diff --git a/lib/ansible/module_utils/_text.py b/lib/ansible/module_utils/_text.py
index a4273045932..373976ce2db 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/module_utils/_text.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/module_utils/_text.py
@@ -6,4 +6,8 @@
 """
 
 # Backwards compat for people still calling it from this package
+import codecs
+
+from ansible.module_utils.six import PY3, text_type, binary_type
+
 from ansible.module_utils.common.text.converters import to_bytes, to_native, to_text
diff --git a/lib/ansible/module_utils/common/text/converters.py b/lib/ansible/module_utils/common/text/converters.py
index 08e071763b2..26cfe67debb 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/module_utils/common/text/converters.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/module_utils/common/text/converters.py
@@ -30,69 +30,6 @@ _COMPOSED_ERROR_HANDLERS = frozenset((None, 'surrogate_or_replace',
                                       'surrogate_then_replace'))
 
 
-def _json_encode_fallback(obj):
-    if isinstance(obj, Set):
-        return list(obj)
-    elif isinstance(obj, datetime.datetime):
-        return obj.isoformat()
-    raise TypeError("Cannot json serialize %s" % to_native(obj))
-
-
-def jsonify(data, **kwargs):
-    for encoding in ("utf-8", "latin-1"):
-        try:
-            return json.dumps(data, encoding=encoding, default=_json_encode_fallback, **kwargs)
-        # Old systems using old simplejson module does not support encoding keyword.
-        except TypeError:
-            try:
-                new_data = container_to_text(data, encoding=encoding)
-            except UnicodeDecodeError:
-                continue
-            return json.dumps(new_data, default=_json_encode_fallback, **kwargs)
-        except UnicodeDecodeError:
-            continue
-    raise UnicodeError('Invalid unicode encoding encountered')
-
-
-def container_to_bytes(d, encoding='utf-8', errors='surrogate_or_strict'):
-    ''' Recursively convert dict keys and values to byte str
-
-        Specialized for json return because this only handles, lists, tuples,
-        and dict container types (the containers that the json module returns)
-    '''
-
-    if isinstance(d, text_type):
-        return to_bytes(d, encoding=encoding, errors=errors)
-    elif isinstance(d, dict):
-        return dict(container_to_bytes(o, encoding, errors) for o in iteritems(d))
-    elif isinstance(d, list):
-        return [container_to_bytes(o, encoding, errors) for o in d]
-    elif isinstance(d, tuple):
-        return tuple(container_to_bytes(o, encoding, errors) for o in d)
-    else:
-        return d
-
-
-def container_to_text(d, encoding='utf-8', errors='surrogate_or_strict'):
-    """Recursively convert dict keys and values to byte str
-
-    Specialized for json return because this only handles, lists, tuples,
-    and dict container types (the containers that the json module returns)
-    """
-
-    if isinstance(d, binary_type):
-        # Warning, can traceback
-        return to_text(d, encoding=encoding, errors=errors)
-    elif isinstance(d, dict):
-        return dict(container_to_text(o, encoding, errors) for o in iteritems(d))
-    elif isinstance(d, list):
-        return [container_to_text(o, encoding, errors) for o in d]
-    elif isinstance(d, tuple):
-        return tuple(container_to_text(o, encoding, errors) for o in d)
-    else:
-        return d
-
-
 def to_bytes(obj, encoding='utf-8', errors=None, nonstring='simplerepr'):
     """Make sure that a string is a byte string
 
@@ -320,3 +257,66 @@ if PY3:
     to_native = to_text
 else:
     to_native = to_bytes
+
+
+def _json_encode_fallback(obj):
+    if isinstance(obj, Set):
+        return list(obj)
+    elif isinstance(obj, datetime.datetime):
+        return obj.isoformat()
+    raise TypeError("Cannot json serialize %s" % to_native(obj))
+
+
+def jsonify(data, **kwargs):
+    for encoding in ("utf-8", "latin-1"):
+        try:
+            return json.dumps(data, encoding=encoding, default=_json_encode_fallback, **kwargs)
+        # Old systems using old simplejson module does not support encoding keyword.
+        except TypeError:
+            try:
+                new_data = container_to_text(data, encoding=encoding)
+            except UnicodeDecodeError:
+                continue
+            return json.dumps(new_data, default=_json_encode_fallback, **kwargs)
+        except UnicodeDecodeError:
+            continue
+    raise UnicodeError('Invalid unicode encoding encountered')
+
+
+def container_to_bytes(d, encoding='utf-8', errors='surrogate_or_strict'):
+    ''' Recursively convert dict keys and values to byte str
+
+        Specialized for json return because this only handles, lists, tuples,
+        and dict container types (the containers that the json module returns)
+    '''
+
+    if isinstance(d, text_type):
+        return to_bytes(d, encoding=encoding, errors=errors)
+    elif isinstance(d, dict):
+        return dict(container_to_bytes(o, encoding, errors) for o in iteritems(d))
+    elif isinstance(d, list):
+        return [container_to_bytes(o, encoding, errors) for o in d]
+    elif isinstance(d, tuple):
+        return tuple(container_to_bytes(o, encoding, errors) for o in d)
+    else:
+        return d
+
+
+def container_to_text(d, encoding='utf-8', errors='surrogate_or_strict'):
+    """Recursively convert dict keys and values to byte str
+
+    Specialized for json return because this only handles, lists, tuples,
+    and dict container types (the containers that the json module returns)
+    """
+
+    if isinstance(d, binary_type):
+        # Warning, can traceback
+        return to_text(d, encoding=encoding, errors=errors)
+    elif isinstance(d, dict):
+        return dict(container_to_text(o, encoding, errors) for o in iteritems(d))
+    elif isinstance(d, list):
+        return [container_to_text(o, encoding, errors) for o in d]
+    elif isinstance(d, tuple):
+        return tuple(container_to_text(o, encoding, errors) for o in d)
+    else:
+        return d