"Body" of a post request always in unicode - node.js

Question

If I make a POST request to a specific server using a Chrome plugin, I can see the "response body" comes back just fine in a JSOn format.
However when I try to do this with either "request" or "https.request", the "body" comes back as unicode which I can't seem to decipher. Anyone know how I can the body to come back as regular JSON, or how I could decipher this unicode? I tried a few stackoverflow solutions to decipher the unicode but no luck.
raw body:
��RPP�M-.NLOUR�RP�I,�K�P�,V��/QHL.�,KU��J�O�*─
�⎽�����wt�
⎽U��┬�>H ---
If I do this: JSON.stringify(body, null, 4)
"\┤001°�\␉\┤0000\┤0000\┤0000\┤0000\┤0000\┤0000\┤0000��RPP�M-.NLOUR�RP�I,�K�P�,V��/QHL.�,KU�\┤0001�J�O�*─\°�⎽����\┤000°�┬├\┤000␊�\°⎽U�\┤0005\┤0000�┬�>H\┤0000\┤0000\┤0000"
And here's the two code snippets I use to try and make POST requests:
request({
'url': 'https://api.nike.com/launch/entries/v2',
'method': 'POST',
'json': entriesPayload,
'headers': {
'authorization': authId,
"Accept": "application/json, text/plain, */*",
'Content-Type': "application/json;charset=utf-8"
},
},
...
and:
var options = {
hostname: 'api.nike.com',
port: 443,
path: '/launch/entries/v2',
method: 'POST',
json: entriesPayload,
headers: {
'authorization': authId,
"Accept": "application/json, text/plain, */*",
'Content-Type': 'application/json;charset=utf-8'
}
};
var req = https.request(options, (res) => {
res.on('data', (d) => {
process.stdout.write(d);
});
});
req.on('error', (e) => {
console.error(e);
});
req.write(postData);
req.end();
Also I get some real weird stuff happening after I make the request, in my IDE's logs. This is what shows up - it like translates everything into some different symbols (the last 3 lines are how I restarted my nodejs server).
"⎻⎺⎼├": 443,
"␤⎺⎽├┼▒└␊": "▒⎻␋.┼␋┐␊.␌⎺└",
"␤▒⎽␤": ┼┤┌┌,
"⎽␊▒⎼␌␤": ┼┤┌┌,
"─┤␊⎼≤": ┼┤┌┌,
"⎻▒├␤┼▒└␊": "/┌▒┤┼␌␤/␊┼├⎼␋␊⎽/┴2",
"⎻▒├␤": "/┌▒┤┼␌␤/␊┼├⎼␋␊⎽/┴2",
"␤⎼␊°": "␤├├⎻⎽://▒⎻␋.┼␋┐␊.␌⎺└/┌▒┤┼␌␤/␊┼├⎼␋␊⎽/┴2"
£,
"└␊├␤⎺␍": "POST",
"␤␊▒␍␊⎼⎽": π
"▒┤├␤⎺⎼␋≥▒├␋⎺┼": "B␊▒⎼␊⎼ ␊≤J␤␉G␌␋O␋JSU≥I1N␋I⎽I└├⎻ZCI6I┘␌2YWI1NT␤┐LWM┬ZTM├NGV␤Y␋05MT┌┘LTJ┐Y┘A3Y┘F┘N2N␤MHN⎻Z≤J9.␊≤J0␌┼V≥␍CI6MTA┬LCJ⎻YXQ␋O┘E1NDM2N≥␌┬ODA⎽I└V4␌CI6MTU0M≥Y4MDY4MC┬␋▒XN≥I┘⎺␋␉2F1␍G±≤YWN┘I␋┬␋▒┼R⎻I┘⎺␋ZGV␋MTZ┘M2Q├YT±│OS00OTE3LWF␤MD┐├NWV␤N≥R└M┘U┬MWM4I␋┬␋␉GF0I┘⎺│NTQ≥N┘␌3MD±┬LCJ␤␍WQ␋O␋J┘␉20┤␉└┌⎼ZS5┐▒W␍⎻␍GF⎽I␋┬␋␌3V␋I┘⎺␋Y29├L└5⎻▒2U┤Y29├␉WV≤Y2U┤␌25⎼␌┼M┤␍2V␋I␋┬␋␌2J0I┘⎺␋␉└┌⎼ZT⎻␤␌HA␋LCJ≥Y3A␋O┌⎽␋Y29├␉WV≤Y2U␋XS┬␋␌HJ┤I┘⎺␋M└I≥M≥J┐Y└U├MWE1Y≤00ZWJ┐LT┐0Z└Y├MGU┬N≥V┘OGV┘NGQ│I␋┬␋␌HJ0I┘⎺␋␉└┌⎼ZT⎻┬␉HV≥I┼0.I┴▒┘└U2W≤␉__┬AD└J±⎻Z≥␉␋-VVUV┘H⎽⎼EI├┼T┌␍1I9°┬OSL▒┬┤8≥0Z3┐C␍␊G⎽␊O≤│≥␌␉3RB┌GKXV┤SDRDH±IYZ␉H1X⎼5␉Q-┼R≥└┬I␤│␉M0─I⎺R┤␋␍␤▒I␋├NC␍⎺G±6⎺XQ␋°R┴W5␍⎺SZ┼⎻4YR2TN6U␍9Q≥⎻61NS⎺⎻F␌2V13NJ└0P7│K5-09⎻▒1│6P␍M≤┼⎽IWF─␤II⎼G≤K┘HO⎻BV└┌┤␋A≥°┼AF┤K1GC┌ZGD⎺TC␋8⎻JY_⎺HI-E8D±M┐O4KSN⎻H97KLHO-┴Z│2┬YLJ2°␉0⎼F┐D≤≤└A␍K⎼9┴┬┤9┼│XF␍⎼≥⎽┘22≤39KD⎻-⎽⎻R┐I⎺MD2▒└␋┼L1CA│8─-␉L│DY└┬GQ02C├I0─┘±",
"A␌␌␊⎻├": "▒⎻⎻┌␋␌▒├␋⎺┼/┘⎽⎺┼, ├␊│├/⎻┌▒␋┼, */*",
"C⎺┼├␊┼├-T≤⎻␊": "▒⎻⎻┌␋␌▒├␋⎺┼/┘⎽⎺┼;␌␤▒⎼⎽␊├=┤├°-8",
"␌⎺┼├␊┼├-┌␊┼±├␤": 575
£
£
£
[┼⎺␍␊└⎺┼] ⎼␊⎽├▒⎼├␋┼± ␍┤␊ ├⎺ ␌␤▒┼±␊⎽...
[┼⎺␍␊└⎺┼] ⎽├▒⎼├␋┼± ◆┼⎺␍␊ ▒⎻⎻.┘⎽◆
E│⎻⎼␊⎽⎽ ⎽├▒⎼├␊␍ ⎺┼ ⎻⎺⎼├ 3000

Answer 1

The response body is not unicode encoded, but GZIP encoded (compressed data). We can check if a response is compressed with the Content-Encoding header:
var encoding = res.headers['content-encoding'];
https doesn't unzip the response body automatically like a browser does, and so you get all those strange characters instead of a JSON string. However, we can use the built-in zlib library and decdode the response to a string.
const https = require('https');
const zlib = require('zlib');
var options = {
hostname: 'api.nike.com',
port: 443,
path: '/launch/entries/v2',
method: 'POST',
headers: {
'Authorization': 'my-token',
'Accept': 'application/json, text/plain, */*',
'Content-Type': 'application/json;charset=utf-8'
}
};
var data = JSON.stringify({});
var req = https.request(options, (res) => {
var encoding = res.headers['content-encoding'];
console.log('code:', res.statusCode);
console.log('encoding:', encoding);
deflate = zlib.createGunzip();
res.pipe(deflate);
deflate.on('data', (chunk) => {
console.log('data: ' + chunk.toString());
});
});
req.on('error', (e) => {
console.error(e);
});
req.write(data);
req.end();

Answer 2

The chrome plugin that you're using to POST is probably setting the content-type correctly, while your regular request from your server isn't.
Can you change your request so it includes
request({
'url': externalUrl,
'method': 'POST',
'json': entriesPayload,
'Content-Type': 'application/x-www-form-urlencoded'
});