payload.is_a?(String)
-          return Failure("Invalid payload type. Expected a Hash or String, but received #{payload.class}.")
-        end
-
-        Success(payload.is_a?(Hash) ? payload.to_json : payload)
+        Success(mime_type.to_s)
       end
 
       # Encodes the payload based on the MIME type.
       # For 'application/zlib', compresses the payload using Zlib.
       # Logs the original and encoded payload sizes for debugging.
       #
-      # @param json_payload [String] the JSON stringified payload to encode
+      # @param data [String] the JSON stringified payload to encode
       # @param mime_type [String] the MIME type for encoding
       #
       # @return [Dry::Monads::Success<String>] if encoding is successful
       # @return [Dry::Monads::Failure<String>] if encoding fails
-      def encode(json_payload, mime_type)
-        encoded_data = Zlib.deflate(json_payload) if mime_type.to_s == 'application/zlib'
+      def encode(mime_type, payload)
+        case mime_type
+        when 'application/zlib'
+          encoded_data = Zlib.deflate(payload.to_json)
+        when 'application/json'
+          encoded_data = payload.to_json
+        end
+        log_encoding_details(mime_type, payload, encoded_data) if encoded_data
+
+        Success(encoded_data || payload)
+      rescue JSON::GeneratorError => e
+        Failure("Failed to encode payload to JSON: #{e.message}")
+      rescue Zlib::Error => e
+        Failure("Failed to compress payload using Zlib: #{e.message}")
+      rescue StandardError => e
+        Failure("Unexpected error during encoding: #{e.message}")
+      end
 
+      # Logs details of the encoding process.
+      def log_encoding_details(mime_type, payload, encoded_data)
         logger.debug "*" * 80
         logger.debug "Starting payload encoding for MIME type: '#{mime_type}'"
-        logger.debug "Original payload size: #{data_size_in_kb(json_payload)} KB"
-        logger.debug "Encoded payload size: #{data_size_in_kb(encoded_data)} KB" if encoded_data
+        logger.debug "Original payload size: #{data_size_in_kb(payload)} KB"
+        logger.debug "Encoded payload size: #{data_size_in_kb(encoded_data)} KB"
         logger.debug "*" * 80
-
-        Success(encoded_data || json_payload)
-      rescue Zlib::Error => e
-        Failure("Failed to compress payload using Zlib: #{e.message}")
       end
 
       # Calculates the size of the data in kilobytes (KB).
diff --git a/lib/event_source/protocols/amqp/bunny_exchange_proxy.rb b/lib/event_source/protocols/amqp/bunny_exchange_proxy.rb
index 4dd1b2c..a73e6d3 100644
--- a/lib/event_source/protocols/amqp/bunny_exchange_proxy.rb
+++ b/lib/event_source/protocols/amqp/bunny_exchange_proxy.rb
@@ -15,6 +15,8 @@ class BunnyExchangeProxy
         # @attr_reader [EventSource::Protcols::Amqp::BunnyChannelProxy] channel_proxy the channel_proxy used to create this exchange
         attr_reader :subject, :channel_proxy
 
+        DefaultMimeType = 'application/json'.freeze
+
         # @param [EventSource::AsyncApi::Channel] channel_proxy instance on which to open this Exchange
         # @param [Hash<EventSource::AsyncApi::Exchange>] exchange_bindings instance with configuration for this Exchange
         def initialize(channel_proxy, exchange_bindings)
@@ -50,7 +52,6 @@ def publish(payload:, publish_bindings:, headers: {})
 
           logger.debug "BunnyExchange#publish  publishing message with bindings: #{bunny_publish_bindings.inspect}"
 
-          payload = payload.to_json unless is_binary?(payload)
           @subject.publish(payload, bunny_publish_bindings)
 
           logger.debug "BunnyExchange#publish  published message: #{payload}"
@@ -70,12 +71,6 @@ def message_id
           SecureRandom.uuid
         end
 
-        def is_binary?(payload)
-          return false unless payload.respond_to?(:encoding)
-
-          payload.encoding == Encoding::BINARY
-        end
-
         # Filtering and renaming AsyncAPI Operation bindings to Bunny/RabitMQ
         #   bindings
         #
diff --git a/lib/event_source/publish_operation.rb b/lib/event_source/publish_operation.rb
index ddb7fb9..5aa341c 100644
--- a/lib/event_source/publish_operation.rb
+++ b/lib/event_source/publish_operation.rb
@@ -49,10 +49,7 @@ def call(payload, options = {})
     # @return [String] The encoded payload, or the original payload if no encoding is specified.
     # @raise [EventSource::Error::PayloadEncodeError] if the encoding process fails.
     def encode_payload(payload)
-      return payload unless @async_api_publish_operation.message
-
-      message_bindings = @async_api_publish_operation.message['bindings']
-      encoding = message_bindings.first[1]['contentEncoding'] if message_bindings
+      encoding = determine_encoding
       return payload unless encoding
 
       output = EventSource::Operations::MimeEncode.new.call(encoding, payload)
@@ -63,5 +60,16 @@ def encode_payload(payload)
         raise EventSource::Error::PayloadEncodeError, output.failure
       end
     end
+
+    def determine_encoding
+      message_bindings = @async_api_publish_operation.message&.dig('bindings')
+      return message_bindings.first[1]['contentEncoding'] if message_bindings.present?
+
+      amqp_protocol? ? "#{subject.class}::DefaultMimeType".constantize : nil
+    end
+
+    def amqp_protocol?
+      subject.is_a?(EventSource::Protocols::Amqp::BunnyPublisherProxy)
+    end
   end
 end