diff --git a/libraries/entities/src/EntityTree.cpp b/libraries/entities/src/EntityTree.cpp
index aa2167029d..19182d8b22 100644
--- a/libraries/entities/src/EntityTree.cpp
+++ b/libraries/entities/src/EntityTree.cpp
@@ -2659,7 +2659,7 @@ bool EntityTree::readFromMap(QVariantMap& map) {
     return success;
 }
 
-bool EntityTree::writeToJSON(QString & jsonString, const OctreeElementPointer & element) {
+bool EntityTree::writeToJSON(QString& jsonString, const OctreeElementPointer& element) {
     QScriptEngine scriptEngine;
     RecurseOctreeToJSONOperator theOperator(element, &scriptEngine, jsonString);
     withReadLock([&] {
diff --git a/libraries/entities/src/RecurseOctreeToJSONOperator.cpp b/libraries/entities/src/RecurseOctreeToJSONOperator.cpp
index 2db1a2b228..d67e7176a3 100644
--- a/libraries/entities/src/RecurseOctreeToJSONOperator.cpp
+++ b/libraries/entities/src/RecurseOctreeToJSONOperator.cpp
@@ -10,14 +10,14 @@
 //
 
 #include "RecurseOctreeToJSONOperator.h"
-
 #include "EntityItemProperties.h"
 
 RecurseOctreeToJSONOperator::RecurseOctreeToJSONOperator(const OctreeElementPointer& top, QScriptEngine* engine,
-    QString jsonPrefix /* = QString() */)
+    QString jsonPrefix /* = QString() */, bool skipDefaults /* = true */)
     : _top(top)
     , _engine(engine)
     , _json(jsonPrefix)
+    , _skipDefaults(skipDefaults)
 {
     _toStringMethod = _engine->evaluate("(function() { return JSON.stringify(this, null, '    ') })");
 }
@@ -30,7 +30,10 @@ bool RecurseOctreeToJSONOperator::postRecursion(const OctreeElementPointer& elem
 }
 
 void RecurseOctreeToJSONOperator::processEntity(const EntityItemPointer& entity) {
-    QScriptValue qScriptValues = EntityItemNonDefaultPropertiesToScriptValue(_engine, entity->getProperties());
+    QScriptValue qScriptValues = _skipDefaults
+        ? EntityItemNonDefaultPropertiesToScriptValue(_engine, entity->getProperties())
+        : EntityItemPropertiesToScriptValue(_engine, entity->getProperties());
+
     if (comma) {
         _json += ',';
     };
@@ -39,7 +42,6 @@ void RecurseOctreeToJSONOperator::processEntity(const EntityItemPointer& entity)
 
     // Override default toString():
     qScriptValues.setProperty("toString", _toStringMethod);
-    QString jsonResult = qScriptValues.toString();
+    _json += qScriptValues.toString();
     //auto exceptionString2 = _engine->uncaughtException().toString();
-    _json += jsonResult;
 }
diff --git a/libraries/entities/src/RecurseOctreeToJSONOperator.h b/libraries/entities/src/RecurseOctreeToJSONOperator.h
index 92ce6bfdca..f661e08d5b 100644
--- a/libraries/entities/src/RecurseOctreeToJSONOperator.h
+++ b/libraries/entities/src/RecurseOctreeToJSONOperator.h
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@
 
 class RecurseOctreeToJSONOperator : public RecurseOctreeOperator {
 public:
-    RecurseOctreeToJSONOperator(const OctreeElementPointer& top, QScriptEngine* engine, QString jsonPrefix = QString());
+    RecurseOctreeToJSONOperator(const OctreeElementPointer& top, QScriptEngine* engine, QString jsonPrefix = QString(), bool skipDefaults = true);
     virtual bool preRecursion(const OctreeElementPointer& element) override { return true; };
     virtual bool postRecursion(const OctreeElementPointer& element) override;
 
@@ -27,5 +27,6 @@ private:
     QScriptValue _toStringMethod;
 
     QString _json;
+    const bool _skipDefaults;
     bool comma { false };
 };
diff --git a/libraries/octree/src/Octree.cpp b/libraries/octree/src/Octree.cpp
index 40d2449a38..d583901b41 100644
--- a/libraries/octree/src/Octree.cpp
+++ b/libraries/octree/src/Octree.cpp
@@ -956,8 +956,8 @@ bool Octree::toJSON(QByteArray* data, const OctreeElementPointer& element, bool
     } else {
         *data = doc.toJson();
     }
-#endif  // HIFI_USE_DIRECT_TO_JSON
 
+#endif  // HIFI_USE_DIRECT_TO_JSON
     return true;
 }
 
diff --git a/libraries/octree/src/OctreeDataUtils.cpp b/libraries/octree/src/OctreeDataUtils.cpp
index 44a56fe97a..4b1700d593 100644
--- a/libraries/octree/src/OctreeDataUtils.cpp
+++ b/libraries/octree/src/OctreeDataUtils.cpp
@@ -35,7 +35,11 @@ bool readOctreeFile(QString path, QJsonDocument* doc) {
         jsonData = data;
     }
 
-    *doc = QJsonDocument::fromJson(jsonData);
+    QJsonParseError parserError;
+    *doc = QJsonDocument::fromJson(jsonData, &parserError);
+    if (parserError.error != QJsonParseError::NoError) {
+        qWarning() << "Error reading JSON file" << path << "-" << parserError.errorString();
+    }
     return !doc->isNull();
 }