diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/admin/cluster/snapshots/get/GetSnapshotsRequest.java b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/admin/cluster/snapshots/get/GetSnapshotsRequest.java
index e90f9e578ce37..32c9493b440d5 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/admin/cluster/snapshots/get/GetSnapshotsRequest.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/admin/cluster/snapshots/get/GetSnapshotsRequest.java
@@ -37,6 +37,7 @@ public class GetSnapshotsRequest extends MasterNodeRequest<GetSnapshotsRequest>
 
     public static final String ALL_SNAPSHOTS = "_all";
     public static final String CURRENT_SNAPSHOT = "_current";
+    public static final boolean DEFAULT_VERBOSE_MODE = true;
 
     private String repository;
 
@@ -44,7 +45,7 @@ public class GetSnapshotsRequest extends MasterNodeRequest<GetSnapshotsRequest>
 
     private boolean ignoreUnavailable;
 
-    private boolean verbose = true;
+    private boolean verbose = DEFAULT_VERBOSE_MODE;
 
     public GetSnapshotsRequest() {
     }
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/snapshots/SnapshotInfo.java b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/snapshots/SnapshotInfo.java
index 37cce0ac60174..15741564d39b1 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/snapshots/SnapshotInfo.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/snapshots/SnapshotInfo.java
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@
 import org.elasticsearch.ElasticsearchParseException;
 import org.elasticsearch.Version;
 import org.elasticsearch.action.ShardOperationFailedException;
+import org.elasticsearch.action.admin.cluster.snapshots.get.GetSnapshotsRequest;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.Nullable;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.io.stream.StreamInput;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.io.stream.StreamOutput;
@@ -346,6 +347,7 @@ public XContentBuilder toXContent(final XContentBuilder builder, final Params pa
             return toXContentSnapshot(builder, params);
         }
 
+        final boolean verbose = params.paramAsBoolean("verbose", GetSnapshotsRequest.DEFAULT_VERBOSE_MODE);
         // write snapshot info for the API and any other situations
         builder.startObject();
         builder.field(SNAPSHOT, snapshotId.getName());
@@ -359,22 +361,22 @@ public XContentBuilder toXContent(final XContentBuilder builder, final Params pa
             builder.value(index);
         }
         builder.endArray();
-        if (state != null) {
+        if (verbose || state != null) {
             builder.field(STATE, state);
         }
         if (reason != null) {
             builder.field(REASON, reason);
         }
-        if (startTime != 0) {
+        if (verbose || startTime != 0) {
             builder.field(START_TIME, DATE_TIME_FORMATTER.printer().print(startTime));
             builder.field(START_TIME_IN_MILLIS, startTime);
         }
-        if (endTime != 0) {
+        if (verbose || endTime != 0) {
             builder.field(END_TIME, DATE_TIME_FORMATTER.printer().print(endTime));
             builder.field(END_TIME_IN_MILLIS, endTime);
             builder.timeValueField(DURATION_IN_MILLIS, DURATION, endTime - startTime);
         }
-        if (!shardFailures.isEmpty()) {
+        if (verbose || !shardFailures.isEmpty()) {
             builder.startArray(FAILURES);
             for (SnapshotShardFailure shardFailure : shardFailures) {
                 builder.startObject();
@@ -383,7 +385,7 @@ public XContentBuilder toXContent(final XContentBuilder builder, final Params pa
             }
             builder.endArray();
         }
-        if (totalShards != 0) {
+        if (verbose || totalShards != 0) {
             builder.startObject(SHARDS);
             builder.field(TOTAL, totalShards);
             builder.field(FAILED, failedShards());
diff --git a/rest-api-spec/src/main/resources/rest-api-spec/test/snapshot.get/10_basic.yaml b/rest-api-spec/src/main/resources/rest-api-spec/test/snapshot.get/10_basic.yaml
index 515662355da3e..70008415122d3 100644
--- a/rest-api-spec/src/main/resources/rest-api-spec/test/snapshot.get/10_basic.yaml
+++ b/rest-api-spec/src/main/resources/rest-api-spec/test/snapshot.get/10_basic.yaml
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@ setup:
         snapshot: test_snapshot
 
   - is_true: snapshots
+  - is_true: snapshots.0.failures
 
   - do:
       snapshot.delete:
@@ -87,6 +88,8 @@ setup:
   - is_true: snapshots
   - match: { snapshots.0.snapshot: test_snapshot }
   - match: { snapshots.0.state: SUCCESS }
+  - is_false: snapshots.0.failures
+  - is_false: snapshots.0.shards
   - is_false: snapshots.0.version
 
   - do: