diff --git a/examples/custom_adapter/testem.json b/examples/custom_adapter/testem.json
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..4681d6338
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/custom_adapter/testem.json
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+{
+    "framework": "custom"
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/examples/custom_adapter/testem.yml b/examples/custom_adapter/testem.yml
deleted file mode 100644
index 8b0aed91c..000000000
--- a/examples/custom_adapter/testem.yml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-framework: custom
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/examples/mocha_simple/testem.json b/examples/mocha_simple/testem.json
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..70c77d12c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/mocha_simple/testem.json
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+{
+    "framework": "mocha"
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/examples/mocha_simple/testem.yml b/examples/mocha_simple/testem.yml
deleted file mode 100644
index 1e1482bfd..000000000
--- a/examples/mocha_simple/testem.yml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-framework: mocha
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/lib/config.js b/lib/config.js
index f6ef473a1..aabca3048 100644
--- a/lib/config.js
+++ b/lib/config.js
@@ -18,11 +18,20 @@ function Config(progOptions){
 Config.prototype.read = function(callback){
     var configFile = this.progOptions.file
       , self = this
-    fs.readFile(configFile, function(err, data){
-        if (!err){
-            var cfg = yaml.load(String(data))
-            self.config = cfg
+      , jsonConfigFile = configFile.replace(/\.yml$/, ".json")
+
+    fs.readFile(configFile, function (err, data) {
+        if (err) {
+            return fs.readFile(jsonConfigFile, function (err, data) {
+                if (!err) {
+                    var cfg = JSON.parse(data.toString())
+                    self.config = cfg   
+                }
+                if (callback) callback.call(self)
+            })
         }
+        var cfg = yaml.load(String(data))
+        self.config = cfg
         if (callback) callback.call(self)
     })
 }