diff --git a/docsite/rst/playbooks_lookups.rst b/docsite/rst/playbooks_lookups.rst
index d0e8e76a378..25560e284d4 100644
--- a/docsite/rst/playbooks_lookups.rst
+++ b/docsite/rst/playbooks_lookups.rst
@@ -273,6 +273,10 @@ Here are some examples::
 
          - debug: msg="{{ lookup('template', './some_template.j2') }} is a value from evaluation of this template"
 
+         # loading a json file from a template as a string
+         - debug: msg="{{ lookup('template', './some_json.json.j2', convert_data=False) }} is a value from evaluation of this template"
+
+
          - debug: msg="{{ lookup('etcd', 'foo') }} is a value from a locally running etcd"
 
          # shelvefile lookup retrieves a string value corresponding to a key inside a Python shelve file
diff --git a/lib/ansible/plugins/lookup/template.py b/lib/ansible/plugins/lookup/template.py
index 569ede6276f..2ca2e5673bf 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/plugins/lookup/template.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/plugins/lookup/template.py
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@ class LookupModule(LookupBase):
 
     def run(self, terms, variables, **kwargs):
 
+        convert_data_p = kwargs.get('convert_data', True)
         basedir = self.get_basedir(variables)
 
         ret = []
@@ -53,7 +54,7 @@ class LookupModule(LookupBase):
                         searchpath.insert(1, variables['role_path'])
 
                     self._templar.environment.loader.searchpath = searchpath
-                    res = self._templar.template(template_data, preserve_trailing_newlines=True)
+                    res = self._templar.template(template_data, preserve_trailing_newlines=True,convert_data=convert_data_p)
                     ret.append(res)
             else:
                 raise AnsibleError("the template file %s could not be found for the lookup" % term)