diff --git a/sphinx/builders/linkcheck.py b/sphinx/builders/linkcheck.py
index 1b0dd4011..9fe689ec9 100644
--- a/sphinx/builders/linkcheck.py
+++ b/sphinx/builders/linkcheck.py
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@
     :license: BSD, see LICENSE for details.
 """
 
+import json
 import queue
 import re
 import socket
@@ -90,6 +91,8 @@ class CheckExternalLinksBuilder(Builder):
         socket.setdefaulttimeout(5.0)
         # create output file
         open(path.join(self.outdir, 'output.txt'), 'w').close()
+        # create JSON output file
+        open(path.join(self.outdir, 'output.json'), 'w').close()
 
         # create queues and worker threads
         self.wqueue = queue.Queue()  # type: queue.Queue
@@ -225,9 +228,16 @@ class CheckExternalLinksBuilder(Builder):
 
     def process_result(self, result: Tuple[str, str, int, str, str, int]) -> None:
         uri, docname, lineno, status, info, code = result
+
+        filename = self.env.doc2path(docname, None)
+        linkstat = dict(filename=filename, lineno=lineno,
+                        status=status, code=code, uri=uri,
+                        info=info)
         if status == 'unchecked':
+            self.write_linkstat(linkstat)
             return
         if status == 'working' and info == 'old':
+            self.write_linkstat(linkstat)
             return
         if lineno:
             logger.info('(line %4d) ', lineno, nonl=True)
@@ -236,18 +246,22 @@ class CheckExternalLinksBuilder(Builder):
                 logger.info(darkgray('-ignored- ') + uri + ': ' + info)
             else:
                 logger.info(darkgray('-ignored- ') + uri)
+            self.write_linkstat(linkstat)
         elif status == 'local':
             logger.info(darkgray('-local-   ') + uri)
-            self.write_entry('local', docname, lineno, uri)
+            self.write_entry('local', docname, filename, lineno, uri)
+            self.write_linkstat(linkstat)
         elif status == 'working':
             logger.info(darkgreen('ok        ') + uri + info)
+            self.write_linkstat(linkstat)
         elif status == 'broken':
-            self.write_entry('broken', docname, lineno, uri + ': ' + info)
             if self.app.quiet or self.app.warningiserror:
                 logger.warning(__('broken link: %s (%s)'), uri, info,
-                               location=(self.env.doc2path(docname), lineno))
+                               location=(filename, lineno))
             else:
                 logger.info(red('broken    ') + uri + red(' - ' + info))
+            self.write_entry('broken', docname, filename, lineno, uri + ': ' + info)
+            self.write_linkstat(linkstat)
         elif status == 'redirected':
             try:
                 text, color = {
@@ -259,9 +273,11 @@ class CheckExternalLinksBuilder(Builder):
                 }[code]
             except KeyError:
                 text, color = ('with unknown code', purple)
-            self.write_entry('redirected ' + text, docname, lineno,
-                             uri + ' to ' + info)
+            linkstat['text'] = text
             logger.info(color('redirect  ') + uri + color(' - ' + text + ' to ' + info))
+            self.write_entry('redirected ' + text, docname, filename,
+                             lineno, uri + ' to ' + info)
+            self.write_linkstat(linkstat)
 
     def get_target_uri(self, docname: str, typ: str = None) -> str:
         return ''
@@ -301,10 +317,15 @@ class CheckExternalLinksBuilder(Builder):
         if self.broken:
             self.app.statuscode = 1
 
-    def write_entry(self, what: str, docname: str, line: int, uri: str) -> None:
-        with open(path.join(self.outdir, 'output.txt'), 'a', encoding='utf-8') as output:
-            output.write("%s:%s: [%s] %s\n" % (self.env.doc2path(docname, None),
-                                               line, what, uri))
+    def write_entry(self, what: str, docname: str, filename: str, line: int,
+                    uri: str) -> None:
+        with open(path.join(self.outdir, 'output.txt'), 'a') as output:
+            output.write("%s:%s: [%s] %s\n" % (filename, line, what, uri))
+
+    def write_linkstat(self, data: dict) -> None:
+        with open(path.join(self.outdir, 'output.json'), 'a') as output:
+            output.write(json.dumps(data))
+            output.write('\n')
 
     def finish(self) -> None:
         for worker in self.workers:
diff --git a/tests/test_build_linkcheck.py b/tests/test_build_linkcheck.py
index 7a01fb590..5220b480e 100644
--- a/tests/test_build_linkcheck.py
+++ b/tests/test_build_linkcheck.py
@@ -8,6 +8,8 @@
     :license: BSD, see LICENSE for details.
 """
 
+import json
+import re
 from unittest import mock
 import pytest
 
@@ -20,7 +22,7 @@ def test_defaults(app, status, warning):
     content = (app.outdir / 'output.txt').read_text()
 
     print(content)
-    # looking for '#top' and 'does-not-exist' not found should fail
+    # looking for '#top' and '#does-not-exist' not found should fail
     assert "Anchor 'top' not found" in content
     assert "Anchor 'does-not-exist' not found" in content
     # looking for non-existent URL should fail
@@ -31,6 +33,61 @@ def test_defaults(app, status, warning):
     assert len(content.splitlines()) == 5
 
 
+@pytest.mark.sphinx('linkcheck', testroot='linkcheck', freshenv=True)
+def test_defaults_json(app, status, warning):
+    app.builder.build_all()
+
+    assert (app.outdir / 'output.json').exists()
+    content = (app.outdir / 'output.json').read_text()
+    print(content)
+
+    rows = [json.loads(x) for x in content.splitlines()]
+    row = rows[0]
+    for attr in ["filename", "lineno", "status", "code", "uri",
+                 "info"]:
+        assert attr in row
+
+    assert len(content.splitlines()) == 8
+    assert len(rows) == 8
+    # the output order of the rows is not stable
+    # due to possible variance in network latency
+    rowsby = {row["uri"]:row for row in rows}
+    assert rowsby["https://www.google.com#!bar"] == {
+        'filename': 'links.txt',
+        'lineno': 10,
+        'status': 'working',
+        'code': 0,
+        'uri': 'https://www.google.com#!bar',
+        'info': ''
+    }
+    # looking for non-existent URL should fail
+    dnerow = rowsby['https://localhost:7777/doesnotexist']
+    assert dnerow['filename'] == 'links.txt'
+    assert dnerow['lineno'] == 13
+    assert dnerow['status'] == 'broken'
+    assert dnerow['code'] == 0
+    assert dnerow['uri'] == 'https://localhost:7777/doesnotexist'
+    #assert dnerow['info'] == "HTTPSConnectionPool(host='localhost', port=7777): Max retries exceeded with url: /doesnotexist (Caused by NewConnectionError('<urllib3.connection.VerifiedHTTPSConnection object at 0x7f447b3b9710>: Failed to establish a new connection: [Errno 111] Connection refused'))"
+    #assert "[Errno 111] Connection refused" in dnerow['info']
+    #assert "[WinError 10061] No connection could be made because the target machine actively refused it'" in dnerow['info']
+    assert rowsby['https://www.google.com/image2.png'] == {
+        'filename': 'links.txt',
+        'lineno': 16,
+        'status': 'broken',
+        'code': 0,
+        'uri': 'https://www.google.com/image2.png',
+        'info': '404 Client Error: Not Found for url: https://www.google.com/image2.png'
+    }
+    # looking for '#top' and '#does-not-exist' not found should fail
+    assert "Anchor 'top' not found" == \
+        rowsby["https://www.google.com/#top"]["info"]
+    assert "Anchor 'does-not-exist' not found" == \
+        rowsby["http://www.sphinx-doc.org/en/1.7/intro.html#does-not-exist"]["info"]
+    # images should fail
+    assert "Not Found for url: https://www.google.com/image.png" in \
+        rowsby["https://www.google.com/image.png"]["info"]
+
+
 @pytest.mark.sphinx(
     'linkcheck', testroot='linkcheck', freshenv=True,
     confoverrides={'linkcheck_anchors_ignore': ["^!", "^top$"],