diff --git a/httpx/__init__.py b/httpx/__init__.py
index e9addde071..bf03d9fae0 100644
--- a/httpx/__init__.py
+++ b/httpx/__init__.py
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@
 from ._transports import *
 from ._types import *
 from ._urls import *
+from ._utils import normalize_header_key
 
 try:
     from ._main import main
@@ -63,6 +64,7 @@ def main() -> None:  # type: ignore
     "MockTransport",
     "NetRCAuth",
     "NetworkError",
+    "normalize_header_key",
     "options",
     "patch",
     "PoolTimeout",
diff --git a/httpx/_models.py b/httpx/_models.py
index 2cc86321a4..257e43ab88 100644
--- a/httpx/_models.py
+++ b/httpx/_models.py
@@ -831,6 +831,67 @@ def raise_for_status(self) -> Response:
     def json(self, **kwargs: typing.Any) -> typing.Any:
         return jsonlib.loads(self.content, **kwargs)
 
+    def json_safe(
+        self,
+        default: typing.Any = None,
+        *,
+        raise_for_status: bool = True,
+        **kwargs: typing.Any,
+    ) -> typing.Any:
+        """
+        Safely parse JSON response content with error handling.
+
+        Unlike the standard `json()` method, this method provides graceful error
+        handling for common failure cases when parsing JSON responses.
+
+        Args:
+            default: Value to return if JSON parsing fails or response is empty.
+                    Defaults to None.
+            raise_for_status: If True (default), raises HTTPStatusError for 4xx/5xx
+                            responses before attempting to parse JSON. If False, attempts
+                            to parse JSON regardless of status code.
+            **kwargs: Additional arguments passed to json.loads()
+
+        Returns:
+            The parsed JSON data, or the default value if parsing fails.
+
+        Example:
+            >>> response = httpx.get("https://api.example.com/data")
+            >>> data = response.json_safe(default={})  # Returns {} if parsing fails
+            >>> # Handle rate limiting gracefully
+            >>> response = httpx.get("https://api.example.com/endpoint")
+            >>> data = response.json_safe(default={"error": "rate limited"}, raise_for_status=False)
+
+        Note:
+            This method is particularly useful when:
+            - Dealing with unreliable APIs that may return malformed JSON
+            - You want a default value instead of raising exceptions
+            - You need to handle both HTTP errors and JSON parse errors uniformly
+        """
+        # Check status code if requested
+        if raise_for_status and self.is_error:
+            request = self._request
+            if request is None:
+                raise RuntimeError(
+                    "Cannot call `json_safe` with raise_for_status=True "
+                    "as the request instance has not been set on this response."
+                )
+            raise HTTPStatusError(
+                f"HTTP error {self.status_code} while requesting {request.url}",
+                request=request,
+                response=self,
+            )
+
+        # Return default for empty content
+        if not self.content:
+            return default
+
+        # Try to parse JSON
+        try:
+            return jsonlib.loads(self.content, **kwargs)
+        except (jsonlib.JSONDecodeError, UnicodeDecodeError, ValueError):
+            return default
+
     @property
     def cookies(self) -> Cookies:
         if not hasattr(self, "_cookies"):
diff --git a/httpx/_utils.py b/httpx/_utils.py
index 7fe827da4d..0ea77218b0 100644
--- a/httpx/_utils.py
+++ b/httpx/_utils.py
@@ -227,6 +227,10 @@ def __eq__(self, other: typing.Any) -> bool:
 
 
 def is_ipv4_hostname(hostname: str) -> bool:
+    """
+    Check if the given hostname is a valid IPv4 address.
+    Supports CIDR notation by checking only the address part.
+    """
     try:
         ipaddress.IPv4Address(hostname.split("/")[0])
     except Exception:
@@ -235,8 +239,53 @@ def is_ipv4_hostname(hostname: str) -> bool:
 
 
 def is_ipv6_hostname(hostname: str) -> bool:
+    """
+    Check if the given hostname is a valid IPv6 address.
+    Supports CIDR notation by checking only the address part.
+    """
     try:
         ipaddress.IPv6Address(hostname.split("/")[0])
     except Exception:
         return False
     return True
+
+
+def is_ip_address(hostname: str) -> bool:
+    """
+    Check if the given hostname is a valid IP address (either IPv4 or IPv6).
+    Supports CIDR notation by checking only the address part.
+    """
+    return is_ipv4_hostname(hostname) or is_ipv6_hostname(hostname)
+
+
+def normalize_header_key(key: str, *, preserve_case: bool = False) -> str:
+    """
+    Normalize HTTP header keys for consistent comparison and storage.
+
+    By default, converts header keys to lowercase following HTTP/2 conventions.
+    Can optionally preserve the original case for HTTP/1.1 compatibility.
+
+    Args:
+        key: The header key to normalize
+        preserve_case: If True, preserve the original case. If False (default),
+                      convert to lowercase.
+
+    Returns:
+        The normalized header key as a string
+
+    Examples:
+        >>> normalize_header_key("Content-Type")
+        'content-type'
+        >>> normalize_header_key("Content-Type", preserve_case=True)
+        'Content-Type'
+        >>> normalize_header_key("X-Custom-Header")
+        'x-custom-header'
+
+    Note:
+        This function is useful when working with HTTP headers across different
+        protocol versions. HTTP/2 requires lowercase header names, while HTTP/1.1
+        traditionally uses title-case headers (though comparison is case-insensitive).
+    """
+    if preserve_case:
+        return key.strip()
+    return key.strip().lower()