diff --git a/jvm-packages/xgboost4j/src/main/java/ml/dmlc/xgboost4j/java/Booster.java b/jvm-packages/xgboost4j/src/main/java/ml/dmlc/xgboost4j/java/Booster.java
index 7c01de4a0..672d538ea 100644
--- a/jvm-packages/xgboost4j/src/main/java/ml/dmlc/xgboost4j/java/Booster.java
+++ b/jvm-packages/xgboost4j/src/main/java/ml/dmlc/xgboost4j/java/Booster.java
@@ -333,6 +333,11 @@ public class Booster implements Serializable, KryoSerializable {
    * @throws XGBoostError native error
    */
   public String[] getModelDump(String featureMap, boolean withStats) throws XGBoostError {
+    return getModelDump(featureMap, withStats, "text");
+  }
+
+  public String[] getModelDump(String featureMap, boolean withStats, String format)
+         throws XGBoostError {
     int statsFlag = 0;
     if (featureMap == null) {
       featureMap = "";
@@ -340,9 +345,12 @@ public class Booster implements Serializable, KryoSerializable {
     if (withStats) {
       statsFlag = 1;
     }
+    if (format == null) {
+      format = "text";
+    }
     String[][] modelInfos = new String[1][];
     JNIErrorHandle.checkCall(
-            XGBoostJNI.XGBoosterDumpModel(handle, featureMap, statsFlag, modelInfos));
+            XGBoostJNI.XGBoosterDumpModelEx(handle, featureMap, statsFlag, format, modelInfos));
     return modelInfos[0];
   }
 
@@ -389,7 +397,8 @@ public class Booster implements Serializable, KryoSerializable {
       statsFlag = 1;
     }
     String[][] modelInfos = new String[1][];
-    JNIErrorHandle.checkCall(XGBoostJNI.XGBoosterDumpModel(handle, "", statsFlag, modelInfos));
+    JNIErrorHandle.checkCall(XGBoostJNI.XGBoosterDumpModelEx(handle, "", statsFlag, "text",
+            modelInfos));
     return modelInfos[0];
   }
 
diff --git a/jvm-packages/xgboost4j/src/main/java/ml/dmlc/xgboost4j/java/XGBoostJNI.java b/jvm-packages/xgboost4j/src/main/java/ml/dmlc/xgboost4j/java/XGBoostJNI.java
index 630c61647..4d0f31dd1 100644
--- a/jvm-packages/xgboost4j/src/main/java/ml/dmlc/xgboost4j/java/XGBoostJNI.java
+++ b/jvm-packages/xgboost4j/src/main/java/ml/dmlc/xgboost4j/java/XGBoostJNI.java
@@ -84,8 +84,8 @@ class XGBoostJNI {
 
   public final static native int XGBoosterGetModelRaw(long handle, byte[][] out_bytes);
 
-  public final static native int XGBoosterDumpModel(long handle, String fmap, int with_stats,
-                                                    String[][] out_strings);
+  public final static native int XGBoosterDumpModelEx(long handle, String fmap, int with_stats,
+                                                      String format, String[][] out_strings);
 
   public final static native int XGBoosterGetAttr(long handle, String key, String[] out_string);
   public final static native int XGBoosterSetAttr(long handle, String key, String value);
diff --git a/jvm-packages/xgboost4j/src/native/xgboost4j.cpp b/jvm-packages/xgboost4j/src/native/xgboost4j.cpp
index 0c4a85dcc..6b027e2f5 100644
--- a/jvm-packages/xgboost4j/src/native/xgboost4j.cpp
+++ b/jvm-packages/xgboost4j/src/native/xgboost4j.cpp
@@ -623,17 +623,18 @@ JNIEXPORT jint JNICALL Java_ml_dmlc_xgboost4j_java_XGBoostJNI_XGBoosterGetModelR
 
 /*
  * Class:     ml_dmlc_xgboost4j_java_XGBoostJNI
- * Method:    XGBoosterDumpModel
+ * Method:    XGBoosterDumpModelEx
  * Signature: (JLjava/lang/String;I)[Ljava/lang/String;
  */
-JNIEXPORT jint JNICALL Java_ml_dmlc_xgboost4j_java_XGBoostJNI_XGBoosterDumpModel
-  (JNIEnv *jenv, jclass jcls, jlong jhandle, jstring jfmap, jint jwith_stats, jobjectArray jout) {
+JNIEXPORT jint JNICALL Java_ml_dmlc_xgboost4j_java_XGBoostJNI_XGBoosterDumpModelEx
+  (JNIEnv *jenv, jclass jcls, jlong jhandle, jstring jfmap, jint jwith_stats, jstring jformat, jobjectArray jout) {
   BoosterHandle handle = (BoosterHandle) jhandle;
   const char *fmap = jenv->GetStringUTFChars(jfmap, 0);
+  const char *format = jenv->GetStringUTFChars(jformat, 0);
   bst_ulong len = 0;
   char **result;
 
-  int ret = XGBoosterDumpModel(handle, fmap, jwith_stats, &len, (const char ***) &result);
+  int ret = XGBoosterDumpModelEx(handle, fmap, jwith_stats, format, &len, (const char ***) &result);
 
   jsize jlen = (jsize) len;
   jobjectArray jinfos = jenv->NewObjectArray(jlen, jenv->FindClass("java/lang/String"), jenv->NewStringUTF(""));
diff --git a/jvm-packages/xgboost4j/src/native/xgboost4j.h b/jvm-packages/xgboost4j/src/native/xgboost4j.h
index 8e42eea1c..231f727ce 100644
--- a/jvm-packages/xgboost4j/src/native/xgboost4j.h
+++ b/jvm-packages/xgboost4j/src/native/xgboost4j.h
@@ -217,11 +217,11 @@ JNIEXPORT jint JNICALL Java_ml_dmlc_xgboost4j_java_XGBoostJNI_XGBoosterGetModelR
 
 /*
  * Class:     ml_dmlc_xgboost4j_java_XGBoostJNI
- * Method:    XGBoosterDumpModel
+ * Method:    XGBoosterDumpModelEx
  * Signature: (JLjava/lang/String;I[[Ljava/lang/String;)I
  */
-JNIEXPORT jint JNICALL Java_ml_dmlc_xgboost4j_java_XGBoostJNI_XGBoosterDumpModel
-  (JNIEnv *, jclass, jlong, jstring, jint, jobjectArray);
+JNIEXPORT jint JNICALL Java_ml_dmlc_xgboost4j_java_XGBoostJNI_XGBoosterDumpModelEx
+  (JNIEnv *, jclass, jlong, jstring, jint, jstring, jobjectArray);
 
 /*
  * Class:     ml_dmlc_xgboost4j_java_XGBoostJNI
diff --git a/jvm-packages/xgboost4j/src/test/java/ml/dmlc/xgboost4j/java/BoosterImplTest.java b/jvm-packages/xgboost4j/src/test/java/ml/dmlc/xgboost4j/java/BoosterImplTest.java
index c60b2406a..f16f3ef63 100644
--- a/jvm-packages/xgboost4j/src/test/java/ml/dmlc/xgboost4j/java/BoosterImplTest.java
+++ b/jvm-packages/xgboost4j/src/test/java/ml/dmlc/xgboost4j/java/BoosterImplTest.java
@@ -231,6 +231,16 @@ public class BoosterImplTest {
     testWithFastHisto(trainMat, watches, 10, paramMap, 0.0f);
   }
 
+  @Test
+  public void testDumpModelJson() throws XGBoostError {
+    DMatrix trainMat = new DMatrix("../../demo/data/agaricus.txt.train");
+    DMatrix testMat = new DMatrix("../../demo/data/agaricus.txt.test");
+
+    Booster booster = trainBooster(trainMat, testMat);
+    String[] dump = booster.getModelDump("", false, "json");
+    TestCase.assertEquals("  { \"nodeid\":", dump[0].substring(0, 13));
+  }
+
   @Test
   public void testFastHistoDepthwiseMaxDepth() throws XGBoostError {
     DMatrix trainMat = new DMatrix("../../demo/data/agaricus.txt.train");