diff --git a/spring-web/src/main/java/org/springframework/web/client/HttpMessageConverterExtractor.java b/spring-web/src/main/java/org/springframework/web/client/HttpMessageConverterExtractor.java
index f386798ad4a..7635a8c3d11 100644
--- a/spring-web/src/main/java/org/springframework/web/client/HttpMessageConverterExtractor.java
+++ b/spring-web/src/main/java/org/springframework/web/client/HttpMessageConverterExtractor.java
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@
  * @param <T> the data type
  * @see RestTemplate
  */
-public class HttpMessageConverterExtractor<T> implements ResponseExtractor<T> {
+public class HttpMessageConverterExtractor<T extends @Nullable Object> implements ResponseExtractor<T> {
 
 	private final Type responseType;
 
@@ -85,10 +85,10 @@ public HttpMessageConverterExtractor(Type responseType, List<HttpMessageConverte
 
 	@Override
 	@SuppressWarnings({"rawtypes", "unchecked", "resource"})
-	public @Nullable T extractData(ClientHttpResponse response) throws IOException {
+	public T extractData(ClientHttpResponse response) throws IOException {
 		IntrospectingClientHttpResponse responseWrapper = new IntrospectingClientHttpResponse(response);
 		if (!responseWrapper.hasMessageBody() || responseWrapper.hasEmptyMessageBody()) {
-			return null;
+			throw new RestClientException("No response body");
 		}
 		MediaType contentType = getContentType(responseWrapper);
 
diff --git a/spring-web/src/main/java/org/springframework/web/client/ResponseExtractor.java b/spring-web/src/main/java/org/springframework/web/client/ResponseExtractor.java
index 5bedc904004..90a96fed372 100644
--- a/spring-web/src/main/java/org/springframework/web/client/ResponseExtractor.java
+++ b/spring-web/src/main/java/org/springframework/web/client/ResponseExtractor.java
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@
  * @see RestTemplate#execute
  */
 @FunctionalInterface
-public interface ResponseExtractor<T> {
+public interface ResponseExtractor<T extends @Nullable Object> {
 
 	/**
 	 * Extract data from the given {@code ClientHttpResponse} and return it.
@@ -47,6 +47,6 @@ public interface ResponseExtractor<T> {
 	 * @return the extracted data
 	 * @throws IOException in case of I/O errors
 	 */
-	@Nullable T extractData(ClientHttpResponse response) throws IOException;
+	 T extractData(ClientHttpResponse response) throws IOException;
 
 }