diff --git a/packages/api-contract/src/base/Contract.ts b/packages/api-contract/src/base/Contract.ts
index 5b230af658..0233bc19ec 100644
--- a/packages/api-contract/src/base/Contract.ts
+++ b/packages/api-contract/src/base/Contract.ts
@@ -69,8 +69,11 @@ export default class Contract<ApiType extends ApiTypes> extends BaseWithTxAndRpc
 
   private createOutcome (result: ContractExecResult, origin: AccountId, message: ContractABIMessage, params: any[]): ContractCallOutcome {
     let output: string;
+
     if (result.isSuccess) {
       const { data } = result.asSuccess;
+
+      // TODO We actually want to return the full Codec type here, not a string value
       output = message.returnType
         ? formatData(data, message.returnType).toString()
         : data.toHex();
diff --git a/packages/api-contract/src/util.ts b/packages/api-contract/src/util.ts
index 037a2f75a4..5fe9529845 100644
--- a/packages/api-contract/src/util.ts
+++ b/packages/api-contract/src/util.ts
@@ -4,20 +4,18 @@
 
 import { Codec, TypeDefInfo, TypeDef } from '@polkadot/types/types';
 
-import { Bytes, Option, createClass } from '@polkadot/types';
-import { createType, createTypeUnsafe } from '@polkadot/types/codec';
-import { compactStripLength } from '@polkadot/util';
+import { Data, Option, createClass } from '@polkadot/types';
+import { createTypeUnsafe } from '@polkadot/types/codec';
 
-export function formatData (value: Bytes, { info, type }: TypeDef): Codec {
-  const input = compactStripLength(value.toU8a(true))[1];
-  const data = createType('Data', input);
+export function formatData (data: Data, { info, type }: TypeDef): Codec {
+  const u8a = data.toU8a();
 
   if (info === TypeDefInfo.Option) {
     return new Option(
       createClass(type),
-      createTypeUnsafe(type, [data], true)
+      createTypeUnsafe(type, [u8a], true)
     );
   }
 
-  return createTypeUnsafe(type, [data], true);
+  return createTypeUnsafe(type, [u8a], true);
 }
diff --git a/packages/types/src/interfaces/contracts/definitions.ts b/packages/types/src/interfaces/contracts/definitions.ts
index bea1ae9e46..3d04416440 100644
--- a/packages/types/src/interfaces/contracts/definitions.ts
+++ b/packages/types/src/interfaces/contracts/definitions.ts
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ export default {
     },
     ContractExecResultSuccess: {
       status: 'u8',
-      data: 'Bytes'
+      data: 'Data'
     },
     ContractExecResult: {
       _enum: {
diff --git a/packages/types/src/interfaces/contracts/types.ts b/packages/types/src/interfaces/contracts/types.ts
index db9299f1f1..374831600f 100644
--- a/packages/types/src/interfaces/contracts/types.ts
+++ b/packages/types/src/interfaces/contracts/types.ts
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 
 import { Codec } from '@polkadot/types/types';
 import { Compact, Enum, Option, Struct } from '@polkadot/types/codec';
-import { Bytes, Null, bool, u32, u64, u8 } from '@polkadot/types/primitive';
+import { Bytes, Data, Null, bool, u32, u64, u8 } from '@polkadot/types/primitive';
 import { AccountId, Balance, BlockNumber, Hash } from '@polkadot/types/interfaces/runtime';
 
 /** Struct */
@@ -53,8 +53,8 @@ export interface ContractExecResult extends Enum {
 export interface ContractExecResultSuccess extends Struct {
   /** u8 */
   readonly status: u8;
-  /** Bytes */
-  readonly data: Bytes;
+  /** Data */
+  readonly data: Data;
 }
 
 /** Enum */