diff --git a/napalm/base/base.py b/napalm/base/base.py
index 6676a151e..1259f6966 100644
--- a/napalm/base/base.py
+++ b/napalm/base/base.py
@@ -737,7 +737,9 @@ def get_bgp_config(
         """
         raise NotImplementedError
 
-    def cli(self, commands: List[str]) -> Dict[str, Union[str, Dict[str, Any]]]:
+    def cli(
+        self, commands: List[str], encoding: str = "text"
+    ) -> Dict[str, Union[str, Dict[str, Any]]]:
 
         """
         Will execute a list of commands and return the output in a dictionary format.
diff --git a/napalm/base/mock.py b/napalm/base/mock.py
index e785528fd..bff491e20 100644
--- a/napalm/base/mock.py
+++ b/napalm/base/mock.py
@@ -151,7 +151,9 @@ def close(self) -> None:
     def is_alive(self) -> models.AliveDict:
         return {"is_alive": self.opened}
 
-    def cli(self, commands: List[str]) -> Dict[str, Union[str, Dict[str, Any]]]:
+    def cli(
+        self, commands: List[str], encoding: str = "text"
+    ) -> Dict[str, Union[str, Dict[str, Any]]]:
         count = self._count_calls("cli")
         result = {}
         regexp = re.compile("[^a-zA-Z0-9]+")
diff --git a/napalm/eos/eos.py b/napalm/eos/eos.py
index 0d01370fa..893d535c0 100644
--- a/napalm/eos/eos.py
+++ b/napalm/eos/eos.py
@@ -891,7 +891,9 @@ def get_lldp_neighbors_detail(self, interface=""):
                 )
         return lldp_neighbors_out
 
-    def cli(self, commands):
+    def cli(self, commands, encoding="text"):
+        if encoding not in ("text", "json"):
+            raise NotImplementedError("%s is not a supported encoding" % encoding)
         cli_output = {}
 
         if type(commands) is not list:
@@ -899,9 +901,11 @@ def cli(self, commands):
 
         for command in commands:
             try:
-                cli_output[str(command)] = self._run_commands(
-                    [command], encoding="text"
-                )[0].get("output")
+                result = self._run_commands([command], encoding=encoding)
+                if encoding == "text":
+                    cli_output[str(command)] = result[0]["output"]
+                else:
+                    cli_output[str(command)] = result[0]
                 # not quite fair to not exploit rum_commands
                 # but at least can have better control to point to wrong command in case of failure
             except pyeapi.eapilib.CommandError:
diff --git a/napalm/ios/ios.py b/napalm/ios/ios.py
index bd0edcd2b..9104c31dd 100644
--- a/napalm/ios/ios.py
+++ b/napalm/ios/ios.py
@@ -2362,7 +2362,7 @@ def get_arp_table(self, vrf=""):
             arp_table.append(entry)
         return arp_table
 
-    def cli(self, commands):
+    def cli(self, commands, encoding="text"):
         """
         Execute a list of commands and return the output in a dictionary format using the command
         as the key.
@@ -2375,6 +2375,8 @@ def cli(self, commands):
             'show clock': u'*22:01:51.165 UTC Thu Feb 18 2016'}
 
         """
+        if encoding not in ("text",):
+            raise NotImplementedError("%s is not a supported encoding" % encoding)
         cli_output = dict()
         if type(commands) is not list:
             raise TypeError("Please enter a valid list of commands!")
diff --git a/napalm/iosxr/iosxr.py b/napalm/iosxr/iosxr.py
index 8036151ee..3d3697513 100644
--- a/napalm/iosxr/iosxr.py
+++ b/napalm/iosxr/iosxr.py
@@ -885,7 +885,9 @@ def get_lldp_neighbors_detail(self, interface=""):
 
         return lldp_neighbors
 
-    def cli(self, commands):
+    def cli(self, commands, encoding="text"):
+        if encoding not in ("text",):
+            raise NotImplementedError("%s is not a supported encoding" % encoding)
 
         cli_output = {}
 
diff --git a/napalm/iosxr_netconf/iosxr_netconf.py b/napalm/iosxr_netconf/iosxr_netconf.py
index 0b8b901b8..656078880 100644
--- a/napalm/iosxr_netconf/iosxr_netconf.py
+++ b/napalm/iosxr_netconf/iosxr_netconf.py
@@ -1326,7 +1326,7 @@ def get_lldp_neighbors_detail(self, interface=""):
 
         return lldp_neighbors_detail
 
-    def cli(self, commands):
+    def cli(self, commands, encoding="text"):
         """Execute raw CLI commands and returns their output."""
         return NotImplementedError
 
diff --git a/napalm/junos/junos.py b/napalm/junos/junos.py
index cebf46f7b..db3daf751 100644
--- a/napalm/junos/junos.py
+++ b/napalm/junos/junos.py
@@ -1012,8 +1012,10 @@ def get_lldp_neighbors_detail(self, interface=""):
 
         return lldp_neighbors
 
-    def cli(self, commands):
+    def cli(self, commands, encoding="text"):
         """Execute raw CLI commands and returns their output."""
+        if encoding not in ("text",):
+            raise NotImplementedError("%s is not a supported encoding" % encoding)
         cli_output = {}
 
         def _count(txt, none):  # Second arg for consistency only. noqa
diff --git a/napalm/nxos/nxos.py b/napalm/nxos/nxos.py
index 775868b9a..d857832e4 100644
--- a/napalm/nxos/nxos.py
+++ b/napalm/nxos/nxos.py
@@ -1127,7 +1127,11 @@ def get_bgp_neighbors(self) -> Dict[str, models.BGPStateNeighborsPerVRFDict]:
             results[vrf_name] = result_vrf_dict
         return results
 
-    def cli(self, commands: List[str]) -> Dict[str, Union[str, Dict[str, Any]]]:
+    def cli(
+        self, commands: List[str], encoding: str = "text"
+    ) -> Dict[str, Union[str, Dict[str, Any]]]:
+        if encoding not in ("text",):
+            raise NotImplementedError("%s is not a supported encoding" % encoding)
         cli_output: Dict[str, Union[str, Dict[str, Any]]] = {}
         if type(commands) is not list:
             raise TypeError("Please enter a valid list of commands!")
diff --git a/napalm/nxos_ssh/nxos_ssh.py b/napalm/nxos_ssh/nxos_ssh.py
index 61ee35a08..01147d0e6 100644
--- a/napalm/nxos_ssh/nxos_ssh.py
+++ b/napalm/nxos_ssh/nxos_ssh.py
@@ -787,7 +787,9 @@ def get_bgp_neighbors(self):
         # FIX -- need to merge IPv6 and IPv4 AFI for same neighbor
         return bgp_dict
 
-    def cli(self, commands):
+    def cli(self, commands, encoding="text"):
+        if encoding not in ("text",):
+            raise NotImplementedError("%s is not a supported encoding" % encoding)
         cli_output = {}
         if type(commands) is not list:
             raise TypeError("Please enter a valid list of commands!")
diff --git a/test/junos/TestJunOSDriver.py b/test/junos/TestJunOSDriver.py
index 2f8d5e0ae..c477bc541 100644
--- a/test/junos/TestJunOSDriver.py
+++ b/test/junos/TestJunOSDriver.py
@@ -86,7 +86,7 @@ def read_txt_file(self, filename):
         with open(filename) as data_file:
             return data_file.read()
 
-    def cli(self, command=""):
+    def cli(self, command="", encoding="text"):
         return self.read_txt_file(
             "junos/mock_data/{parsed_command}.txt".format(
                 parsed_command=command.replace(" ", "_")
diff --git a/test/junos/conftest.py b/test/junos/conftest.py
index a0a057328..dc21dce60 100644
--- a/test/junos/conftest.py
+++ b/test/junos/conftest.py
@@ -119,7 +119,7 @@ def close(self):
     def bind(*args, **kvargs):
         pass
 
-    def cli(self, command=""):
+    def cli(self, command="", encoding="text"):
         filename = "{safe_command}.txt".format(safe_command=self.sanitize_text(command))
         fielpath = self.find_file(filename)
         return self.read_txt_file(fielpath)