diff --git a/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/util/settings/loader/JsonSettingsLoader.java b/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/util/settings/loader/JsonSettingsLoader.java
index 8ef5c7b23ab..a3d0b3381d7 100644
--- a/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/util/settings/loader/JsonSettingsLoader.java
+++ b/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/util/settings/loader/JsonSettingsLoader.java
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ package org.elasticsearch.util.settings.loader;
 import org.codehaus.jackson.JsonFactory;
 import org.codehaus.jackson.JsonParser;
 import org.codehaus.jackson.JsonToken;
+import org.elasticsearch.util.io.FastByteArrayInputStream;
 import org.elasticsearch.util.io.FastStringReader;
 import org.elasticsearch.util.json.Jackson;
 
@@ -51,6 +52,15 @@ public class JsonSettingsLoader implements SettingsLoader {
         }
     }
 
+    @Override public Map<String, String> load(byte[] source) throws IOException {
+        JsonParser jp = jsonFactory.createJsonParser(new FastByteArrayInputStream(source));
+        try {
+            return load(jp);
+        } finally {
+            jp.close();
+        }
+    }
+
     public Map<String, String> load(JsonParser jp) throws IOException {
         StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
         Map<String, String> settings = newHashMap();
diff --git a/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/util/settings/loader/PropertiesSettingsLoader.java b/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/util/settings/loader/PropertiesSettingsLoader.java
index 6d75f97ff85..c95b3fdd11b 100644
--- a/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/util/settings/loader/PropertiesSettingsLoader.java
+++ b/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/util/settings/loader/PropertiesSettingsLoader.java
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@
 
 package org.elasticsearch.util.settings.loader;
 
+import org.elasticsearch.util.io.FastByteArrayInputStream;
 import org.elasticsearch.util.io.FastStringReader;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
@@ -43,4 +44,14 @@ public class PropertiesSettingsLoader implements SettingsLoader {
         }
         return result;
     }
+
+    @Override public Map<String, String> load(byte[] source) throws IOException {
+        Properties props = new Properties();
+        props.load(new FastByteArrayInputStream(source));
+        Map<String, String> result = newHashMap();
+        for (Map.Entry entry : props.entrySet()) {
+            result.put((String) entry.getKey(), (String) entry.getValue());
+        }
+        return result;
+    }
 }
diff --git a/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/util/settings/loader/SettingsLoader.java b/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/util/settings/loader/SettingsLoader.java
index 934a7fca4dd..baa4c7b3b7e 100644
--- a/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/util/settings/loader/SettingsLoader.java
+++ b/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/util/settings/loader/SettingsLoader.java
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ import java.util.Map;
  * Provides the ability to load settings (in the form of a simple Map) from
  * the actual source content that represents them.
  *
- * @author kimchy (Shay Banon)
+ * @author kimchy (shay.banon)
  */
 public interface SettingsLoader {
 
@@ -34,4 +34,9 @@ public interface SettingsLoader {
      * Loads (parses) the settings from a source string.
      */
     Map<String, String> load(String source) throws IOException;
+
+    /**
+     * Loads (parses) the settings from a source bytes.
+     */
+    Map<String, String> load(byte[] source) throws IOException;
 }
diff --git a/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/util/settings/loader/YamlSettingsLoader.java b/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/util/settings/loader/YamlSettingsLoader.java
index c918d62d012..ebd50944c4c 100644
--- a/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/util/settings/loader/YamlSettingsLoader.java
+++ b/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/util/settings/loader/YamlSettingsLoader.java
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@
 
 package org.elasticsearch.util.settings.loader;
 
+import org.elasticsearch.util.io.FastByteArrayInputStream;
 import org.elasticsearch.util.yaml.snakeyaml.Yaml;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
@@ -32,7 +33,7 @@ import static com.google.common.collect.Maps.*;
  * Settings loader that loads (parses) the settings in a yaml format by flattening them
  * into a map.
  *
- * @author kimchy (Shay Banon)
+ * @author kimchy (shay.banon)
  */
 public class YamlSettingsLoader implements SettingsLoader {
 
@@ -51,6 +52,19 @@ public class YamlSettingsLoader implements SettingsLoader {
         return settings;
     }
 
+    @Override public Map<String, String> load(byte[] source) throws IOException {
+        Yaml yaml = new Yaml();
+        Map<Object, Object> yamlMap = (Map<Object, Object>) yaml.load(new FastByteArrayInputStream(source));
+        StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
+        Map<String, String> settings = newHashMap();
+        if (yamlMap == null) {
+            return settings;
+        }
+        List<String> path = newArrayList();
+        serializeMap(settings, sb, path, yamlMap);
+        return settings;
+    }
+
     private void serializeMap(Map<String, String> settings, StringBuilder sb, List<String> path, Map<Object, Object> yamlMap) {
         for (Map.Entry<Object, Object> entry : yamlMap.entrySet()) {
             if (entry.getValue() instanceof Map) {