diff --git a/client/rest-high-level/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/client/indices/GetComponentTemplatesResponseTests.java b/client/rest-high-level/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/client/indices/GetComponentTemplatesResponseTests.java
index 8099370e02fa9..5f5070d3f4a11 100644
--- a/client/rest-high-level/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/client/indices/GetComponentTemplatesResponseTests.java
+++ b/client/rest-high-level/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/client/indices/GetComponentTemplatesResponseTests.java
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@
 import org.elasticsearch.cluster.metadata.Template;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.compress.CompressedXContent;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.settings.Settings;
+import org.elasticsearch.xcontent.ToXContent;
 import org.elasticsearch.xcontent.XContentBuilder;
 import org.elasticsearch.test.ESTestCase;
 
@@ -79,7 +80,7 @@ private static void toXContent(GetComponentTemplatesResponse response, XContentB
             builder.startObject();
             builder.field("name", e.getKey());
             builder.field("component_template");
-            e.getValue().toXContent(builder, null);
+            e.getValue().toXContent(builder, ToXContent.EMPTY_PARAMS);
             builder.endObject();
         }
         builder.endArray();
diff --git a/client/rest-high-level/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/client/indices/GetComposableIndexTemplatesResponseTests.java b/client/rest-high-level/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/client/indices/GetComposableIndexTemplatesResponseTests.java
index b93af425dd932..a241fb235b2b6 100644
--- a/client/rest-high-level/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/client/indices/GetComposableIndexTemplatesResponseTests.java
+++ b/client/rest-high-level/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/client/indices/GetComposableIndexTemplatesResponseTests.java
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@
 
 import org.elasticsearch.cluster.metadata.ComposableIndexTemplate;
 import org.elasticsearch.xcontent.XContentBuilder;
+import org.elasticsearch.xcontent.ToXContent;
 import org.elasticsearch.test.ESTestCase;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
@@ -53,7 +54,7 @@ private static void toXContent(GetComposableIndexTemplatesResponse response, XCo
             builder.startObject();
             builder.field("name", e.getKey());
             builder.field("index_template");
-            e.getValue().toXContent(builder, null);
+            e.getValue().toXContent(builder, ToXContent.EMPTY_PARAMS);
             builder.endObject();
         }
         builder.endArray();
diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/cluster/coordination/ElasticsearchNodeCommand.java b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/cluster/coordination/ElasticsearchNodeCommand.java
index f4041e76218ca..21a965f3fc60f 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/cluster/coordination/ElasticsearchNodeCommand.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/cluster/coordination/ElasticsearchNodeCommand.java
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@
 
 import joptsimple.OptionParser;
 import joptsimple.OptionSet;
+
 import org.apache.logging.log4j.LogManager;
 import org.apache.logging.log4j.Logger;
 import org.apache.lucene.store.LockObtainFailedException;
@@ -22,20 +23,22 @@
 import org.elasticsearch.cluster.ClusterName;
 import org.elasticsearch.cluster.ClusterState;
 import org.elasticsearch.cluster.Diff;
+import org.elasticsearch.cluster.metadata.ComponentTemplateMetadata;
+import org.elasticsearch.cluster.metadata.ComposableIndexTemplateMetadata;
 import org.elasticsearch.cluster.metadata.DataStreamMetadata;
 import org.elasticsearch.cluster.metadata.Metadata;
-import org.elasticsearch.core.Tuple;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.io.stream.StreamOutput;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.settings.ClusterSettings;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.settings.Settings;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.util.BigArrays;
-import org.elasticsearch.xcontent.NamedXContentRegistry;
-import org.elasticsearch.xcontent.XContentBuilder;
-import org.elasticsearch.xcontent.XContentParser;
+import org.elasticsearch.core.Tuple;
 import org.elasticsearch.env.Environment;
 import org.elasticsearch.env.NodeEnvironment;
 import org.elasticsearch.env.NodeMetadata;
 import org.elasticsearch.gateway.PersistedClusterStateService;
+import org.elasticsearch.xcontent.NamedXContentRegistry;
+import org.elasticsearch.xcontent.XContentBuilder;
+import org.elasticsearch.xcontent.XContentParser;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.nio.file.Files;
@@ -68,7 +71,8 @@ public abstract class ElasticsearchNodeCommand extends EnvironmentAwareCommand {
         public <T, C> T parseNamedObject(Class<T> categoryClass, String name, XContentParser parser, C context) throws IOException {
             // Currently, two unknown top-level objects are present
             if (Metadata.Custom.class.isAssignableFrom(categoryClass)) {
-                if (DataStreamMetadata.TYPE.equals(name)) {
+                if (DataStreamMetadata.TYPE.equals(name) || ComposableIndexTemplateMetadata.TYPE.equals(name)
+                    || ComponentTemplateMetadata.TYPE.equals(name)) {
                     // DataStreamMetadata is used inside Metadata class for validation purposes and building the indicesLookup,
                     // therefor even es node commands need to be able to parse it.
                     return super.parseNamedObject(categoryClass, name, parser, context);
diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/cluster/metadata/ComponentTemplate.java b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/cluster/metadata/ComponentTemplate.java
index 2548431276020..ecfece366f7ad 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/cluster/metadata/ComponentTemplate.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/cluster/metadata/ComponentTemplate.java
@@ -129,7 +129,7 @@ public String toString() {
     @Override
     public XContentBuilder toXContent(XContentBuilder builder, Params params) throws IOException {
         builder.startObject();
-        builder.field(TEMPLATE.getPreferredName(), this.template);
+        builder.field(TEMPLATE.getPreferredName(), this.template, params);
         if (this.version != null) {
             builder.field(VERSION.getPreferredName(), this.version);
         }
diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/cluster/metadata/ComponentTemplateMetadata.java b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/cluster/metadata/ComponentTemplateMetadata.java
index c655145bd7ff0..883372b9a4638 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/cluster/metadata/ComponentTemplateMetadata.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/cluster/metadata/ComponentTemplateMetadata.java
@@ -98,7 +98,7 @@ public static ComponentTemplateMetadata fromXContent(XContentParser parser) thro
     public XContentBuilder toXContent(XContentBuilder builder, Params params) throws IOException {
         builder.startObject(COMPONENT_TEMPLATE.getPreferredName());
         for (Map.Entry<String, ComponentTemplate> template : componentTemplates.entrySet()) {
-            builder.field(template.getKey(), template.getValue());
+            builder.field(template.getKey(), template.getValue(), params);
         }
         builder.endObject();
         return builder;
diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/cluster/metadata/ComposableIndexTemplate.java b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/cluster/metadata/ComposableIndexTemplate.java
index 80ab79c2b24ad..79581380d296b 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/cluster/metadata/ComposableIndexTemplate.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/cluster/metadata/ComposableIndexTemplate.java
@@ -202,7 +202,7 @@ public XContentBuilder toXContent(XContentBuilder builder, Params params) throws
         builder.startObject();
         builder.stringListField(INDEX_PATTERNS.getPreferredName(), this.indexPatterns);
         if (this.template != null) {
-            builder.field(TEMPLATE.getPreferredName(), this.template);
+            builder.field(TEMPLATE.getPreferredName(), this.template, params);
         }
         if (this.componentTemplates != null) {
             builder.stringListField(COMPOSED_OF.getPreferredName(), this.componentTemplates);
@@ -217,7 +217,7 @@ public XContentBuilder toXContent(XContentBuilder builder, Params params) throws
             builder.field(METADATA.getPreferredName(), metadata);
         }
         if (this.dataStreamTemplate != null) {
-            builder.field(DATA_STREAM.getPreferredName(), dataStreamTemplate);
+            builder.field(DATA_STREAM.getPreferredName(), dataStreamTemplate, params);
         }
         if (this.allowAutoCreate != null) {
             builder.field(ALLOW_AUTO_CREATE.getPreferredName(), allowAutoCreate);
diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/cluster/metadata/ComposableIndexTemplateMetadata.java b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/cluster/metadata/ComposableIndexTemplateMetadata.java
index 67fd84779f6b7..1fe3f3ab8d8c2 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/cluster/metadata/ComposableIndexTemplateMetadata.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/cluster/metadata/ComposableIndexTemplateMetadata.java
@@ -99,7 +99,7 @@ public void writeTo(StreamOutput out) throws IOException {
     public XContentBuilder toXContent(XContentBuilder builder, Params params) throws IOException {
         builder.startObject(INDEX_TEMPLATE.getPreferredName());
         for (Map.Entry<String, ComposableIndexTemplate> template : indexTemplates.entrySet()) {
-            builder.field(template.getKey(), template.getValue());
+            builder.field(template.getKey(), template.getValue(), params);
         }
         builder.endObject();
         return builder;
diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/cluster/metadata/Template.java b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/cluster/metadata/Template.java
index ffb23b6835b7b..8e7833aae6ee1 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/cluster/metadata/Template.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/cluster/metadata/Template.java
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@
 import org.elasticsearch.cluster.AbstractDiffable;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.util.Maps;
 import org.elasticsearch.core.Nullable;
+import org.elasticsearch.xcontent.ObjectParser;
 import org.elasticsearch.xcontent.ParseField;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.Strings;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.compress.CompressedXContent;
@@ -27,6 +28,7 @@
 import org.elasticsearch.index.mapper.MapperService;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
+import java.util.Base64;
 import java.util.HashMap;
 import java.util.Map;
 import java.util.Objects;
@@ -47,8 +49,18 @@ public class Template extends AbstractDiffable<Template> implements ToXContentOb
 
     static {
         PARSER.declareObject(ConstructingObjectParser.optionalConstructorArg(), (p, c) -> Settings.fromXContent(p), SETTINGS);
-        PARSER.declareObject(ConstructingObjectParser.optionalConstructorArg(), (p, c) ->
-            new CompressedXContent(Strings.toString(XContentFactory.jsonBuilder().map(p.mapOrdered()))), MAPPINGS);
+        PARSER.declareField(ConstructingObjectParser.optionalConstructorArg(), (p, c) -> {
+            XContentParser.Token token = p.currentToken();
+            if (token == XContentParser.Token.VALUE_STRING) {
+                return new CompressedXContent(Base64.getDecoder().decode(p.text()));
+            } else if(token == XContentParser.Token.VALUE_EMBEDDED_OBJECT){
+                return new CompressedXContent(p.binaryValue());
+            } else if (token == XContentParser.Token.START_OBJECT){
+                return new CompressedXContent(Strings.toString(XContentFactory.jsonBuilder().map(p.mapOrdered())));
+            } else {
+                throw new IllegalArgumentException("Unexpected token: " + token);
+            }
+        }, MAPPINGS, ObjectParser.ValueType.VALUE_OBJECT_ARRAY);
         PARSER.declareObject(ConstructingObjectParser.optionalConstructorArg(), (p, c) -> {
             Map<String, AliasMetadata> aliasMap = new HashMap<>();
             while ((p.nextToken()) != XContentParser.Token.END_OBJECT) {
@@ -160,11 +172,17 @@ public XContentBuilder toXContent(XContentBuilder builder, Params params) throws
             builder.endObject();
         }
         if (this.mappings != null) {
-            Map<String, Object> uncompressedMapping =
-                XContentHelper.convertToMap(this.mappings.uncompressed(), true, XContentType.JSON).v2();
-            if (uncompressedMapping.size() > 0) {
-                builder.field(MAPPINGS.getPreferredName());
-                builder.map(reduceMapping(uncompressedMapping));
+            String context = params.param(Metadata.CONTEXT_MODE_PARAM, Metadata.CONTEXT_MODE_API);
+            boolean binary = params.paramAsBoolean("binary", false);
+            if (Metadata.CONTEXT_MODE_API.equals(context) || binary == false) {
+                Map<String, Object> uncompressedMapping =
+                    XContentHelper.convertToMap(this.mappings.uncompressed(), true, XContentType.JSON).v2();
+                if (uncompressedMapping.size() > 0) {
+                    builder.field(MAPPINGS.getPreferredName());
+                    builder.map(reduceMapping(uncompressedMapping));
+                }
+            } else {
+                builder.field(MAPPINGS.getPreferredName(), mappings.compressed());
             }
         }
         if (this.aliases != null) {