diff --git a/lib/ansible/runner/filter_plugins/core.py b/lib/ansible/runner/filter_plugins/core.py
index 484b059a555..b2431828459 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/runner/filter_plugins/core.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/runner/filter_plugins/core.py
@@ -18,14 +18,27 @@
 import json
 import yaml
 
+def to_nice_yaml(*a, **kw):
+    '''Make verbose, human readable yaml'''
+    return yaml.safe_dump(*a, indent=4, allow_unicode=True, default_flow_style=False, **kw)
+
+def to_nice_json(*a, **kw):
+    '''Make verbose, human readable JSON'''
+    return json.dumps(*a, indent=4, sort_keys=True, **kw)
+
 class FilterModule(object):
     ''' Ansible core jinja2 filters '''
 
     def filters(self):
         return {
+            # json
             'to_json': json.dumps,
+            'to_nice_json': to_nice_json,
             'from_json': json.loads,
+
+            # yaml
             'to_yaml': yaml.safe_dump,
+            'to_nice_yaml': to_nice_yaml,
             'from_yaml': yaml.safe_load,
         }
     
diff --git a/test/TestFilters.py b/test/TestFilters.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..21b6f211755
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/TestFilters.py
@@ -0,0 +1,81 @@
+'''
+Test bundled filters
+'''
+
+import unittest, tempfile, shutil
+from ansible import playbook, inventory, callbacks
+
+INVENTORY = inventory.Inventory(['localhost'])
+
+BOOK = '''
+- hosts: localhost
+  vars:
+    var: { a: [1,2,3] }
+  tasks:
+  - template: src=%s dest=%s
+'''
+
+SRC = '''
+-
+{{ var|to_json }}
+-
+{{ var|to_nice_json }}
+-
+{{ var|to_yaml }}
+-
+{{ var|to_nice_yaml }}
+'''
+
+DEST = '''
+-
+{"a": [1, 2, 3]}
+-
+{
+    "a": [
+        1, 
+        2, 
+        3
+    ]
+}
+-
+a: [1, 2, 3]
+
+-
+a:
+- 1
+- 2
+- 3
+'''
+
+class TestFilters(unittest.TestCase):
+
+    def setUp(self):
+        self.tmpdir = tempfile.mkdtemp(dir='/tmp')
+
+    def tearDown(self):
+        shutil.rmtree(self.tmpdir)
+
+    def temp(self, name, data=''):
+        '''write a temporary file and return the name'''
+        name = self.tmpdir + '/' + name
+        with open(name, 'w') as f:
+            f.write(data)
+        return name
+
+    def test_filters(self):
+        src = self.temp('src.j2', SRC)
+        dest = self.temp('dest.txt')
+        book = self.temp('book', BOOK % (src, dest))
+
+        playbook.PlayBook(
+            playbook  = book,
+            inventory = INVENTORY,
+            transport = 'local',
+            callbacks = callbacks.PlaybookCallbacks(),
+            runner_callbacks = callbacks.DefaultRunnerCallbacks(),
+            stats  = callbacks.AggregateStats(),
+        ).run()
+
+        out = open(dest).read()
+        self.assertEqual(DEST, out)
+