diff --git a/pkg/chart/chart.go b/pkg/chart/chart.go
index 23bb6f309..92ad68cb1 100644
--- a/pkg/chart/chart.go
+++ b/pkg/chart/chart.go
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ type Chart struct {
 	// Values are default config for this template.
 	Values map[string]interface{}
 	// Schema is an optional JSON schema for imposing structure on Values
-	Schema map[string]interface{}
+	Schema []byte
 	// Files are miscellaneous files in a chart archive,
 	// e.g. README, LICENSE, etc.
 	Files []*File
diff --git a/pkg/chart/loader/load.go b/pkg/chart/loader/load.go
index ae8c89d19..f2c52e530 100644
--- a/pkg/chart/loader/load.go
+++ b/pkg/chart/loader/load.go
@@ -91,10 +91,7 @@ func LoadFiles(files []*BufferedFile) (*chart.Chart, error) {
 			}
 			c.RawValues = f.Data
 		case f.Name == "values.schema.yaml":
-			c.Schema = make(map[string]interface{})
-			if err := yaml.Unmarshal(f.Data, &c.Schema); err != nil {
-				return c, errors.Wrap(err, "cannot load values.schema.yaml")
-			}
+			c.Schema = f.Data
 		case strings.HasPrefix(f.Name, "templates/"):
 			c.Templates = append(c.Templates, &chart.File{Name: f.Name, Data: f.Data})
 		case strings.HasPrefix(f.Name, "charts/"):
diff --git a/pkg/chart/loader/load_test.go b/pkg/chart/loader/load_test.go
index 855921ef4..2b5235c7e 100644
--- a/pkg/chart/loader/load_test.go
+++ b/pkg/chart/loader/load_test.go
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ limitations under the License.
 package loader
 
 import (
+	"bytes"
 	"testing"
 
 	"helm.sh/helm/pkg/chart"
@@ -105,7 +106,7 @@ icon: https://example.com/64x64.png
 		t.Error("Expected chart values to be populated with default values")
 	}
 
-	if c.Schema["type"] != "Values" {
+	if !bytes.Equal(c.Schema, []byte("type: Values")) {
 		t.Error("Expected chart schema to be populated with default values")
 	}
 
diff --git a/pkg/chartutil/values.go b/pkg/chartutil/values.go
index 29acd57eb..9b6168597 100644
--- a/pkg/chartutil/values.go
+++ b/pkg/chartutil/values.go
@@ -46,9 +46,6 @@ const GlobalKey = "global"
 // Values represents a collection of chart values.
 type Values map[string]interface{}
 
-// Schema represents the document structure to validate the values.yaml file against
-type Schema map[string]interface{}
-
 // YAML encodes the Values into a YAML string.
 func (v Values) YAML() (string, error) {
 	b, err := yaml.Marshal(v)
@@ -128,15 +125,6 @@ func ReadValues(data []byte) (vals Values, err error) {
 	return vals, err
 }
 
-// ReadSchema will parse YAML byte data into a Schema.
-func ReadSchema(data []byte) (schema Schema, err error) {
-	err = yaml.Unmarshal(data, &schema)
-	if len(schema) == 0 {
-		schema = Schema{}
-	}
-	return schema, err
-}
-
 // ReadValuesFile will parse a YAML file into a map of values.
 func ReadValuesFile(filename string) (Values, error) {
 	data, err := ioutil.ReadFile(filename)
@@ -146,22 +134,13 @@ func ReadValuesFile(filename string) (Values, error) {
 	return ReadValues(data)
 }
 
-// ReadSchemaFile will parse a YAML file into a Schema.
-func ReadSchemaFile(filename string) (Schema, error) {
-	data, err := ioutil.ReadFile(filename)
-	if err != nil {
-		return Schema{}, err
-	}
-	return ReadSchema(data)
-}
-
 // ValidateAgainstSchema checks that values does not violate the structure laid out in schema
-func ValidateAgainstSchema(values Values, schema Schema) error {
+func ValidateAgainstSchema(values Values, schema []byte) error {
 	valuesJSON, err := convertYAMLToJSON(values)
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
-	schemaJSON, err := convertYAMLToJSON(schema)
+	schemaJSON, err := yaml.YAMLToJSON(schema)
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
diff --git a/pkg/chartutil/values_test.go b/pkg/chartutil/values_test.go
index 3ad9caebc..4ec1651d2 100644
--- a/pkg/chartutil/values_test.go
+++ b/pkg/chartutil/values_test.go
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ import (
 	"bytes"
 	"encoding/json"
 	"fmt"
+	"io/ioutil"
 	"testing"
 	"text/template"
 
@@ -160,20 +161,12 @@ func TestReadValuesFile(t *testing.T) {
 	matchValues(t, data)
 }
 
-func TestReadSchemaFile(t *testing.T) {
-	data, err := ReadSchemaFile("./testdata/test-values.schema.yaml")
-	if err != nil {
-		t.Fatalf("Error reading YAML file: %s", err)
-	}
-	matchSchema(t, data)
-}
-
 func TestValidateAgainstSchema(t *testing.T) {
 	values, err := ReadValuesFile("./testdata/test-values.yaml")
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Fatalf("Error reading YAML file: %s", err)
 	}
-	schema, err := ReadSchemaFile("./testdata/test-values.schema.yaml")
+	schema, err := ioutil.ReadFile("./testdata/test-values.schema.yaml")
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Fatalf("Error reading YAML file: %s", err)
 	}
@@ -188,7 +181,7 @@ func TestValidateAgainstSchemaNegative(t *testing.T) {
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Fatalf("Error reading YAML file: %s", err)
 	}
-	schema, err := ReadSchemaFile("./testdata/test-values.schema.yaml")
+	schema, err := ioutil.ReadFile("./testdata/test-values.schema.yaml")
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Fatalf("Error reading YAML file: %s", err)
 	}
@@ -535,14 +528,14 @@ required:
   - addresses
   - employmentInfo
 `
-	data, err := ReadSchema([]byte(schemaTest))
+	data, err := ReadValues([]byte(schemaTest))
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Fatalf("Error parsing bytes: %s", err)
 	}
 	matchSchema(t, data)
 }
 
-func matchSchema(t *testing.T, data Schema) {
+func matchSchema(t *testing.T, data map[string]interface{}) {
 	if o, err := ttpl("{{len .required}}", data); err != nil {
 		t.Errorf("len required: %s", err)
 	} else if o != "4" {
diff --git a/pkg/lint/rules/values.go b/pkg/lint/rules/values.go
index bc37aa584..01de9546d 100644
--- a/pkg/lint/rules/values.go
+++ b/pkg/lint/rules/values.go
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ limitations under the License.
 package rules
 
 import (
+	"io/ioutil"
 	"os"
 	"path/filepath"
 
@@ -55,7 +56,7 @@ func validateValuesFile(valuesPath string) error {
 
 	ext := filepath.Ext(valuesPath)
 	schemaPath := valuesPath[:len(valuesPath)-len(ext)] + ".schema.yaml"
-	schema, err := chartutil.ReadSchemaFile(schemaPath)
+	schema, err := ioutil.ReadFile(schemaPath)
 	if len(schema) == 0 {
 		return nil
 	}