diff --git a/docs/html/cli/pip_show.rst b/docs/html/cli/pip_show.rst
index b603f786fd9..4559753af27 100644
--- a/docs/html/cli/pip_show.rst
+++ b/docs/html/cli/pip_show.rst
@@ -30,10 +30,52 @@ Options
 .. pip-command-options:: show
 
 
+Format
+======
+
+The various fields present in the JSON output and their explanation is as follows.
+
+*metadata*
+   A dictionary with the core metadata fields present in the ``METADATA`` file,
+   as defined in the `Core metadata specifications`_. We use the method detailed in
+   `JSON-compatible Metadata`_ to convert core metadata to json. The fields are
+   lower cased, with dashes replaced by underscores.
+
+*direct_url*
+   A dictionary containing the content of ``direct_url.json``,
+   if present, as specified in :pep:`610`.
+
+*installer*
+   A string containing the content of ``INSTALLER``,
+   if present, as specified in :pep:`376`.
+
+*record*
+   A list of ``[file_path, file_content_hash, file_size]``, representing
+   the content of ``RECORD``, if present, as specified in :pep:`376`.
+
+*requested*
+   A string containing the content of ``REQUESTED``,
+   if present, as specified in :pep:`376`.
+
+*required_by*
+   A list of canonicalized distribution names that depend
+   on the queried distribution.
+
+*requires*
+   A list of canonicalized distribution names on which
+   this distribution depends on.
+
+*location*
+   A string containing the path where the distribution is installed.
+   This is the parent directory of the metadata (.dist-info or .egg-info) directory.
+
+.. _`Core metadata specifications`: https://packaging.python.org/specifications/core-metadata/
+.. _`JSON-compatible Metadata`: https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0566/#json-compatible-metadata
+
 Examples
 ========
 
-#. Show information about a package:
+#. Show information about a package in header format:
 
    .. tab:: Unix/macOS
 
@@ -65,7 +107,104 @@ Examples
          Location: /my/env/lib/python2.7/site-packages
          Requires: docutils, snowballstemmer, alabaster, Pygments, imagesize, Jinja2, babel, six
 
-#. Show all information about a package
+#. Show all information about a package in header format excluding files:
+
+    ::
+
+      $ pip show --verbose sphinx
+      Name: Sphinx
+      Version: 1.4.5
+      Summary: Python documentation generator
+      Home-page: http://sphinx-doc.org/
+      Author: Georg Brandl
+      Author-email: georg@python.org
+      License: BSD
+      Location: /my/env/lib/python2.7/site-packages
+      Requires: docutils, snowballstemmer, alabaster, Pygments, imagesize, Jinja2, babel, six
+      Metadata-Version: 2.0
+      Installer:
+      Classifiers:
+        Development Status :: 5 - Production/Stable
+        Environment :: Console
+        Environment :: Web Environment
+        Intended Audience :: Developers
+        Intended Audience :: Education
+        License :: OSI Approved :: BSD License
+        Operating System :: OS Independent
+        Programming Language :: Python
+        Programming Language :: Python :: 2
+        Programming Language :: Python :: 3
+        Framework :: Sphinx
+        Framework :: Sphinx :: Extension
+        Framework :: Sphinx :: Theme
+        Topic :: Documentation
+        Topic :: Documentation :: Sphinx
+        Topic :: Text Processing
+        Topic :: Utilities
+      Entry-points:
+        [console_scripts]
+        sphinx-apidoc = sphinx.apidoc:main
+        sphinx-autogen = sphinx.ext.autosummary.generate:main
+        sphinx-build = sphinx:main
+        sphinx-quickstart = sphinx.quickstart:main
+        [distutils.commands]
+        build_sphinx = sphinx.setup_command:BuildDoc
+
+#. Show all information about a package in header format including files:
+
+    ::
+
+      $ pip show --verbose sphinx
+      Name: Sphinx
+      Version: 1.4.5
+      Summary: Python documentation generator
+      Home-page: http://sphinx-doc.org/
+      Author: Georg Brandl
+      Author-email: georg@python.org
+      License: BSD
+      Location: /my/env/lib/python2.7/site-packages
+      Requires: docutils, snowballstemmer, alabaster, Pygments, imagesize, Jinja2, babel, six
+      Metadata-Version: 2.0
+      Installer:
+      Classifiers:
+        Development Status :: 5 - Production/Stable
+        Environment :: Console
+        Environment :: Web Environment
+        Intended Audience :: Developers
+        Intended Audience :: Education
+        License :: OSI Approved :: BSD License
+        Operating System :: OS Independent
+        Programming Language :: Python
+        Programming Language :: Python :: 2
+        Programming Language :: Python :: 3
+        Framework :: Sphinx
+        Framework :: Sphinx :: Extension
+        Framework :: Sphinx :: Theme
+        Topic :: Documentation
+        Topic :: Documentation :: Sphinx
+        Topic :: Text Processing
+        Topic :: Utilities
+      Entry-points:
+        [console_scripts]
+        sphinx-apidoc = sphinx.apidoc:main
+        sphinx-autogen = sphinx.ext.autosummary.generate:main
+        sphinx-build = sphinx:main
+        sphinx-quickstart = sphinx.quickstart:main
+        [distutils.commands]
+        build_sphinx = sphinx.setup_command:BuildDoc
+      Files:
+          ../../../bin/sphinx-apidoc
+          ../../../bin/sphinx-autogen
+          ../../../bin/sphinx-build
+          ../../../bin/sphinx-quickstart
+          Sphinx-1.4.5.dist-info/DESCRIPTION.rst
+          Sphinx-1.4.5.dist-info/INSTALLER
+          Sphinx-1.4.5.dist-info/METADATA
+          Sphinx-1.4.5.dist-info/RECORD
+          Sphinx-1.4.5.dist-info/WHEEL
+          Sphinx-1.4.5.dist-info/entry_points.txt
+          Sphinx-1.4.5.dist-info/metadata.json
+          Sphinx-1.4.5.dist-info/top_level.txt
 
    .. tab:: Unix/macOS
 
diff --git a/news/8080.doc.rst b/news/8080.doc.rst
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..a17b85e055e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/news/8080.doc.rst
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Added documentation for pip show header and json format