diff --git a/lib/inspec/cli.rb b/lib/inspec/cli.rb
index ef46e647d..3bca2e8ab 100644
--- a/lib/inspec/cli.rb
+++ b/lib/inspec/cli.rb
@@ -72,27 +72,45 @@ class Inspec::InspecCLI < Inspec::BaseCLI
   def json(target)
     # This deprecation warning is ignored currently.
     Inspec.deprecate(:renamed_to_inspec_export)
-    export(target)
+    export(target, true)
   end
 
-  desc "export PATH", "read all tests in PATH and generate a summary in json/yaml format."
+  desc "export PATH", "read the profile in PATH and generate a summary in the given format."
+  option :what, type: :string,
+    desc: "What to export: profile (default), readme, metadata."
   option :format, type: :string,
-    desc: "The output format to use json (default), yaml. If valid format is not provided then it will use the default."
+    desc: "The output format to use: json, raw, yaml. If valid format is not provided then it will use the default for the given 'what'."
   option :output, aliases: :o, type: :string,
-    desc: "Save the created profile to a path"
+    desc: "Save the created output to a path"
   option :controls, type: :array,
-    desc: "A list of controls to include. Ignore all other tests."
+    desc: "For --what=profile, a list of controls to include. Ignore all other tests."
   option :tags, type: :array,
-    desc: "A list of tags to filter controls and include only those. Ignore all other tests."
+    desc: "For --what=profile, a list of tags to filter controls and include only those. Ignore all other tests."
   profile_options
-  def export(target)
+  def export(target, as_json = false)
     o = config
     diagnose(o)
     o["log_location"] = $stderr
     configure_logger(o)
 
-    # default is json
-    format = o[:format] || "json"
+    what = o[:what] || "profile"
+    raise Inspec::Error.new("Unrecognized option '#{what}' for --what - expected one of profile, readme, or metadata.") unless %w{profile readme metadata}.include?(what)
+
+    default_format_for_what = {
+      "profile" => "yaml",
+      "metadata" => "raw",
+      "readme" => "raw",
+    }
+    valid_formats_for_what = {
+      "profile" => %w{yaml json},
+      "metadata" => %w{yaml raw}, # not going to argue
+      "readme" => ["raw"],
+    }
+    format = o[:format] || default_format_for_what[what]
+    # default is json if we were called as old json command
+    format = "json" if as_json
+    raise Inspec::Error.new("Invalid option '#{format}' for --format and --what combination") unless format && valid_formats_for_what[what].include?(format)
+
     o[:backend] = Inspec::Backend.create(Inspec::Config.mock)
     o[:check_mode] = true
     o[:vendor_cache] = Inspec::Cache.new(o[:vendor_cache])
diff --git a/test/fixtures/profiles/signed/profile-1.0.0.iaf b/test/fixtures/profiles/signed/profile-1.0.0.iaf
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..59c1dad7c
Binary files /dev/null and b/test/fixtures/profiles/signed/profile-1.0.0.iaf differ
diff --git a/test/functional/inspec_export_profile_test.rb b/test/functional/inspec_export_profile_test.rb
deleted file mode 100644
index b62b8deca..000000000
--- a/test/functional/inspec_export_profile_test.rb
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,47 +0,0 @@
-require "functional/helper"
-require "mixlib/shellout"
-require "json_schemer"
-
-describe "inspec export" do
-  include FunctionalHelper
-
-  parallelize_me!
-
-  # inspec_json_profile_test covers most of the test as inspec export is alias to inspec json.
-  it "exports the profile in default json format" do
-    out = inspec("export " + example_profile)
-    _(out.stderr).must_equal ""
-    assert_exit_code 0, out
-    _(JSON.load(out.stdout)).must_be_kind_of Hash
-  end
-
-  it "exports the iaf format profile to default json" do
-    prepare_examples do |dir|
-      skip_windows!
-
-      unique_key_name = SecureRandom.uuid
-
-      # create profile
-      profile = File.join(dir, "profile_a")
-      run_inspec_process("init profile profile_a", prefix: "cd #{dir};")
-
-      out = run_inspec_process("sign generate-keys --keyname #{unique_key_name}", prefix: "cd #{dir};")
-      assert_exit_code 0, out
-
-      out = run_inspec_process("sign profile --profile #{profile} --keyname #{unique_key_name}", prefix: "cd #{dir};")
-      assert_exit_code 0, out
-
-      out = run_inspec_process("export profile_a-0.1.0.iaf", prefix: "cd #{dir};")
-      assert_exit_code 0, out
-
-      _(out.stderr).must_equal ""
-      _(JSON.load(out.stdout)).must_be_kind_of Hash
-      delete_keys(unique_key_name)
-    end
-  end
-
-  def delete_keys(unique_key_name)
-    File.delete("#{Inspec.config_dir}/keys/#{unique_key_name}.pem.key") if File.exist?("#{Inspec.config_dir}/keys/#{unique_key_name}.pem.key")
-    File.delete("#{Inspec.config_dir}/keys/#{unique_key_name}.pem.pub") if File.exist?("#{Inspec.config_dir}/keys/#{unique_key_name}.pem.pub")
-  end
-end
diff --git a/test/functional/inspec_export_test.rb b/test/functional/inspec_export_test.rb
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..cda6212fd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/functional/inspec_export_test.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,95 @@
+require "functional/helper"
+
+describe "inspec export" do
+  include FunctionalHelper
+
+  parallelize_me!
+
+  # inspec_json_profile_test covers most of the test as inspec export is alias to inspec json.
+
+  let(:iaf) { "#{profile_path}/signed/profile-1.0.0.iaf" }
+
+  it "exports the profile in default yaml format" do
+    out = inspec("export " + example_profile)
+    _(out.stderr).must_equal ""
+    assert_exit_code 0, out
+    _(YAML.load(out.stdout)).must_be_kind_of Hash
+  end
+
+  it "exports the iaf format profile to default yaml" do
+    out = run_inspec_process("export #{iaf}")
+    assert_exit_code 0, out
+
+    _(out.stderr).must_equal ""
+    _(YAML.load(out.stdout)).must_be_kind_of Hash
+  end
+
+  it "exports the iaf format profile to explicit yaml" do
+    out = run_inspec_process("export --what profile --format yaml #{iaf}")
+    assert_exit_code 0, out
+
+    _(out.stderr).must_equal ""
+    _(YAML.load(out.stdout)).must_be_kind_of Hash
+  end
+
+  it "exports the iaf format profile to explicit json" do
+    out = run_inspec_process("export --what profile --format json #{iaf}")
+    assert_exit_code 0, out
+
+    _(out.stderr).must_equal ""
+    _(JSON.load(out.stdout)).must_be_kind_of Hash
+  end
+
+  it "rejects the iaf format profile to explicit raw" do
+    out = run_inspec_process("export --what profile --format raw #{iaf}")
+    assert_exit_code 1, out
+    _(out.stderr).must_include "Invalid option"
+  end
+
+  it "rejects metadata export to json" do
+    out = run_inspec_process("export --what metadata --format json #{iaf}")
+    assert_exit_code 1, out
+    _(out.stderr).must_include "Invalid option"
+  end
+
+  it "rejects README export to json" do
+    out = run_inspec_process("export --what readme --format json #{iaf}")
+    assert_exit_code 1, out
+    _(out.stderr).must_include "Invalid option"
+  end
+
+  it "rejects README export to yaml" do
+    out = run_inspec_process("export --what readme --format yaml #{iaf}")
+    assert_exit_code 1, out
+    _(out.stderr).must_include "Invalid option"
+  end
+
+  it "exports metadata in yaml" do
+    out = run_inspec_process("export --what metadata --format yaml #{iaf}")
+    assert_exit_code 0, out
+
+    _(out.stderr).must_equal ""
+    _(YAML.load(out.stdout)).must_be_kind_of Hash
+
+    _(out.stdout).must_equal File.read("#{profile_path}/old-examples/profile/inspec.yml")
+  end
+
+  it "exports metadata in raw" do
+    # Same as previous
+    out = run_inspec_process("export --what metadata --format raw #{iaf}")
+    assert_exit_code 0, out
+
+    _(out.stderr).must_equal ""
+    _(YAML.load(out.stdout)).must_be_kind_of Hash
+
+    _(out.stdout).must_equal File.read("#{profile_path}/old-examples/profile/inspec.yml")
+  end
+
+  it "exports readme in raw" do
+    out = run_inspec_process("export --what readme --format raw #{iaf}")
+    assert_exit_code 0, out
+
+    _(out.stderr).must_equal ""
+    _(out.stdout).must_equal File.read("#{profile_path}/old-examples/profile/README.md")
+  end
+end