diff --git a/lib/rspec_api_documentation.rb b/lib/rspec_api_documentation.rb
index 5114783b..5986aadb 100644
--- a/lib/rspec_api_documentation.rb
+++ b/lib/rspec_api_documentation.rb
@@ -38,6 +38,7 @@ module Writers
     autoload :TextileWriter
     autoload :MarkdownWriter
     autoload :JSONWriter
+    autoload :JsonWriter
     autoload :AppendJsonWriter
     autoload :JsonIodocsWriter
     autoload :IndexHelper
diff --git a/lib/rspec_api_documentation/writers/json_writer.rb b/lib/rspec_api_documentation/writers/json_writer.rb
index c23437bf..c61c3008 100644
--- a/lib/rspec_api_documentation/writers/json_writer.rb
+++ b/lib/rspec_api_documentation/writers/json_writer.rb
@@ -23,6 +23,10 @@ def write_examples
       end
     end
 
+    # https://github.com/zipmark/rspec_api_documentation/issues/382
+    # backward compatibilty json for configuration of config.format
+    class JsonWriter < JSONWriter; end
+
     class JSONIndex
       def initialize(index, configuration)
         @index = index