diff --git a/cmd/helm/install.go b/cmd/helm/install.go
index e2f1ada66..4a66765a8 100644
--- a/cmd/helm/install.go
+++ b/cmd/helm/install.go
@@ -32,6 +32,8 @@ import (
 	"github.com/ghodss/yaml"
 	"github.com/spf13/cobra"
 
+	api_yaml "k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/util/yaml"
+
 	"k8s.io/helm/pkg/chartutil"
 	"k8s.io/helm/pkg/downloader"
 	"k8s.io/helm/pkg/getter"
@@ -330,19 +332,20 @@ func vals(valueFiles valueFiles, values []string) ([]byte, error) {
 	for _, filePath := range valueFiles {
 		currentMap := map[string]interface{}{}
 
-		var bytes []byte
+		var readBytes []byte
 		var err error
 		if strings.TrimSpace(filePath) == "-" {
-			bytes, err = ioutil.ReadAll(os.Stdin)
+			readBytes, err = ioutil.ReadAll(os.Stdin)
 		} else {
-			bytes, err = readFile(filePath)
+			readBytes, err = readFile(filePath)
 		}
 
 		if err != nil {
 			return []byte{}, err
 		}
 
-		if err := yaml.Unmarshal(bytes, &currentMap); err != nil {
+		d := api_yaml.NewYAMLOrJSONDecoder(bytes.NewReader(readBytes), 4096)
+		if err := d.Decode(&currentMap); err != nil {
 			return []byte{}, fmt.Errorf("failed to parse %s: %s", filePath, err)
 		}
 		// Merge with the previous map
diff --git a/cmd/helm/template_test.go b/cmd/helm/template_test.go
index 06c7edf9a..b825aca41 100644
--- a/cmd/helm/template_test.go
+++ b/cmd/helm/template_test.go
@@ -97,6 +97,13 @@ func TestTemplateCmd(t *testing.T) {
 			expectKey:   "subchart1/templates/service.yaml",
 			expectValue: "name: apache",
 		},
+		{
+			name:        "check_values_files_json",
+			desc:        "verify --values files values exist",
+			args:        []string{chartPath, "--values", chartPath + "/charts/subchartA/values.json"},
+			expectKey:   "subchart1/templates/service.yaml",
+			expectValue: "name: apache",
+		},
 		{
 			name:        "check_name_template",
 			desc:        "verify --name-template result exists",
diff --git a/pkg/chartutil/testdata/subpop/charts/subchart1/charts/subchartA/values.json b/pkg/chartutil/testdata/subpop/charts/subchart1/charts/subchartA/values.json
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..9a5dc0243
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/chartutil/testdata/subpop/charts/subchart1/charts/subchartA/values.json
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+{
+  "service": {
+    "name": "apache",
+    "type": "ClusterIP",
+    "externalPort": 80,
+    "internalPort": 80
+  },
+  "SCAdata": {
+    "SCAbool": false,
+    "SCAfloat": 3.1,
+    "SCAint": 55,
+    "SCAstring": "jabba",
+    "SCAnested1": {
+      "SCAnested2": true
+    }
+  }
+}
\ No newline at end of file