diff --git a/cloud/amazon/cloudformation.py b/cloud/amazon/cloudformation.py
index eb49f66805c..1718ef142b1 100644
--- a/cloud/amazon/cloudformation.py
+++ b/cloud/amazon/cloudformation.py
@@ -81,6 +81,12 @@ options:
       - Location of file containing the template body. The URL must point to a template (max size 307,200 bytes) located in an S3 bucket in the same region as the stack. This parameter is mutually exclusive with 'template'. Either one of them is required if "state" parameter is "present"
     required: false
     version_added: "2.0"
+  template_format:
+    description: For local templates, allows specification of json or yaml format
+    default: json
+    choices: [ json, yaml ]
+    required: false
+    version_added: "2.0"
 
 author: James S. Martin
 extends_documentation_fragment: aws
@@ -127,6 +133,7 @@ EXAMPLES = '''
 
 import json
 import time
+import yaml
 
 try:
     import boto
@@ -224,6 +231,7 @@ def main():
             stack_policy=dict(default=None, required=False),
             disable_rollback=dict(default=False, type='bool'),
             template_url=dict(default=None, required=False),
+            template_format=dict(default='json', choices=['json', 'yaml'], required=False),
             tags=dict(default=None)
         )
     )
@@ -250,6 +258,12 @@ def main():
     else:
         template_body = None
 
+    if module.params['template_format'] == 'yaml':
+        if template_body is None:
+            module.fail_json(msg='yaml format only supported for local templates')
+        else:
+            template_body = json.dumps(yaml.load(template_body), indent=2)
+
     if module.params['stack_policy'] is not None:
         stack_policy_body = open(module.params['stack_policy'], 'r').read()
     else: