Unexpected JSON output on HTTP request

I am currently trying to get a simple HTTP JSON response from a website. When I look at the page when I use Google Chrome:

{"columns":[{"name":"xx","dataType":"varchar","size":255,"nullable":true},{"name":"xx","dataType":"varchar","size":255,"nullable":true},{"name":"xx","dataType":"decimal","size":17,"nullable":true},{"name":"xx","dataType":"varchar","size":255,"nullable":true},{"name":"xx","dataType":"varchar","size":4,"nullable":true},{"name":"xx","dataType":"varchar","size":2,"nullable":true},{"name":"xx","dataType":"varchar","size":20,"nullable":true}],"rows":[["xxxxx","xxxx/xxxx","xxxx","Yacouba","5xx","xx","xxxxx"]]}

However when I use the following php code:

<?php
$json_url = "xxxx"; // url is something else but privacy reasons etc
// Initializing curl
$ch = curl_init();

// Configuring curl options
$options = array(
    CURLOPT_URL => $json_url,
    CURLOPT_POST => FALSE
);

// Setting curl options
curl_setopt_array($ch, $options);

// Getting results
$result = curl_exec($ch); // Getting jSON result string
curl_close($ch);

json_decode($result);

var_dump($result);

and then the output is as fallows:

‹ì½`I–%&/mÊ{JõJ×àt¡€`$Ø@ìÁˆÍæ’ìiG#)«*ÊeVe]f@Ìí¼÷Þ{ï½÷Þ{ï½÷º;N'÷ßÿ?\fdlöÎJÚÉž!€ªÈ?~|?"~ñGÓª\/–ÍG¾÷‹?Zf‹ü£Gͪ¦)òú÷/³I^~4úh–µÙ›ë¾ºÌêé<«éæø}°wÿþè£åº¤¦%ýÙÖëü—Œz€–Y¶ø8—U=ËëbyñûÏòIÑæëú÷¯Vù²i³l9Ïòi±ÈJx÷Á&ü´E°iëŒÞÕyóû¯¦¿ÿ²n6CÛ¿=¬²½ ØÞmFXçeÖ9¡v°´ï>ª«+pÈ÷>ÚýôÓ{Ôúm±l&y}‘/ïþ>Ù´ZO2úpoow´»C¿¹ÏîïìJ?žŸÐ?;;;û÷÷?Ýûèûßÿ%ÿOÿÿzbool(true)

What could the problem be?