diff --git a/src/Microsoft.AspNet.Abstractions/HttpRequest.cs b/src/Microsoft.AspNet.Abstractions/HttpRequest.cs
index 9e8f53a110..b4f563464b 100644
--- a/src/Microsoft.AspNet.Abstractions/HttpRequest.cs
+++ b/src/Microsoft.AspNet.Abstractions/HttpRequest.cs
@@ -83,6 +83,11 @@ namespace Microsoft.AspNet.Abstractions
         /// <returns>The collection of Cookies for this request.</returns>
         public abstract IReadableStringCollection Cookies { get; }
 
+        /// <summary>
+        /// Gets or sets the Content-Length header
+        /// </summary>
+        public abstract long? ContentLength { get; set; }
+
         /// <summary>
         /// Gets or sets the Content-Type header.
         /// </summary>
diff --git a/src/Microsoft.AspNet.PipelineCore/DefaultHttpRequest.cs b/src/Microsoft.AspNet.PipelineCore/DefaultHttpRequest.cs
index 7afd73181d..9579b7c814 100644
--- a/src/Microsoft.AspNet.PipelineCore/DefaultHttpRequest.cs
+++ b/src/Microsoft.AspNet.PipelineCore/DefaultHttpRequest.cs
@@ -1,8 +1,10 @@
 using System;
+using System.Globalization;
 using System.IO;
 using System.Threading;
 using System.Threading.Tasks;
 using Microsoft.AspNet.Abstractions;
+using Microsoft.AspNet.Abstractions.Infrastructure;
 using Microsoft.AspNet.FeatureModel;
 using Microsoft.AspNet.HttpFeature;
 using Microsoft.AspNet.PipelineCore.Collections;
@@ -58,7 +60,6 @@ namespace Microsoft.AspNet.PipelineCore
             get { return _canHasCookies.Fetch(_features) ?? _canHasCookies.Update(_features, new DefaultCanHasRequestCookies(_features)); }
         }
 
-
         public override HttpContext HttpContext { get { return _context; } }
 
         public override PathString PathBase
@@ -79,6 +80,18 @@ namespace Microsoft.AspNet.PipelineCore
             set { HttpRequestInformation.QueryString = value.Value; }
         }
 
+        public override long? ContentLength 
+        {
+            get
+            {
+                return ParsingHelpers.GetContentLength(Headers);
+            }
+            set
+            {
+                ParsingHelpers.SetContentLength(Headers, value);
+            }
+        }
+
         public override Stream Body
         {
             get { return HttpRequestInformation.Body; }
diff --git a/src/Microsoft.AspNet.PipelineCore/DefaultHttpResponse.cs b/src/Microsoft.AspNet.PipelineCore/DefaultHttpResponse.cs
index 9ff8135d63..c1ec42c5d0 100644
--- a/src/Microsoft.AspNet.PipelineCore/DefaultHttpResponse.cs
+++ b/src/Microsoft.AspNet.PipelineCore/DefaultHttpResponse.cs
@@ -51,26 +51,11 @@ namespace Microsoft.AspNet.PipelineCore
         {
             get
             {
-                long value;
-                string rawValue = Headers.Get(Constants.Headers.ContentLength);
-                if (!string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(rawValue) && long.TryParse(rawValue, out value))
-                {
-                    return value;
-                }
-
-                return null;
+                return ParsingHelpers.GetContentLength(Headers);
             }
             set
             {
-                if (value.HasValue)
-                {
-                    HttpResponseInformation.Headers[Constants.Headers.ContentLength] =
-                        new[] { value.Value.ToString(CultureInfo.InvariantCulture) };
-                }
-                else
-                {
-                    HttpResponseInformation.Headers.Remove(Constants.Headers.ContentLength);
-                }
+                ParsingHelpers.SetContentLength(Headers, value);
             }
         }
 
diff --git a/src/Microsoft.AspNet.PipelineCore/Infrastructure/ParsingHelpers.cs b/src/Microsoft.AspNet.PipelineCore/Infrastructure/ParsingHelpers.cs
index 18153db162..7ab6b1c817 100644
--- a/src/Microsoft.AspNet.PipelineCore/Infrastructure/ParsingHelpers.cs
+++ b/src/Microsoft.AspNet.PipelineCore/Infrastructure/ParsingHelpers.cs
@@ -1,8 +1,10 @@
 using System;
 using System.Collections;
 using System.Collections.Generic;
+using System.Globalization;
 using System.Linq;
 using Microsoft.AspNet.Abstractions;
+using Microsoft.AspNet.Abstractions.Infrastructure;
 using Microsoft.AspNet.PipelineCore.Collections;
 
 namespace Microsoft.AspNet.PipelineCore.Infrastructure
@@ -804,8 +806,8 @@ namespace Microsoft.AspNet.PipelineCore.Infrastructure
             var accumulator = new Dictionary<string, List<string>>(StringComparer.OrdinalIgnoreCase);
             ParseDelimited(queryString, AmpersandAndSemicolon, AppendItemCallback, accumulator);
             return accumulator.ToDictionary(
-                    item => item.Key, 
-                    item => item.Value.ToArray(), 
+                    item => item.Key,
+                    item => item.Value.ToArray(),
                     StringComparer.OrdinalIgnoreCase);
         }
 
@@ -856,5 +858,31 @@ namespace Microsoft.AspNet.PipelineCore.Infrastructure
         //    var localPort = request.Get<string>(OwinConstants.CommonKeys.LocalPort);
         //    return string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(localPort) ? localIpAddress : (localIpAddress + ":" + localPort);
         //}
+
+        public static long? GetContentLength(IHeaderDictionary headers)
+        {
+            const NumberStyles styles = NumberStyles.AllowLeadingWhite | NumberStyles.AllowTrailingWhite;
+            long value;
+            string rawValue = headers.Get(Constants.Headers.ContentLength);
+            if (!string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(rawValue) &&
+                long.TryParse(rawValue, styles, CultureInfo.InvariantCulture, out value))
+            {
+                return value;
+            }
+
+            return null;
+        }
+
+        public static void SetContentLength(IHeaderDictionary headers, long? value)
+        {
+            if (value.HasValue)
+            {
+                headers[Constants.Headers.ContentLength] = value.Value.ToString(CultureInfo.InvariantCulture);
+            }
+            else
+            {
+                headers.Remove(Constants.Headers.ContentLength);
+            }
+        }
     }
 }
diff --git a/test/Microsoft.AspNet.PipelineCore.Tests/DefaultHttpRequestTests.cs b/test/Microsoft.AspNet.PipelineCore.Tests/DefaultHttpRequestTests.cs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..f56039abf9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/Microsoft.AspNet.PipelineCore.Tests/DefaultHttpRequestTests.cs
@@ -0,0 +1,70 @@
+using System.Collections.Generic;
+using System.Globalization;
+using Microsoft.AspNet.FeatureModel;
+using Microsoft.AspNet.HttpFeature;
+using Moq;
+using Xunit;
+using Xunit.Extensions;
+
+namespace Microsoft.AspNet.PipelineCore.Tests
+{
+    public class DefaultHttpRequestTests
+    {
+        [Theory]
+        [InlineData(0)]
+        [InlineData(9001)]
+        [InlineData(65535)]
+        public void GetContentLength_ReturnsParsedHeader(long value)
+        {
+            // Arrange
+            var request = GetRequest(value.ToString(CultureInfo.InvariantCulture));
+
+            // Act and Assert
+            Assert.Equal(value, request.ContentLength);
+        }
+
+        [Fact]
+        public void GetContentLength_ReturnsNullIfHeaderDoesNotExist()
+        {
+            // Arrange
+            var request = GetRequest(contentLength: null);
+
+            // Act and Assert
+            Assert.Null(request.ContentLength);
+        }
+
+        [Theory]
+        [InlineData("cant-parse-this")]
+        [InlineData("-1000")]
+        [InlineData("1000.00")]
+        [InlineData("100/5")]
+        public void GetContentLength_ReturnsNullIfHeaderCannotBeParsed(string contentLength)
+        {
+            // Arrange
+            var request = GetRequest(contentLength);
+
+            // Act and Assert
+            Assert.Null(request.ContentLength);
+        }
+
+        private static DefaultHttpRequest GetRequest(string contentLength = null)
+        {
+            var features = new Mock<IFeatureCollection>();
+            var mockRequestInfo = new Mock<IHttpRequestInformation>();
+            var headers = new Dictionary<string, string[]>();
+            if (contentLength != null)
+            {
+                headers.Add("Content-Length", new[] { contentLength });
+                
+            }
+            mockRequestInfo.SetupGet(r => r.Headers)
+                           .Returns(headers);
+            object requestInfo = mockRequestInfo.Object;
+            features.Setup(f => f.TryGetValue(typeof(IHttpRequestInformation), out requestInfo))
+                    .Returns(true);
+            var context = new DefaultHttpContext(features.Object);
+            var request = new DefaultHttpRequest(context, features.Object);
+            return request;
+        }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/test/Microsoft.AspNet.PipelineCore.Tests/project.json b/test/Microsoft.AspNet.PipelineCore.Tests/project.json
index e4bb833e89..5d77e10d07 100644
--- a/test/Microsoft.AspNet.PipelineCore.Tests/project.json
+++ b/test/Microsoft.AspNet.PipelineCore.Tests/project.json
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@
       "Microsoft.Owin.Testing": "2.1.0",
       "Moq": "4.2.1312.1622",
       "xunit": "1.9.2",
+      "xunit.extensions": "1.9.2",
       "Microsoft.Net.Http": "2.2.13",
       "System.Net.Http": ""
       }