diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/admin/cluster/snapshots/status/SnapshotStatus.java b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/admin/cluster/snapshots/status/SnapshotStatus.java
index 7944d969ab57f..e8c797e45a09c 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/admin/cluster/snapshots/status/SnapshotStatus.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/admin/cluster/snapshots/status/SnapshotStatus.java
@@ -20,13 +20,12 @@
 package org.elasticsearch.action.admin.cluster.snapshots.status;
 
 import org.elasticsearch.cluster.SnapshotsInProgress.State;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.Strings;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.io.stream.StreamInput;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.io.stream.StreamOutput;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.io.stream.Streamable;
-import org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.ToXContent.Params;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.ToXContentObject;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.XContentBuilder;
-import org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.XContentFactory;
 import org.elasticsearch.snapshots.Snapshot;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
@@ -160,15 +159,7 @@ public static SnapshotStatus readSnapshotStatus(StreamInput in) throws IOExcepti
 
     @Override
     public String toString() {
-        try {
-            XContentBuilder builder = XContentFactory.jsonBuilder().prettyPrint();
-            builder.startObject();
-            toXContent(builder, EMPTY_PARAMS);
-            builder.endObject();
-            return builder.string();
-        } catch (IOException e) {
-            return "{ \"error\" : \"" + e.getMessage() + "\"}";
-        }
+        return Strings.toString(this, true, false);
     }
 
     /**
diff --git a/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/action/admin/cluster/snapshots/status/SnapshotStatusTests.java b/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/action/admin/cluster/snapshots/status/SnapshotStatusTests.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..481bf5579e2ab
--- /dev/null
+++ b/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/action/admin/cluster/snapshots/status/SnapshotStatusTests.java
@@ -0,0 +1,135 @@
+package org.elasticsearch.action.admin.cluster.snapshots.status;
+
+/*
+ * Licensed to Elasticsearch under one or more contributor
+ * license agreements. See the NOTICE file distributed with
+ * this work for additional information regarding copyright
+ * ownership. Elasticsearch licenses this file to you under
+ * the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); you may
+ * not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
+ * software distributed under the License is distributed on an
+ * "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
+ * KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
+ * specific language governing permissions and limitations
+ * under the License.
+ */
+
+import org.elasticsearch.cluster.SnapshotsInProgress;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.UUIDs;
+import org.elasticsearch.index.shard.ShardId;
+import org.elasticsearch.snapshots.Snapshot;
+import org.elasticsearch.snapshots.SnapshotId;
+import org.elasticsearch.test.ESTestCase;
+
+import java.util.ArrayList;
+import java.util.List;
+
+
+public class SnapshotStatusTests extends ESTestCase {
+
+
+    public void testToString() throws Exception {
+        SnapshotsInProgress.State state = randomFrom(SnapshotsInProgress.State.values());
+        String uuid = UUIDs.randomBase64UUID();
+        SnapshotId id = new SnapshotId("test-snap", uuid);
+        Snapshot snapshot = new Snapshot("test-repo", id);
+
+        String indexName = randomAlphaOfLengthBetween(3, 50);
+        int shardId = randomInt();
+        ShardId testShardId = ShardId.fromString("[" + indexName + "][" + shardId + "]");
+        SnapshotIndexShardStage shardStage = randomFrom(SnapshotIndexShardStage.values());
+        SnapshotIndexShardStatus snapshotIndexShardStatus = new SnapshotIndexShardStatus(testShardId, shardStage);
+        List<SnapshotIndexShardStatus> snapshotIndexShardStatuses = new ArrayList<>();
+        snapshotIndexShardStatuses.add(snapshotIndexShardStatus);
+        SnapshotStatus status = new SnapshotStatus(snapshot, state, snapshotIndexShardStatuses);
+
+        int initializingShards = 0;
+        int startedShards = 0;
+        int finalizingShards = 0;
+        int doneShards = 0;
+        int failedShards = 0;
+        int totalShards = 1;
+
+        switch (shardStage) {
+            case INIT:
+                initializingShards++;
+                break;
+            case STARTED:
+                startedShards++;
+                break;
+            case FINALIZE:
+                finalizingShards++;
+                break;
+            case DONE:
+                doneShards++;
+                break;
+            case FAILURE:
+                failedShards++;
+                break;
+            default:
+                break;
+        }
+
+        String expected = "{\n" +
+            "  \"snapshot\" : \"test-snap\",\n" +
+            "  \"repository\" : \"test-repo\",\n" +
+            "  \"uuid\" : \"" + uuid + "\",\n" +
+            "  \"state\" : \"" + state.toString() + "\",\n" +
+            "  \"shards_stats\" : {\n" +
+            "    \"initializing\" : " + initializingShards + ",\n" +
+            "    \"started\" : " + startedShards + ",\n" +
+            "    \"finalizing\" : " + finalizingShards + ",\n" +
+            "    \"done\" : " + doneShards + ",\n" +
+            "    \"failed\" : " + failedShards + ",\n" +
+            "    \"total\" : " + totalShards + "\n" +
+            "  },\n" +
+            "  \"stats\" : {\n" +
+            "    \"number_of_files\" : 0,\n" +
+            "    \"processed_files\" : 0,\n" +
+            "    \"total_size_in_bytes\" : 0,\n" +
+            "    \"processed_size_in_bytes\" : 0,\n" +
+            "    \"start_time_in_millis\" : 0,\n" +
+            "    \"time_in_millis\" : 0\n" +
+            "  },\n" +
+            "  \"indices\" : {\n" +
+            "    \"" + indexName + "\" : {\n" +
+            "      \"shards_stats\" : {\n" +
+            "        \"initializing\" : " + initializingShards + ",\n" +
+            "        \"started\" : " + startedShards + ",\n" +
+            "        \"finalizing\" : " + finalizingShards + ",\n" +
+            "        \"done\" : " + doneShards + ",\n" +
+            "        \"failed\" : " + failedShards + ",\n" +
+            "        \"total\" : " + totalShards + "\n" +
+            "      },\n" +
+            "      \"stats\" : {\n" +
+            "        \"number_of_files\" : 0,\n" +
+            "        \"processed_files\" : 0,\n" +
+            "        \"total_size_in_bytes\" : 0,\n" +
+            "        \"processed_size_in_bytes\" : 0,\n" +
+            "        \"start_time_in_millis\" : 0,\n" +
+            "        \"time_in_millis\" : 0\n" +
+            "      },\n" +
+            "      \"shards\" : {\n" +
+            "        \"" + shardId + "\" : {\n" +
+            "          \"stage\" : \"" + shardStage.toString() + "\",\n" +
+            "          \"stats\" : {\n" +
+            "            \"number_of_files\" : 0,\n" +
+            "            \"processed_files\" : 0,\n" +
+            "            \"total_size_in_bytes\" : 0,\n" +
+            "            \"processed_size_in_bytes\" : 0,\n" +
+            "            \"start_time_in_millis\" : 0,\n" +
+            "            \"time_in_millis\" : 0\n" +
+            "          }\n" +
+            "        }\n" +
+            "      }\n" +
+            "    }\n" +
+            "  }\n" +
+            "}";
+        assertEquals(expected, status.toString());
+    }
+}