diff --git a/src/python/library/tritonclient/grpc/_infer_result.py b/src/python/library/tritonclient/grpc/_infer_result.py
index ff3275b02..d5f8dbccb 100755
--- a/src/python/library/tritonclient/grpc/_infer_result.py
+++ b/src/python/library/tritonclient/grpc/_infer_result.py
@@ -124,7 +124,9 @@ def get_output(self, name, as_json=False):
         for output in self._result.outputs:
             if output.name == name:
                 if as_json:
-                    MessageToJson(output, preserving_proto_field_name=True)
+                    return json.loads(
+                        MessageToJson(output, preserving_proto_field_name=True)
+                    )
                 else:
                     return output