diff --git a/tools/test-proxy/Azure.Sdk.Tools.TestProxy/Common/RecordSession.cs b/tools/test-proxy/Azure.Sdk.Tools.TestProxy/Common/RecordSession.cs
index d2f19f5a6cc..ba51b7d355d 100644
--- a/tools/test-proxy/Azure.Sdk.Tools.TestProxy/Common/RecordSession.cs
+++ b/tools/test-proxy/Azure.Sdk.Tools.TestProxy/Common/RecordSession.cs
@@ -103,6 +103,9 @@ public RecordEntry Lookup(RecordEntry requestEntry, RecordMatcher matcher, IEnum
                 sanitizer.Sanitize(requestEntry);
             }
 
+            // normalize request body with STJ using relaxed escaping to match behavior when Deserializing from session files
+            RecordEntry.NormalizeJsonBody(requestEntry.Request);
+
             RecordEntry entry = matcher.FindMatch(requestEntry, Entries);
             if (remove)
             {