diff --git a/api/server/router/image/image_routes.go b/api/server/router/image/image_routes.go
index 18a36fda6d..97f350b1a9 100644
--- a/api/server/router/image/image_routes.go
+++ b/api/server/router/image/image_routes.go
@@ -201,17 +201,14 @@ func (s *imageRouter) postImagesLoad(ctx context.Context, w http.ResponseWriter,
 	}
 	quiet := httputils.BoolValueOrDefault(r, "quiet", true)
 
-	if !quiet {
-		w.Header().Set("Content-Type", "application/json")
+	w.Header().Set("Content-Type", "application/json")
 
-		output := ioutils.NewWriteFlusher(w)
-		defer output.Close()
-		if err := s.backend.LoadImage(r.Body, output, quiet); err != nil {
-			output.Write(streamformatter.NewJSONStreamFormatter().FormatError(err))
-		}
-		return nil
+	output := ioutils.NewWriteFlusher(w)
+	defer output.Close()
+	if err := s.backend.LoadImage(r.Body, output, quiet); err != nil {
+		output.Write(streamformatter.NewJSONStreamFormatter().FormatError(err))
 	}
-	return s.backend.LoadImage(r.Body, w, quiet)
+	return nil
 }
 
 func (s *imageRouter) deleteImages(ctx context.Context, w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request, vars map[string]string) error {
diff --git a/image/tarexport/load.go b/image/tarexport/load.go
index ff42db53fb..46d2490baf 100644
--- a/image/tarexport/load.go
+++ b/image/tarexport/load.go
@@ -30,8 +30,8 @@ func (l *tarexporter) Load(inTar io.ReadCloser, outStream io.Writer, quiet bool)
 	)
 	if !quiet {
 		progressOutput = sf.NewProgressOutput(outStream, false)
-		outStream = &streamformatter.StdoutFormatter{Writer: outStream, StreamFormatter: streamformatter.NewJSONStreamFormatter()}
 	}
+	outStream = &streamformatter.StdoutFormatter{Writer: outStream, StreamFormatter: streamformatter.NewJSONStreamFormatter()}
 
 	tmpDir, err := ioutil.TempDir("", "docker-import-")
 	if err != nil {