diff --git a/zap/src/main/java/org/parosproxy/paros/Constant.java b/zap/src/main/java/org/parosproxy/paros/Constant.java
index fb6cd3d44d2..2cc36cbeb07 100644
--- a/zap/src/main/java/org/parosproxy/paros/Constant.java
+++ b/zap/src/main/java/org/parosproxy/paros/Constant.java
@@ -126,6 +126,7 @@
 // ZAP: 2023/09/14 Lock home directory.
 // ZAP: 2024/04/25 Add new autoTagScanner regex patterns when upgrading from 2.14 or earlier.
 // ZAP: 2024/11/06 Add branding related constants.
+// ZAP: 2025/11/10 Updated VERSION_TAG.
 package org.parosproxy.paros;
 
 import java.io.File;
@@ -209,7 +210,7 @@ public final class Constant {
     private static final String VERSION_ELEMENT = "version";
 
     // Accessible for tests
-    static final long VERSION_TAG = 20016001;
+    static final long VERSION_TAG = 20017000;
 
     // Old version numbers - for upgrade
     private static final long V_2_14_0_TAG = 20014000;
diff --git a/zap/src/main/java/org/zaproxy/zap/network/AbstractStreamHttpEncoding.java b/zap/src/main/java/org/zaproxy/zap/network/AbstractStreamHttpEncoding.java
index 25c69700dac..10d0f6a4f7c 100644
--- a/zap/src/main/java/org/zaproxy/zap/network/AbstractStreamHttpEncoding.java
+++ b/zap/src/main/java/org/zaproxy/zap/network/AbstractStreamHttpEncoding.java
@@ -29,6 +29,8 @@ abstract class AbstractStreamHttpEncoding implements HttpEncoding {
 
     private static final int BUFFER_SIZE = 2048;
 
+    private static final byte[] EMPTY = {};
+
     private final OutputStreamSupplier outputStreamSupplier;
     private final InputStreamSupplier inputStreamSupplier;
 
@@ -49,6 +51,10 @@ public byte[] encode(byte[] content) throws IOException {
 
     @Override
     public byte[] decode(byte[] content) throws IOException {
+        if (content.length == 0) {
+            return EMPTY;
+        }
+
         ByteArrayOutputStream baos = new ByteArrayOutputStream();
         try (ByteArrayInputStream bais = new ByteArrayInputStream(content);
                 InputStream is = inputStreamSupplier.get(bais)) {
diff --git a/zap/src/test/java/org/zaproxy/zap/network/HttpEncodingDeflateUnitTest.java b/zap/src/test/java/org/zaproxy/zap/network/HttpEncodingDeflateUnitTest.java
index 39fb07448f8..b238020f525 100644
--- a/zap/src/test/java/org/zaproxy/zap/network/HttpEncodingDeflateUnitTest.java
+++ b/zap/src/test/java/org/zaproxy/zap/network/HttpEncodingDeflateUnitTest.java
@@ -37,6 +37,9 @@ class HttpEncodingDeflateUnitTest {
     private static final byte[] CONTENT = "Content 123 ABC".getBytes(StandardCharsets.UTF_8);
     private static final byte[] CONTENT_ENCODED = deflate(CONTENT);
 
+    private static final byte[] EMPTY_CONTENT = {};
+    private static final byte[] EMPTY_CONTENT_ENCODED = deflate(EMPTY_CONTENT);
+
     private HttpEncodingDeflate encoding = HttpEncodingDeflate.getSingleton();
 
     @Test
@@ -55,6 +58,30 @@ void shouldDecodeContent() throws IOException {
         assertThat(decodedContent, is(equalTo(CONTENT)));
     }
 
+    @Test
+    void shouldEncodeEmptyContent() throws IOException {
+        // Given / When
+        byte[] encodedContent = encoding.encode(EMPTY_CONTENT);
+        // Then
+        assertThat(encodedContent, is(equalTo(EMPTY_CONTENT_ENCODED)));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    void shouldDecodeEmptyContent() throws IOException {
+        // Given / When
+        byte[] decodedContent = encoding.decode(EMPTY_CONTENT_ENCODED);
+        // Then
+        assertThat(decodedContent, is(equalTo(EMPTY_CONTENT)));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    void shouldSkipDecodePlainEmptyContent() throws IOException {
+        // Given / When
+        byte[] decodedContent = encoding.decode(EMPTY_CONTENT);
+        // Then
+        assertThat(decodedContent, is(equalTo(EMPTY_CONTENT)));
+    }
+
     @Test
     void shouldThrowExceptionWhenDecodingIfNotProperlyEncoded() {
         // Given
diff --git a/zap/src/test/java/org/zaproxy/zap/network/HttpEncodingGzipUnitTest.java b/zap/src/test/java/org/zaproxy/zap/network/HttpEncodingGzipUnitTest.java
index 43584c8a321..6bd98e6008c 100644
--- a/zap/src/test/java/org/zaproxy/zap/network/HttpEncodingGzipUnitTest.java
+++ b/zap/src/test/java/org/zaproxy/zap/network/HttpEncodingGzipUnitTest.java
@@ -37,6 +37,9 @@ class HttpEncodingGzipUnitTest {
     private static final byte[] CONTENT = "Content 123 ABC".getBytes(StandardCharsets.UTF_8);
     private static final byte[] CONTENT_ENCODED = gzip(CONTENT);
 
+    private static final byte[] EMPTY_CONTENT = {};
+    private static final byte[] EMPTY_CONTENT_ENCODED = gzip(EMPTY_CONTENT);
+
     private HttpEncodingGzip encoding = HttpEncodingGzip.getSingleton();
 
     @Test
@@ -55,6 +58,30 @@ void shouldDecodeContent() throws IOException {
         assertThat(decodedContent, is(equalTo(CONTENT)));
     }
 
+    @Test
+    void shouldEncodeEmptyContent() throws IOException {
+        // Given / When
+        byte[] encodedContent = encoding.encode(EMPTY_CONTENT);
+        // Then
+        assertThat(encodedContent, is(equalTo(EMPTY_CONTENT_ENCODED)));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    void shouldDecodeEmptyContent() throws IOException {
+        // Given / When
+        byte[] decodedContent = encoding.decode(EMPTY_CONTENT_ENCODED);
+        // Then
+        assertThat(decodedContent, is(equalTo(EMPTY_CONTENT)));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    void shouldSkipDecodePlainEmptyContent() throws IOException {
+        // Given / When
+        byte[] decodedContent = encoding.decode(EMPTY_CONTENT);
+        // Then
+        assertThat(decodedContent, is(equalTo(EMPTY_CONTENT)));
+    }
+
     @Test
     void shouldThrowExceptionWhenDecodingIfNotProperlyEncoded() {
         // Given