diff --git a/libraries/entities/src/EntityTree.cpp b/libraries/entities/src/EntityTree.cpp
index a7c88ddc7d..aa2167029d 100644
--- a/libraries/entities/src/EntityTree.cpp
+++ b/libraries/entities/src/EntityTree.cpp
@@ -35,6 +35,7 @@
 #include "QVariantGLM.h"
 #include "EntitiesLogging.h"
 #include "RecurseOctreeToMapOperator.h"
+#include "RecurseOctreeToJsonOperator.h"
 #include "LogHandler.h"
 #include "EntityEditFilters.h"
 #include "EntityDynamicFactoryInterface.h"
@@ -2658,6 +2659,17 @@ bool EntityTree::readFromMap(QVariantMap& map) {
     return success;
 }
 
+bool EntityTree::writeToJSON(QString & jsonString, const OctreeElementPointer & element) {
+    QScriptEngine scriptEngine;
+    RecurseOctreeToJSONOperator theOperator(element, &scriptEngine, jsonString);
+    withReadLock([&] {
+        recurseTreeWithOperator(&theOperator);
+    });
+
+    jsonString = theOperator.getJson();
+    return true;
+}
+
 void EntityTree::resetClientEditStats() {
     _treeResetTime = usecTimestampNow();
     _maxEditDelta = 0;
diff --git a/libraries/entities/src/EntityTree.h b/libraries/entities/src/EntityTree.h
index 2f971b8566..b852a695d8 100644
--- a/libraries/entities/src/EntityTree.h
+++ b/libraries/entities/src/EntityTree.h
@@ -224,6 +224,8 @@ public:
     virtual bool writeToMap(QVariantMap& entityDescription, OctreeElementPointer element, bool skipDefaultValues,
                             bool skipThoseWithBadParents) override;
     virtual bool readFromMap(QVariantMap& entityDescription) override;
+    virtual bool writeToJSON(QString& jsonString, const OctreeElementPointer& element) override;
+
 
     glm::vec3 getContentsDimensions();
     float getContentsLargestDimension();
diff --git a/libraries/entities/src/RecurseOctreeToJSONOperator.cpp b/libraries/entities/src/RecurseOctreeToJSONOperator.cpp
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..2db1a2b228
--- /dev/null
+++ b/libraries/entities/src/RecurseOctreeToJSONOperator.cpp
@@ -0,0 +1,45 @@
+//
+//  RecurseOctreeToJSONOperator.cpp
+//  libraries/entities/src
+//
+//  Created by Simon Walton on Oct 11, 2018.
+//  Copyright 2018 High Fidelity, Inc.
+//
+//  Distributed under the Apache License, Version 2.0.
+//  See the accompanying file LICENSE or http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0.html
+//
+
+#include "RecurseOctreeToJSONOperator.h"
+
+#include "EntityItemProperties.h"
+
+RecurseOctreeToJSONOperator::RecurseOctreeToJSONOperator(const OctreeElementPointer& top, QScriptEngine* engine,
+    QString jsonPrefix /* = QString() */)
+    : _top(top)
+    , _engine(engine)
+    , _json(jsonPrefix)
+{
+    _toStringMethod = _engine->evaluate("(function() { return JSON.stringify(this, null, '    ') })");
+}
+
+bool RecurseOctreeToJSONOperator::postRecursion(const OctreeElementPointer& element) {
+    EntityTreeElementPointer entityTreeElement = std::static_pointer_cast<EntityTreeElement>(element);
+
+    entityTreeElement->forEachEntity([&](const EntityItemPointer& entity) { processEntity(entity); } );
+    return true;
+}
+
+void RecurseOctreeToJSONOperator::processEntity(const EntityItemPointer& entity) {
+    QScriptValue qScriptValues = EntityItemNonDefaultPropertiesToScriptValue(_engine, entity->getProperties());
+    if (comma) {
+        _json += ',';
+    };
+    comma = true;
+    _json += "\n    ";
+
+    // Override default toString():
+    qScriptValues.setProperty("toString", _toStringMethod);
+    QString jsonResult = qScriptValues.toString();
+    //auto exceptionString2 = _engine->uncaughtException().toString();
+    _json += jsonResult;
+}
diff --git a/libraries/entities/src/RecurseOctreeToJSONOperator.h b/libraries/entities/src/RecurseOctreeToJSONOperator.h
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..92ce6bfdca
--- /dev/null
+++ b/libraries/entities/src/RecurseOctreeToJSONOperator.h
@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+//
+//  RecurseOctreeToJSONOperator.h
+//  libraries/entities/src
+//
+//  Created by Simon Walton on Oct 11, 2018.
+//  Copyright 2018 High Fidelity, Inc.
+//
+//  Distributed under the Apache License, Version 2.0.
+//  See the accompanying file LICENSE or http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0.html
+//
+
+#include "EntityTree.h"
+
+class RecurseOctreeToJSONOperator : public RecurseOctreeOperator {
+public:
+    RecurseOctreeToJSONOperator(const OctreeElementPointer& top, QScriptEngine* engine, QString jsonPrefix = QString());
+    virtual bool preRecursion(const OctreeElementPointer& element) override { return true; };
+    virtual bool postRecursion(const OctreeElementPointer& element) override;
+
+    QString getJson() const { return _json; }
+
+private:
+    void processEntity(const EntityItemPointer& entity);
+
+    const OctreeElementPointer& _top;
+    QScriptEngine* _engine;
+    QScriptValue _toStringMethod;
+
+    QString _json;
+    bool comma { false };
+};
diff --git a/libraries/octree/src/Octree.cpp b/libraries/octree/src/Octree.cpp
index 37dd4e410f..40d2449a38 100644
--- a/libraries/octree/src/Octree.cpp
+++ b/libraries/octree/src/Octree.cpp
@@ -51,7 +51,6 @@
 #include "OctreeQueryNode.h"
 #include "OctreeUtils.h"
 
-
 QVector<QString> PERSIST_EXTENSIONS = {"json", "json.gz"};
 
 Octree::Octree(bool shouldReaverage) :
@@ -892,13 +891,61 @@ bool Octree::toJSONDocument(QJsonDocument* doc, const OctreeElementPointer& elem
     return true;
 }
 
+bool Octree::toJSONString(QString& jsonString, const OctreeElementPointer& element) {
+    OctreeElementPointer top;
+    if (element) {
+        top = element;
+    } else {
+        top = _rootElement;
+    }
+
+    jsonString += QString(R"({
+  "DataVersion": %1,
+  "Entities": [)").arg(_persistDataVersion);
+
+    writeToJSON(jsonString, top);
+
+    // include the "bitstream" version
+    PacketType expectedType = expectedDataPacketType();
+    PacketVersion expectedVersion = versionForPacketType(expectedType);
+
+    jsonString += QString(R"(
+    ],
+  "Id": "%1",
+  "Version": %2
+}
+)").arg(_persistID.toString()).arg((int)expectedVersion);
+
+    return true;
+}
+
 bool Octree::toJSON(QByteArray* data, const OctreeElementPointer& element, bool doGzip) {
+#define HIFI_USE_DIRECT_TO_JSON
+#ifdef HIFI_USE_DIRECT_TO_JSON
+
+    QString jsonString;
+    toJSONString(jsonString);
+
+    if (doGzip) {
+        if (!gzip(jsonString.toUtf8(), *data, -1)) {
+            qCritical("Unable to gzip data while saving to json.");
+            return false;
+        }
+    } else {
+        *data = jsonString.toUtf8();
+    }
+
+#else
+
     QJsonDocument doc;
     if (!toJSONDocument(&doc, element)) {
         qCritical("Failed to convert Entities to JSON document.");
         return false;
     }
 
+    QString jsonString;
+    toJSONString(jsonString);
+
     if (doGzip) {
         QByteArray jsonData = doc.toJson();
 
@@ -909,6 +956,7 @@ bool Octree::toJSON(QByteArray* data, const OctreeElementPointer& element, bool
     } else {
         *data = doc.toJson();
     }
+#endif  // HIFI_USE_DIRECT_TO_JSON
 
     return true;
 }
diff --git a/libraries/octree/src/Octree.h b/libraries/octree/src/Octree.h
index a2b2f227cb..678d8aa5de 100644
--- a/libraries/octree/src/Octree.h
+++ b/libraries/octree/src/Octree.h
@@ -202,11 +202,13 @@ public:
 
     // Octree exporters
     bool toJSONDocument(QJsonDocument* doc, const OctreeElementPointer& element = nullptr);
+    bool toJSONString(QString& jsonString, const OctreeElementPointer& element = nullptr);
     bool toJSON(QByteArray* data, const OctreeElementPointer& element = nullptr, bool doGzip = false);
     bool writeToFile(const char* filename, const OctreeElementPointer& element = nullptr, QString persistAsFileType = "json.gz");
     bool writeToJSONFile(const char* filename, const OctreeElementPointer& element = nullptr, bool doGzip = false);
     virtual bool writeToMap(QVariantMap& entityDescription, OctreeElementPointer element, bool skipDefaultValues,
                             bool skipThoseWithBadParents) = 0;
+    virtual bool writeToJSON(QString& jsonString, const OctreeElementPointer& element) = 0;
 
     // Octree importers
     bool readFromFile(const char* filename);