diff --git a/swiftclient/shell.py b/swiftclient/shell.py
index 0459533d..2be85aff 100755
--- a/swiftclient/shell.py
+++ b/swiftclient/shell.py
@@ -33,7 +33,8 @@ from sys import argv as sys_argv, exit, stderr, stdin
 from time import gmtime, strftime
 
 from swiftclient import RequestException
-from swiftclient.utils import config_true_value, generate_temp_url, prt_bytes
+from swiftclient.utils import config_true_value, generate_temp_url, \
+    prt_bytes, JSONableIterable
 from swiftclient.multithreading import OutputManager
 from swiftclient.exceptions import ClientException
 from swiftclient import __version__ as client_version
@@ -578,6 +579,8 @@ def st_list(parser, args, output_manager, return_parser=False):
         help='Roll up items with the given delimiter. For containers '
              'only. See OpenStack Swift API documentation for '
              'what this means.')
+    parser.add_argument('-j', '--json', action='store_true',
+                        help='print listing information in json')
     parser.add_argument(
         '-H', '--header', action='append', dest='header',
         default=[],
@@ -616,6 +619,20 @@ def st_list(parser, args, output_manager, return_parser=False):
                 else:
                     stats_parts_gen = swift.list(container=container)
 
+            if options.get('json', False):
+                def listing(stats_parts_gen=stats_parts_gen):
+                    for stats in stats_parts_gen:
+                        if stats["success"]:
+                            for item in stats['listing']:
+                                yield item
+                        else:
+                            raise stats["error"]
+
+                json.dump(
+                    JSONableIterable(listing()), output_manager.print_stream,
+                    sort_keys=True, indent=2)
+                output_manager.print_msg('')
+                return
             for stats in stats_parts_gen:
                 if stats["success"]:
                     _print_stats(options, stats, human)
diff --git a/swiftclient/utils.py b/swiftclient/utils.py
index 2b208b9f..9e43237c 100644
--- a/swiftclient/utils.py
+++ b/swiftclient/utils.py
@@ -403,3 +403,25 @@ def normalize_manifest_path(path):
     if path.startswith('/'):
         return path[1:]
     return path
+
+
+class JSONableIterable(list):
+    def __init__(self, iterable):
+        self._iterable = iter(iterable)
+        try:
+            self._peeked = next(self._iterable)
+            self._has_items = True
+        except StopIteration:
+            self._peeked = None
+            self._has_items = False
+
+    def __bool__(self):
+        return self._has_items
+
+    __nonzero__ = __bool__
+
+    def __iter__(self):
+        if self._has_items:
+            yield self._peeked
+        for item in self._iterable:
+            yield item
diff --git a/tests/unit/test_shell.py b/tests/unit/test_shell.py
index f729c250..d9ddb3ee 100644
--- a/tests/unit/test_shell.py
+++ b/tests/unit/test_shell.py
@@ -297,6 +297,26 @@ class TestShell(unittest.TestCase):
             mock.call('container', 'object',
                       headers={'Skip-Middleware': 'Test'})])
 
+    @mock.patch('swiftclient.service.Connection')
+    def test_list_json(self, connection):
+        connection.return_value.get_account.side_effect = [
+            [None, [{'name': 'container'}]],
+            [None, [{'name': u'\u263A', 'some-custom-key': 'and value'}]],
+            [None, []],
+        ]
+
+        argv = ["", "list", "--json"]
+        with CaptureOutput(suppress_systemexit=True) as output:
+            swiftclient.shell.main(argv)
+        calls = [mock.call(marker='', prefix=None, headers={}),
+                 mock.call(marker='container', prefix=None, headers={})]
+        connection.return_value.get_account.assert_has_calls(calls)
+
+        listing = [{'name': 'container'},
+                   {'name': u'\u263A', 'some-custom-key': 'and value'}]
+        expected = json.dumps(listing, sort_keys=True, indent=2) + '\n'
+        self.assertEqual(output.out, expected)
+
     @mock.patch('swiftclient.service.Connection')
     def test_list_account(self, connection):
         # Test account listing
diff --git a/tests/unit/test_utils.py b/tests/unit/test_utils.py
index e54b90c7..97abc444 100644
--- a/tests/unit/test_utils.py
+++ b/tests/unit/test_utils.py
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@
 # limitations under the License.
 
 import gzip
+import json
 import unittest
 import mock
 import six
@@ -638,3 +639,41 @@ class TestGetBody(unittest.TestCase):
             {'content-encoding': 'gzip'},
             buf.getvalue())
         self.assertEqual({'test': u'\u2603'}, result)
+
+
+class JSONTracker(object):
+    def __init__(self, data):
+        self.data = data
+        self.calls = []
+
+    def __iter__(self):
+        for item in self.data:
+            self.calls.append(('read', item))
+            yield item
+
+    def write(self, s):
+        self.calls.append(('write', s))
+
+
+class TestJSONableIterable(unittest.TestCase):
+    def test_json_dump_iterencodes(self):
+        t = JSONTracker([1, 'fish', 2, 'fish'])
+        json.dump(u.JSONableIterable(t), t)
+        self.assertEqual(t.calls, [
+            ('read', 1),
+            ('write', '[1'),
+            ('read', 'fish'),
+            ('write', ', "fish"'),
+            ('read', 2),
+            ('write', ', 2'),
+            ('read', 'fish'),
+            ('write', ', "fish"'),
+            ('write', ']'),
+        ])
+
+    def test_json_dump_empty_iter(self):
+        t = JSONTracker([])
+        json.dump(u.JSONableIterable(t), t)
+        self.assertEqual(t.calls, [
+            ('write', '[]'),
+        ])