diff --git a/cpdfannot.ml b/cpdfannot.ml
index 1510395..e44a359 100644
--- a/cpdfannot.ml
+++ b/cpdfannot.ml
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ let annotations_json_page pdf page pagenum =
   | Some (Pdf.Array annots) ->
       map
         (fun annot ->
-           `List [`Int pagenum; Cpdfjson.json_of_object pdf (fun _ -> ()) false false annot])
+           `List [`Int pagenum; Cpdfjson.json_of_object ~clean_strings:true pdf (fun _ -> ()) false false annot])
         (map (Pdf.direct pdf) annots)
   | _ -> []
 
diff --git a/cpdfbookmarks.ml b/cpdfbookmarks.ml
index 1121586..04198bb 100644
--- a/cpdfbookmarks.ml
+++ b/cpdfbookmarks.ml
@@ -184,7 +184,7 @@ let output_json_marks ch calculate_page_number pdf fastrefnums marks =
   let json_of_mark m =
     `Assoc
        [("level", `Int m.Pdfmarks.level);
-        ("text", `String (Pdftext.utf8_of_pdfdocstring m.Pdfmarks.text));
+        ("text", `String (Pdftext.utf8_of_pdfdocstring (Pdftext.simplify_utf16be m.Pdfmarks.text)));
         ("page", `Int (calculate_page_number m));
         ("open", `Bool m.Pdfmarks.isopen);
         ("target", json_of_target pdf fastrefnums m.Pdfmarks.target)]
diff --git a/cpdfcommand.ml b/cpdfcommand.ml
index 639ecac..3f0fc98 100644
--- a/cpdfcommand.ml
+++ b/cpdfcommand.ml
@@ -462,6 +462,7 @@ type args =
    mutable jsonparsecontentstreams : bool;
    mutable jsonnostreamdata : bool;
    mutable jsondecompressstreams : bool;
+   mutable jsoncleanstrings : bool;
    mutable ocgrenamefrom : string;
    mutable ocgrenameto : string;
    mutable dedup : bool;
@@ -581,6 +582,7 @@ let args =
    jsonparsecontentstreams = false;
    jsonnostreamdata = false;
    jsondecompressstreams = false;
+   jsoncleanstrings = false;
    ocgrenamefrom = "";
    ocgrenameto = "";
    dedup = false;
@@ -685,6 +687,7 @@ let reset_arguments () =
   args.jsonparsecontentstreams <- false;
   args.jsonnostreamdata <- false;
   args.jsondecompressstreams <- false;
+  args.jsoncleanstrings <- false;
   args.ocgrenamefrom <- "";
   args.ocgrenameto <- "";
   args.dedup <- false;
@@ -1614,6 +1617,9 @@ let setjsonnostreamdata () =
 let setjsondecompressstreams () =
   args.jsondecompressstreams <- true
 
+let setjsoncleanstrings () =
+  args.jsoncleanstrings <- true
+
 let setocgrenamefrom s =
   args.ocgrenamefrom <- s
 
@@ -2426,6 +2432,9 @@ and specs =
    ("-output-json-decompress-streams",
      Arg.Unit setjsondecompressstreams,
      " Skip stream data for brevity");
+   ("-output-json-clean-strings",
+     Arg.Unit setjsoncleanstrings,
+     " Convert UTF16BE strings to PDFDocEncoding when possible");
    ("-j",
      Arg.String set_json_input,
      " Load a PDF JSON file");
@@ -2959,6 +2968,7 @@ let write_json output pdf =
         ~parse_content:args.jsonparsecontentstreams
         ~no_stream_data:args.jsonnostreamdata
         ~decompress_streams:args.jsondecompressstreams
+        ~clean_strings:args.jsoncleanstrings
         pdf
   | File filename ->
       let f = open_out filename in
@@ -2967,6 +2977,7 @@ let write_json output pdf =
           ~parse_content:args.jsonparsecontentstreams
           ~no_stream_data:args.jsonnostreamdata
           ~decompress_streams:args.jsondecompressstreams
+          ~clean_strings:args.jsoncleanstrings
           pdf;
         close_out f
 
diff --git a/cpdfjson.ml b/cpdfjson.ml
index 3162c32..a9e2e21 100644
--- a/cpdfjson.ml
+++ b/cpdfjson.ml
@@ -23,11 +23,12 @@ Objects 1..n: The PDF's objects.
   o Names are written as {"N": "/Pages"}
   o Indirect references are integers
   o Streams are {"S": [dict, data]}
-
-  o Strings are converted from PDFDocEncoding to UTF8 before being encoded in
-  JSON. When they are read back the process is JSON encoded --> UTF8 -->
-  PDFDocEncoding. This process is to allow easier editing of strings. This
-  does not happen to strings within text operators in parsed content streams. 
+  o Strings are converted from UTF16BE/PDFDocEncoding to UTF8 before being
+  encoded in JSON. When they are read back the process is JSON encoded --> UTF8
+  --> UTF16BE/PDFDocEncoding. This process is fully reversible: it is to allow
+  easier editing of strings. This does not happen to strings within text
+  operators in parsed content streams, nor to /ID values in the
+  trailerdictionary, since neither is UTF16BE/PdfDocEncoding to begin with. 
 
 There are two subformats: parsing content streams or not.  Hello World in CPDF
 JSON without parsing content streams:
@@ -81,7 +82,7 @@ When parsing content streams:
 
 CPDF currently never preserves object streams, and only outputs unencrypted files.
 
-When reloading a JSON file, CPDF knows how to correct /Length entries in
+When reloading a JSON file, CPDF knows how to correct or add /Length entries in
 streams, so you need not worry about them.  *)
 
 open Pdfutil
@@ -277,12 +278,12 @@ let mkfloat f = `Assoc [("F", `Float f)]
 let mkint i = `Assoc [("I", `Int i)]
 let mkname n = `Assoc [("N", `String n)]
 
-let rec json_of_object pdf fcs no_stream_data pcs = function
+let rec json_of_object ?(clean_strings=false) pdf fcs no_stream_data pcs = function
   | P.Null -> `Null
   | P.Boolean b -> `Bool b
   | P.Integer i -> mkint i
   | P.Real r -> mkfloat r
-  | P.String s -> `String s
+  | P.String s -> `String (if clean_strings then Pdftext.simplify_utf16be s else s)
   | P.Name n -> mkname n
   | P.Array objs -> `List (map (json_of_object pdf fcs no_stream_data pcs) objs)
   | P.Dictionary elts ->
@@ -453,9 +454,8 @@ let precombine_page_content pdf =
   in
     Pdfpage.change_pages true pdf pages'
 
-(* FIXME make this optional? And maybe move into actual JSON reader, instead of
-   preprocessing PDF, so it helps us when writing, say, the output of
-   -print-dict-entry? *)
+(* Convert any strings in UTF16BE which could actually be in PDFDocEncoding
+   (due to having no high bytes) to make editing JSON easier. *)
 let rec ppstring_single_object pdf = function
   | Pdf.Dictionary d -> Pdf.recurse_dict (ppstring_single_object pdf) d
   | (Pdf.Stream {contents = (Pdf.Dictionary dict, data)}) ->
@@ -464,16 +464,16 @@ let rec ppstring_single_object pdf = function
   | Pdf.String s -> Pdf.String (Pdftext.simplify_utf16be s)
   | x -> x
 
+(* Do all objects, but skip the trailer dictionary since may mess up /ID if it
+   happens to begin with UTF16BE BOM *)
 let preprocess_strings pdf =
     Pdf.objselfmap (ppstring_single_object pdf) pdf
-    (* Skip the trailer dictionary since may mess up /ID if it happens to begin with UTF16BE BOM *)
-    (*pdf.Pdf.trailerdict <- ppstring_single_object pdf pdf.Pdf.trailerdict*)
 
 let json_of_pdf
-  ~parse_content ~no_stream_data ~decompress_streams
+  ~parse_content ~no_stream_data ~decompress_streams ~clean_strings
   pdf
 =
-  preprocess_strings pdf;
+  if clean_strings then preprocess_strings pdf;
   let pdf = if parse_content then precombine_page_content pdf else pdf in
   if decompress_streams then
     Pdf.objiter (fun _ obj -> Pdfcodec.decode_pdfstream_until_unknown pdf obj) pdf;
@@ -532,8 +532,8 @@ let json_of_pdf
           (fun (objnum, jsonobj) -> `List [`Int objnum; jsonobj])
           pairs_parsed)
 
-let to_output o ~parse_content ~no_stream_data ~decompress_streams pdf =
-  let json = json_of_pdf ~parse_content ~no_stream_data ~decompress_streams pdf in
+let to_output o ~parse_content ~no_stream_data ~decompress_streams ?(clean_strings=false) pdf =
+  let json = json_of_pdf ~parse_content ~no_stream_data ~decompress_streams ~clean_strings pdf in
     match o.Pdfio.out_caml_channel with
     | Some ch -> J.pretty_to_channel ch json
     | None -> o.Pdfio.output_string (J.pretty_to_string json)
diff --git a/cpdfjson.mli b/cpdfjson.mli
index 36f7724..0675c6a 100644
--- a/cpdfjson.mli
+++ b/cpdfjson.mli
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-val json_of_object : Pdf.t -> (int -> unit) -> bool -> bool -> Pdf.pdfobject -> Cpdfyojson.Safe.t
+val json_of_object : ?clean_strings:bool -> Pdf.t -> (int -> unit) -> bool -> bool -> Pdf.pdfobject -> Cpdfyojson.Safe.t
 val object_of_json : Cpdfyojson.Safe.t -> Pdf.pdfobject
-val to_output : Pdfio.output -> parse_content:bool -> no_stream_data:bool -> decompress_streams:bool -> Pdf.t -> unit
+val to_output : Pdfio.output -> parse_content:bool -> no_stream_data:bool -> decompress_streams:bool -> ?clean_strings:bool -> Pdf.t -> unit
 val of_input : Pdfio.input -> Pdf.t
diff --git a/cpdfmanual.pdf b/cpdfmanual.pdf
index 5db3b2f..d6d36a1 100644
Binary files a/cpdfmanual.pdf and b/cpdfmanual.pdf differ
diff --git a/cpdfmanual.tex b/cpdfmanual.tex
index fc4f123..ce4385b 100644
--- a/cpdfmanual.tex
+++ b/cpdfmanual.tex
@@ -1558,6 +1558,9 @@ There are two options which turn off parts of the squeezer. They are \texttt{-sq
   \vspace{1.5mm}
   \small\noindent\verb!cpdf -add-bookmarks <bookmark file> in.pdf -o out.pdf!
 
+  \vspace{1.5mm}
+  \small\noindent\verb!cpdf -add-bookmarks-json <bookmark file> in.pdf -o out.pdf!
+
   \vspace{1.5mm}
   \small\noindent\verb!cpdf -bookmarks-open-to-level <n> in.pdf -o out.pdf!
 
@@ -1666,6 +1669,14 @@ will be given if the bookmarks file is not in the correct form (in particular,
 the numbers in the first column which specify the level must form a proper
 tree with no entry being more than one greater than the last).
 
+Bookmarks in JSON format (see above) may be added with \texttt{-add-bookmarks-json}:
+
+  \begin{framed}
+   \small\verb!cpdf -add-bookmarks-json bookmarks.json in.pdf -o out.pdf!
+  \end{framed}
+
+Remember that strings in JSON bookmark files are in UTF8, rather than as native PDF strings.
+
 \section{Opening bookmarks}
 \index{bookmarks!opening at level}
 As an alternative to extracting a bookmark file and manipulating the open-status of bookmarks, mass manipulation may be achieved by the following operation:
diff --git a/cpdftweak.ml b/cpdftweak.ml
index 9187e86..89f64be 100644
--- a/cpdftweak.ml
+++ b/cpdftweak.ml
@@ -274,7 +274,7 @@ let print_dict_entry pdf key =
     match Pdf.lookup_direct pdf key d with
     | Some v ->
         (* We use a double newline as a separator. *)
-        Printf.printf "%s\n\n" (Cpdfyojson.Safe.to_string (Cpdfjson.json_of_object pdf (fun _ -> ()) false false v));
+        Printf.printf "%s\n\n" (Cpdfyojson.Safe.to_string (Cpdfjson.json_of_object ~clean_strings:true pdf (fun _ -> ()) false false v));
         d
     | None -> d
   in