diff --git a/etcdctl/ctlv3/ctl.go b/etcdctl/ctlv3/ctl.go
index 4f9c31055c0e..41d4ffbdbf31 100644
--- a/etcdctl/ctlv3/ctl.go
+++ b/etcdctl/ctlv3/ctl.go
@@ -52,7 +52,8 @@ func init() {
 	rootCmd.PersistentFlags().StringSliceVar(&globalFlags.Endpoints, "endpoints", []string{"127.0.0.1:2379"}, "gRPC endpoints")
 	rootCmd.PersistentFlags().BoolVar(&globalFlags.Debug, "debug", false, "enable client-side debug logging")
 
-	rootCmd.PersistentFlags().StringVarP(&globalFlags.OutputFormat, "write-out", "w", "simple", "set the output format (fields, json, protobuf, simple, table)")
+	rootCmd.PersistentFlags().StringVarP(&globalFlags.OutputFormat, "write-out", "w", "simple",
+		"set the output format (fields, json, protobuf, simple, table); note json encodes kvs as base64")
 	rootCmd.PersistentFlags().BoolVar(&globalFlags.IsHex, "hex", false, "print byte strings as hex encoded strings")
 	rootCmd.RegisterFlagCompletionFunc("write-out", func(_ *cobra.Command, _ []string, _ string) ([]string, cobra.ShellCompDirective) {
 		return []string{"fields", "json", "protobuf", "simple", "table"}, cobra.ShellCompDirectiveDefault
diff --git a/etcdutl/ctl.go b/etcdutl/ctl.go
index e41066347445..c4a3d2fe6f7a 100644
--- a/etcdutl/ctl.go
+++ b/etcdutl/ctl.go
@@ -35,7 +35,8 @@ var (
 )
 
 func init() {
-	rootCmd.PersistentFlags().StringVarP(&etcdutl.OutputFormat, "write-out", "w", "simple", "set the output format (fields, json, protobuf, simple, table)")
+	rootCmd.PersistentFlags().StringVarP(&etcdutl.OutputFormat, "write-out", "w", "simple",
+		"set the output format (fields, json, protobuf, simple, table); note json encodes kvs as base64")
 	rootCmd.RegisterFlagCompletionFunc("write-out", func(_ *cobra.Command, _ []string, _ string) ([]string, cobra.ShellCompDirective) {
 		return []string{"fields", "json", "protobuf", "simple", "table"}, cobra.ShellCompDirectiveDefault
 	})
diff --git a/server/etcdserver/txn/txn.go b/server/etcdserver/txn/txn.go
index 8f0e6c4b4a7b..d56ea1a191fb 100644
--- a/server/etcdserver/txn/txn.go
+++ b/server/etcdserver/txn/txn.go
@@ -152,9 +152,6 @@ func Range(ctx context.Context, lg *zap.Logger, kv mvcc.KV, r *pb.RangeRequest)
 func executeRange(ctx context.Context, lg *zap.Logger, txnRead mvcc.TxnRead, r *pb.RangeRequest) (*pb.RangeResponse, error) {
 	trace := traceutil.Get(ctx)
 
-	resp := &pb.RangeResponse{}
-	resp.Header = &pb.ResponseHeader{}
-
 	limit := r.Limit
 	if r.SortOrder != pb.RangeRequest_NONE ||
 		r.MinModRevision != 0 || r.MaxModRevision != 0 ||
@@ -167,17 +164,41 @@ func executeRange(ctx context.Context, lg *zap.Logger, txnRead mvcc.TxnRead, r *
 		limit = limit + 1
 	}
 
+	// Combining r.CountOnly and any of { r.MaxModRevision, r.MinModRevision, r.MaxCreateRevision, r.MinCreateRevision }
+	// means "give me the count for the result of the filtering I asked for".
+	filtering := r.MaxModRevision != 0 || r.MinModRevision != 0 || r.MaxCreateRevision != 0 || r.MinCreateRevision != 0
+	var noKvsToProcess bool
+	if filtering {
+		noKvsToProcess = false
+	} else {
+		noKvsToProcess = r.CountOnly
+	}
+
 	ro := mvcc.RangeOptions{
 		Limit: limit,
 		Rev:   r.Revision,
-		Count: r.CountOnly,
+		Count: noKvsToProcess,
 	}
 
 	rr, err := txnRead.Range(ctx, r.Key, mkGteRange(r.RangeEnd), ro)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
+	resp := &pb.RangeResponse{Header: &pb.ResponseHeader{Revision: rr.Rev}}
+
+	if noKvsToProcess {
+		resp.Count = int64(rr.Count)
+		resp.Kvs = make([]*mvccpb.KeyValue, 0)
+	} else {
+		processKvsInRange(r, rr, resp, trace, lg)
+	}
+
+	trace.Step("assemble the response")
+	return resp, nil
+}
 
+func processKvsInRange(r *pb.RangeRequest, rr *mvcc.RangeResult, resp *pb.RangeResponse, trace *traceutil.Trace, lg *zap.Logger) {
+	trace.Step("filter and sort the key-value pairs")
 	if r.MaxModRevision != 0 {
 		f := func(kv *mvccpb.KeyValue) bool { return kv.ModRevision > r.MaxModRevision }
 		pruneKVs(rr, f)
@@ -195,6 +216,16 @@ func executeRange(ctx context.Context, lg *zap.Logger, txnRead mvcc.TxnRead, r *
 		pruneKVs(rr, f)
 	}
 
+	// No more prunning after this point; we can count now.
+	resp.Count = int64(len(rr.KVs))
+	// If r.CountOnly was specified:
+	//   * r.SortOrder is useless and ignored.
+	//   * r.Limit is useless and ignored.
+	if r.CountOnly {
+		resp.Kvs = make([]*mvccpb.KeyValue, 0)
+		return
+	}
+
 	sortOrder := r.SortOrder
 	if r.SortTarget != pb.RangeRequest_KEY && sortOrder == pb.RangeRequest_NONE {
 		// Since current mvcc.Range implementation returns results
@@ -235,9 +266,6 @@ func executeRange(ctx context.Context, lg *zap.Logger, txnRead mvcc.TxnRead, r *
 		rr.KVs = rr.KVs[:r.Limit]
 		resp.More = true
 	}
-	trace.Step("filter and sort the key-value pairs")
-	resp.Header.Revision = rr.Rev
-	resp.Count = int64(rr.Count)
 	resp.Kvs = make([]*mvccpb.KeyValue, len(rr.KVs))
 	for i := range rr.KVs {
 		if r.KeysOnly {
@@ -245,8 +273,6 @@ func executeRange(ctx context.Context, lg *zap.Logger, txnRead mvcc.TxnRead, r *
 		}
 		resp.Kvs[i] = &rr.KVs[i]
 	}
-	trace.Step("assemble the response")
-	return resp, nil
 }
 
 func Txn(ctx context.Context, lg *zap.Logger, rt *pb.TxnRequest, txnModeWriteWithSharedBuffer bool, kv mvcc.KV, lessor lease.Lessor) (*pb.TxnResponse, *traceutil.Trace, error) {
diff --git a/tests/e2e/ctl_v3_kv_test.go b/tests/e2e/ctl_v3_kv_test.go
index 89d8412d0a97..4814590001c9 100644
--- a/tests/e2e/ctl_v3_kv_test.go
+++ b/tests/e2e/ctl_v3_kv_test.go
@@ -245,7 +245,7 @@ func getMinMaxCreateModRevTest(cx ctlCtx) {
 
 	for i, tt := range tests {
 		if err := ctlV3Get(cx, tt.args, tt.wkv...); err != nil {
-			cx.t.Errorf("getMinModRevTest #%d: ctlV3Get error (%v)", i, err)
+			cx.t.Errorf("getMinMaxCreateModRevTest #%d: ctlV3Get error (%v)", i, err)
 		}
 	}
 }
@@ -387,15 +387,31 @@ type kv struct {
 	key, val string
 }
 
+// returns -1 if searchArg is not found, or the index when found.
+func findArg(cx ctlCtx, searchArg string) int {
+	for i, arg := range cx.PrefixArgs() {
+		if arg == searchArg {
+			return i
+		}
+	}
+	return -1
+}
+
 func ctlV3Get(cx ctlCtx, args []string, kvs ...kv) error {
-	cmdArgs := append(cx.PrefixArgs(), "get")
+	cmdArgs := append(cx.PrefixArgs(), "get", "--write-out=fields")
 	cmdArgs = append(cmdArgs, args...)
 	if !cx.quorum {
 		cmdArgs = append(cmdArgs, "--consistency", "s")
 	}
 	var lines []expect.ExpectedResponse
 	for _, elem := range kvs {
-		lines = append(lines, expect.ExpectedResponse{Value: elem.key}, expect.ExpectedResponse{Value: elem.val})
+		lines = append(lines,
+			expect.ExpectedResponse{Value: fmt.Sprintf("\"Key\" : \"%s\"", elem.key)},
+			expect.ExpectedResponse{Value: fmt.Sprintf("\"Value\" : \"%s\"", elem.val)},
+		)
+	}
+	if findArg(cx, "--limit") == -1 {
+		lines = append(lines, expect.ExpectedResponse{Value: fmt.Sprintf("\"Count\" : %d", len(kvs))})
 	}
 	return e2e.SpawnWithExpects(cmdArgs, cx.envMap, lines...)
 }