diff --git a/manifest/manifestlist/manifestlist.go b/manifest/manifestlist/manifestlist.go
index 7424f3ec..49e2b1af 100644
--- a/manifest/manifestlist/manifestlist.go
+++ b/manifest/manifestlist/manifestlist.go
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ const MediaTypeManifestList = "application/vnd.docker.distribution.manifest.list
 // packages version of the manifest.
 var SchemaVersion = manifest.Versioned{
 	SchemaVersion: 2,
+	MediaType:     MediaTypeManifestList,
 }
 
 func init() {
@@ -68,10 +69,6 @@ type ManifestDescriptor struct {
 type ManifestList struct {
 	manifest.Versioned
 
-	// MediaType is the media type of this document. It should always
-	// be set to MediaTypeManifestList.
-	MediaType string `json:"mediaType"`
-
 	// Config references the image configuration as a blob.
 	Manifests []ManifestDescriptor `json:"manifests"`
 }
@@ -102,7 +99,6 @@ type DeserializedManifestList struct {
 func FromDescriptors(descriptors []ManifestDescriptor) (*DeserializedManifestList, error) {
 	m := ManifestList{
 		Versioned: SchemaVersion,
-		MediaType: MediaTypeManifestList,
 	}
 
 	m.Manifests = make([]ManifestDescriptor, len(descriptors), len(descriptors))
diff --git a/manifest/schema2/builder.go b/manifest/schema2/builder.go
index 1586bb99..70b006a8 100644
--- a/manifest/schema2/builder.go
+++ b/manifest/schema2/builder.go
@@ -4,7 +4,6 @@ import (
 	"github.com/docker/distribution"
 	"github.com/docker/distribution/context"
 	"github.com/docker/distribution/digest"
-	"github.com/docker/distribution/manifest"
 )
 
 // builder is a type for constructing manifests.
@@ -36,10 +35,7 @@ func NewManifestBuilder(bs distribution.BlobService, configJSON []byte) distribu
 // Build produces a final manifest from the given references.
 func (mb *builder) Build(ctx context.Context) (distribution.Manifest, error) {
 	m := Manifest{
-		Versioned: manifest.Versioned{
-			SchemaVersion: 2,
-		},
-		MediaType: MediaTypeManifest,
+		Versioned: SchemaVersion,
 		Layers:    make([]distribution.Descriptor, len(mb.layers)),
 	}
 	copy(m.Layers, mb.layers)
diff --git a/manifest/schema2/manifest.go b/manifest/schema2/manifest.go
index ea422da1..8d378e99 100644
--- a/manifest/schema2/manifest.go
+++ b/manifest/schema2/manifest.go
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@ var (
 	// packages version of the manifest.
 	SchemaVersion = manifest.Versioned{
 		SchemaVersion: 2,
+		MediaType:     MediaTypeManifest,
 	}
 )
 
@@ -50,7 +51,6 @@ func init() {
 // Manifest defines a schema2 manifest.
 type Manifest struct {
 	manifest.Versioned
-	MediaType string `json:"mediaType"`
 
 	// Config references the image configuration as a blob.
 	Config distribution.Descriptor `json:"config"`
diff --git a/manifest/schema2/manifest_test.go b/manifest/schema2/manifest_test.go
index 59b8af69..459d614c 100644
--- a/manifest/schema2/manifest_test.go
+++ b/manifest/schema2/manifest_test.go
@@ -29,7 +29,6 @@ var expectedManifestSerialization = []byte(`{
 func TestManifest(t *testing.T) {
 	manifest := Manifest{
 		Versioned: SchemaVersion,
-		MediaType: MediaTypeManifest,
 		Config: distribution.Descriptor{
 			Digest:    "sha256:1a9ec845ee94c202b2d5da74a24f0ed2058318bfa9879fa541efaecba272e86b",
 			Size:      985,
diff --git a/manifest/versioned.go b/manifest/versioned.go
index bef38292..c57398bd 100644
--- a/manifest/versioned.go
+++ b/manifest/versioned.go
@@ -1,9 +1,12 @@
 package manifest
 
-// Versioned provides a struct with just the manifest schemaVersion. Incoming
+// Versioned provides a struct with the manifest schemaVersion and . Incoming
 // content with unknown schema version can be decoded against this struct to
 // check the version.
 type Versioned struct {
 	// SchemaVersion is the image manifest schema that this image follows
 	SchemaVersion int `json:"schemaVersion"`
+
+	// MediaType is the media type of this schema.
+	MediaType string `json:"mediaType,omitempty"`
 }
diff --git a/registry/handlers/api_test.go b/registry/handlers/api_test.go
index 50a8cb47..8195f47b 100644
--- a/registry/handlers/api_test.go
+++ b/registry/handlers/api_test.go
@@ -1096,8 +1096,8 @@ func testManifestAPISchema2(t *testing.T, env *testEnv, imageName string) manife
 	manifest := &schema2.Manifest{
 		Versioned: manifest.Versioned{
 			SchemaVersion: 2,
+			MediaType:     schema2.MediaTypeManifest,
 		},
-		MediaType: schema2.MediaTypeManifest,
 		Config: distribution.Descriptor{
 			Digest:    "sha256:1a9ec845ee94c202b2d5da74a24f0ed2058318bfa9879fa541efaecba272e86b",
 			Size:      3253,
@@ -1410,8 +1410,8 @@ func testManifestAPIManifestList(t *testing.T, env *testEnv, args manifestArgs)
 	manifestList := &manifestlist.ManifestList{
 		Versioned: manifest.Versioned{
 			SchemaVersion: 2,
+			MediaType:     manifestlist.MediaTypeManifestList,
 		},
-		MediaType: manifestlist.MediaTypeManifestList,
 		Manifests: []manifestlist.ManifestDescriptor{
 			{
 				Descriptor: distribution.Descriptor{
diff --git a/registry/storage/manifeststore.go b/registry/storage/manifeststore.go
index cd01670b..31daa83c 100644
--- a/registry/storage/manifeststore.go
+++ b/registry/storage/manifeststore.go
@@ -95,19 +95,13 @@ func (ms *manifestStore) Get(ctx context.Context, dgst digest.Digest, options ..
 		return ms.schema1Handler.Unmarshal(ctx, dgst, content)
 	case 2:
 		// This can be an image manifest or a manifest list
-		var mediaType struct {
-			MediaType string `json:"mediaType"`
-		}
-		if err = json.Unmarshal(content, &mediaType); err != nil {
-			return nil, err
-		}
-		switch mediaType.MediaType {
+		switch versioned.MediaType {
 		case schema2.MediaTypeManifest:
 			return ms.schema2Handler.Unmarshal(ctx, dgst, content)
 		case manifestlist.MediaTypeManifestList:
 			return ms.manifestListHandler.Unmarshal(ctx, dgst, content)
 		default:
-			return nil, distribution.ErrManifestVerification{fmt.Errorf("unrecognized manifest content type %s", mediaType.MediaType)}
+			return nil, distribution.ErrManifestVerification{fmt.Errorf("unrecognized manifest content type %s", versioned.MediaType)}
 		}
 	}