diff --git a/CHANGELOG.next.asciidoc b/CHANGELOG.next.asciidoc
index cca20e44773..f5818584c3f 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.next.asciidoc
+++ b/CHANGELOG.next.asciidoc
@@ -77,6 +77,7 @@ https://github.com/elastic/beats/compare/v7.0.0-alpha2...master[Check the HEAD d
 - Prevent Elasticsearch from spewing log warnings about redundant wildcards when setting up ingest pipelines for the `elasticsearch` module. {issue}15840[15840] {pull}15900[15900]
 - Fix mapping error for cloudtrail additionalEventData field {pull}16088[16088]
 - Fix a connection error in httpjson input. {pull}16123[16123]
+- Fix s3 input with cloudtrail fileset reading json file. {issue}16374[16374] {pull}16441[16441]
 - Rewrite azure filebeat dashboards, due to changes in kibana. {pull}16466[16466]
 - Adding the var definitions in azure manifest files, fix for errors when executing command setup. {issue}16270[16270] {pull}16468[16468]
 - Fix merging of fileset inputs to replace paths and append processors. {pull}16450{16450}
diff --git a/x-pack/filebeat/docs/inputs/input-aws-s3.asciidoc b/x-pack/filebeat/docs/inputs/input-aws-s3.asciidoc
index 6715b854747..fb84c486a42 100644
--- a/x-pack/filebeat/docs/inputs/input-aws-s3.asciidoc
+++ b/x-pack/filebeat/docs/inputs/input-aws-s3.asciidoc
@@ -59,7 +59,11 @@ If the fileset using this input expects to receive multiple messages bundled
 under a specific field then the config option expand_event_list_from_field value
 can be assigned the name of the field. This setting will be able to split the
 messages under the group value into separate events. For example, CloudTrail logs
-are in JSON format and events are found under the JSON object "Records":
+are in JSON format and events are found under the JSON object "Records".
+
+Note: When `expand_event_list_from_field` parameter is given in the config, s3
+input will assume the logs are in JSON format and decode them as JSON. Content
+type will not be checked.
 
 [float]
 ==== `api_timeout`
diff --git a/x-pack/filebeat/input/s3/input.go b/x-pack/filebeat/input/s3/input.go
index c038797a807..9ceba051bf9 100644
--- a/x-pack/filebeat/input/s3/input.go
+++ b/x-pack/filebeat/input/s3/input.go
@@ -427,17 +427,6 @@ func (p *s3Input) createEventsFromS3Info(svc s3iface.ClientAPI, info s3Info, s3C
 	defer resp.Body.Close()
 
 	reader := bufio.NewReader(resp.Body)
-	// Check content-type
-	if (resp.ContentType != nil && *resp.ContentType == "application/x-gzip") || strings.HasSuffix(info.key, ".gz") {
-		gzipReader, err := gzip.NewReader(resp.Body)
-		if err != nil {
-			err = errors.Wrap(err, "gzip.NewReader failed")
-			p.logger.Error(err)
-			return err
-		}
-		reader = bufio.NewReader(gzipReader)
-		gzipReader.Close()
-	}
 
 	// Decode JSON documents when expand_event_list_from_field is given in config
 	if p.config.ExpandEventListFromField != "" {
@@ -451,6 +440,18 @@ func (p *s3Input) createEventsFromS3Info(svc s3iface.ClientAPI, info s3Info, s3C
 		return nil
 	}
 
+	// Check content-type
+	if (resp.ContentType != nil && *resp.ContentType == "application/x-gzip") || strings.HasSuffix(info.key, ".gz") {
+		gzipReader, err := gzip.NewReader(resp.Body)
+		if err != nil {
+			err = errors.Wrap(err, "gzip.NewReader failed")
+			p.logger.Error(err)
+			return err
+		}
+		reader = bufio.NewReader(gzipReader)
+		gzipReader.Close()
+	}
+
 	// handle s3 objects that are not json content-type
 	offset := 0
 	for {