diff --git a/encoding/protojson/decode_test.go b/encoding/protojson/decode_test.go
index faf5eb548..053d269b6 100644
--- a/encoding/protojson/decode_test.go
+++ b/encoding/protojson/decode_test.go
@@ -2203,7 +2203,9 @@ func TestUnmarshal(t *testing.T) {
 		inputText: `{
   "@type": "type.googleapis.com/google.protobuf.Empty"
 }`,
-		wantErr: `(line 3:1): missing "value" field`,
+		wantMessage: &anypb.Any{
+			TypeUrl: "type.googleapis.com/google.protobuf.Empty",
+		},
 	}, {
 		desc:         "Any with StringValue containing invalid UTF8",
 		inputMessage: &anypb.Any{},
diff --git a/encoding/protojson/well_known_types.go b/encoding/protojson/well_known_types.go
index 4b177c820..e9fe10394 100644
--- a/encoding/protojson/well_known_types.go
+++ b/encoding/protojson/well_known_types.go
@@ -348,7 +348,11 @@ func (d decoder) unmarshalAnyValue(unmarshal unmarshalFunc, m protoreflect.Messa
 		switch tok.Kind() {
 		case json.ObjectClose:
 			if !found {
-				return d.newError(tok.Pos(), `missing "value" field`)
+				// We tolerate an omitted `value` field with the google.protobuf.Empty Well-Known-Type,
+				// for compatibility with other proto runtimes that have interpreted the spec differently.
+				if m.Descriptor().FullName() != genid.Empty_message_fullname {
+					return d.newError(tok.Pos(), `missing "value" field`)
+				}
 			}
 			return nil