diff --git a/swh/journal/replay.py b/swh/journal/replay.py
--- a/swh/journal/replay.py
+++ b/swh/journal/replay.py
@@ -45,9 +45,8 @@
                 visit['origin'] = {'url': visit['origin']}
             else:
                 storage.origin_add_one(visit['origin'])
-                if 'type' not in visit:
-                    # old format
-                    visit['type'] = visit['origin']['type']
+            if 'type' not in visit:
+                visit['type'] = visit['origin'].get('type', None)
 
         storage.origin_visit_upsert(objects)
     else:
diff --git a/swh/journal/tests/test_replay.py b/swh/journal/tests/test_replay.py
--- a/swh/journal/tests/test_replay.py
+++ b/swh/journal/tests/test_replay.py
@@ -107,8 +107,8 @@
     assert contents == OBJECT_TYPE_KEYS['content'][1]
 
 
-def test_write_replay_legacy_origin_visit1():
-    """Test origin_visit when the 'origin' is just a string."""
+def _test_write_replay_origin_visit(visits):
+    """Helper function to write tests for origin_visit ."""
     queue = []
     replayer = MockedJournalClient(queue)
     writer = MockedKafkaWriter(queue)
@@ -116,16 +116,12 @@
     # Note that flipping the order of these two insertions will crash
     # the test, because the legacy origin_format does not allow to create
     # the origin when needed (type is missing)
-    now = datetime.datetime.now()
     writer.send('origin', 'foo', {
         'url': 'http://example.com/',
         'type': 'git',
     })
-    writer.send('origin_visit', 'foo', {
-        'visit': 1,
-        'origin': 'http://example.com/',
-        'date': now,
-    })
+    for visit in visits:
+        writer.send('origin_visit', 'foo', visit)
 
     queue_size = sum(len(partition)
                      for batch in queue
@@ -137,65 +133,43 @@
     while nb_messages < queue_size:
         nb_messages += replayer.process(worker_fn)
 
-    visits = list(storage.origin_visit_get('http://example.com/'))
+    visitsout = list(storage.origin_visit_get('http://example.com/'))
+
+    assert len(visitsout) == len(visits)
+
+    for vin, vout in zip(visits, visitsout):
+        vin = vin.copy()
+        vout = vout.copy()
+        if ENABLE_ORIGIN_IDS:
+            assert vout.pop('origin') == 1
+        else:
+            assert vout.pop('origin') == 'http://example.com'
+        vin.pop('origin')
+        vin.setdefault('type', 'git')
+        assert vin == vout
+
 
-    if ENABLE_ORIGIN_IDS:
-        assert visits == [{
-                'visit': 1,
-                'origin': 1,
-                'date': now,
-            }]
-    else:
-        assert visits == [{
-            'visit': 1,
-            'origin': 'http://example.com/',
-            'date': now,
-        }]
+def test_write_replay_legacy_origin_visit1():
+    """Test origin_visit when the 'origin' is just a string."""
+    now = datetime.datetime.now()
+    visits = [{
+        'visit': 1,
+        'origin': 'http://example.com/',
+        'date': now,
+        'type': 'hg'
+    }]
+    _test_write_replay_origin_visit(visits)
 
 
 def test_write_replay_legacy_origin_visit2():
     """Test origin_visit when 'type' is missing."""
-    queue = []
-    replayer = MockedJournalClient(queue)
-    writer = MockedKafkaWriter(queue)
-
     now = datetime.datetime.now()
-    writer.send('origin', 'foo', {
-        'url': 'http://example.com/',
-        'type': 'git',
-    })
-    writer.send('origin_visit', 'foo', {
+    visits = [{
         'visit': 1,
         'origin': {
             'url': 'http://example.com/',
             'type': 'git',
         },
         'date': now,
-    })
-
-    queue_size = sum(len(partition)
-                     for batch in queue
-                     for partition in batch.values())
-
-    storage = get_storage('memory', {})
-    worker_fn = functools.partial(process_replay_objects, storage=storage)
-    nb_messages = 0
-    while nb_messages < queue_size:
-        nb_messages += replayer.process(worker_fn)
-
-    visits = list(storage.origin_visit_get('http://example.com/'))
-
-    if ENABLE_ORIGIN_IDS:
-        assert visits == [{
-            'visit': 1,
-            'origin': 1,
-            'date': now,
-            'type': 'git',
-        }]
-    else:
-        assert visits == [{
-            'visit': 1,
-            'origin': 'http://example.com/',
-            'date': now,
-            'type': 'git',
-        }]
+    }]
+    _test_write_replay_origin_visit(visits)