diff --git a/packages/node/test/integration/createMessagingPluginTest.ts b/packages/node/test/integration/createMessagingPluginTest.ts
index 2ac514304f..0378e0726a 100644
--- a/packages/node/test/integration/createMessagingPluginTest.ts
+++ b/packages/node/test/integration/createMessagingPluginTest.ts
@@ -1,10 +1,10 @@
-import { Wallet } from 'ethers'
 import { MessageMetadata, Stream, StreamrClient } from '@streamr/sdk'
 import { fetchPrivateKeyWithGas, Queue } from '@streamr/test-utils'
+import { merge, wait } from '@streamr/utils'
+import { Wallet } from 'ethers'
 import { Broker } from '../../src/broker'
-import { Message } from '../../src/helpers/PayloadFormat'
-import { createClient, startBroker, createTestStream } from '../utils'
-import { wait, merge } from '@streamr/utils'
+import { Message, MetadataPayloadFormat } from '../../src/helpers/PayloadFormat'
+import { createClient, createTestStream, startBroker } from '../utils'
 
 interface MessagingPluginApi<T> {
     createClient: (action: 'publish' | 'subscribe', streamId: string, apiKey?: string) => Promise<T>
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ interface Ports {
     plugin: number
 }
 
+export const PAYLOAD_FORMAT = new MetadataPayloadFormat()
 const MOCK_MESSAGE = {
     content: {
         foo: 'bar'
diff --git a/packages/node/test/integration/plugins/mqtt/MqttPlugin.test.ts b/packages/node/test/integration/plugins/mqtt/MqttPlugin.test.ts
index 373d14df18..44d267f38c 100644
--- a/packages/node/test/integration/plugins/mqtt/MqttPlugin.test.ts
+++ b/packages/node/test/integration/plugins/mqtt/MqttPlugin.test.ts
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
-import mqtt, { AsyncMqttClient } from 'async-mqtt'
 import { Queue } from '@streamr/test-utils'
+import mqtt, { AsyncMqttClient } from 'async-mqtt'
 import { Message } from '../../../../src/helpers/PayloadFormat'
-import { createMessagingPluginTest } from '../../createMessagingPluginTest'
+import { createMessagingPluginTest, PAYLOAD_FORMAT } from '../../createMessagingPluginTest'
 
 const MQTT_PORT = 12430
 
@@ -20,12 +20,12 @@ createMessagingPluginTest('mqtt',
             await client.end(true)
         },
         publish: async (msg: Message, streamId: string, client: AsyncMqttClient): Promise<void> => {
-            await client.publish(streamId, JSON.stringify(msg))
+            await client.publish(streamId, PAYLOAD_FORMAT.createPayload(msg.content, msg.metadata))
         },
         subscribe: async (messageQueue: Queue<Message>, streamId: string, client: AsyncMqttClient): Promise<void> => {
             client.once('message', (topic: string, message: Buffer) => {
                 if (topic === streamId) {
-                    messageQueue.push(JSON.parse(message.toString()))
+                    messageQueue.push(PAYLOAD_FORMAT.createMessage(message.toString()))
                 }
             })
             await client.subscribe(streamId)
diff --git a/packages/node/test/integration/plugins/websocket/WebsocketPlugin.test.ts b/packages/node/test/integration/plugins/websocket/WebsocketPlugin.test.ts
index e25e847b9d..59dc2cfb04 100644
--- a/packages/node/test/integration/plugins/websocket/WebsocketPlugin.test.ts
+++ b/packages/node/test/integration/plugins/websocket/WebsocketPlugin.test.ts
@@ -1,8 +1,8 @@
-import WebSocket from 'ws'
 import { Queue } from '@streamr/test-utils'
 import { waitForEvent } from '@streamr/utils'
+import WebSocket from 'ws'
 import { Message } from '../../../../src/helpers/PayloadFormat'
-import { createMessagingPluginTest } from '../../createMessagingPluginTest'
+import { createMessagingPluginTest, PAYLOAD_FORMAT } from '../../createMessagingPluginTest'
 
 jest.setTimeout(30000)
 
@@ -28,12 +28,12 @@ createMessagingPluginTest('websocket',
             client.close()
         },
         publish: async (msg: Message, _streamId: string, client: WebSocket): Promise<void> => {
-            client.send(JSON.stringify(msg))
+            client.send(PAYLOAD_FORMAT.createPayload(msg.content, msg.metadata))
         },
         subscribe: async (messageQueue: Queue<Message>, _streamId: string, client: WebSocket): Promise<void> => {
             client.on('message', (data: WebSocket.RawData) => {
                 const payload = data.toString()
-                messageQueue.push(JSON.parse(payload))
+                messageQueue.push(PAYLOAD_FORMAT.createMessage(payload))
             })
         },
         errors: {