diff --git a/index.js b/index.js
index e707bbc5..950f0dad 100644
--- a/index.js
+++ b/index.js
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@
  */
 
 var accepts = require('accepts');
+var bytes = require('bytes')
 var createError = require('http-errors');
 var debug = require('debug')('serve-index');
 var escapeHtml = require('escape-html');
@@ -144,6 +145,13 @@ function serveIndex(root, options) {
 
       if (!stat.isDirectory()) return next();
 
+      // content-negotiation
+      var accept = accepts(req);
+      var type = accept.type(mediaTypes);
+
+      // not acceptable
+      if (!type) return next(createError(406));
+
       // fetch files
       debug('readdir "%s"', path);
       fs.readdir(path, function(err, files){
@@ -154,13 +162,44 @@ function serveIndex(root, options) {
         });
         files.sort();
 
-        // content-negotiation
-        var accept = accepts(req);
-        var type = accept.type(mediaTypes);
+        // add parent directory as first
+        if (showUp) {
+          files.unshift('..');
+        }
 
-        // not acceptable
-        if (!type) return next(createError(406));
-        serveIndex[mediaType[type]](req, res, files, next, originalDir, showUp, icons, path, view, template, stylesheet);
+        // stat all files
+        fstat(path, files, function (err, stats) {
+          if (err) return next(err);
+
+          // combine the stats into the file list
+          var fileList = files.map(function (file, i) {
+            return { name: file, stat: stats[i] };
+          });
+
+          // sort file list
+          fileList.sort(fileSort);
+
+          // make similar to W3 FileAPI Object
+          var directory = {
+            name: originalDir,
+            type: 'inode/directory',
+            size: stat.size,
+            lastModified: stat.mtime
+          }
+
+          var nodes = fileList.map(function (file) {
+            var ext = extname(file.name)
+            var mimetype = mime.lookup(ext)
+            return {
+              name: file.name,
+              type: file.stat.isDirectory() ? 'inode/directory' : mimetype,
+              size: file.stat.size,
+              lastModified: file.stat.mtime
+            }
+          })
+
+          serveIndex[mediaType[type]](req, res, directory, nodes, next, showUp, icons, path, view, template, stylesheet);
+        });
       });
     });
   };
@@ -170,46 +209,29 @@ function serveIndex(root, options) {
  * Respond with text/html.
  */
 
-serveIndex.html = function _html(req, res, files, next, dir, showUp, icons, path, view, template, stylesheet) {
+serveIndex.html = function _html(req, res, dir, files, next, showUp, icons, path, view, template, stylesheet) {
   var render = typeof template !== 'function'
     ? createHtmlRender(template)
     : template
 
-  if (showUp) {
-    files.unshift('..');
-  }
-
-  // stat all files
-  stat(path, files, function (err, stats) {
+  // read stylesheet
+  fs.readFile(stylesheet, 'utf8', function (err, style) {
     if (err) return next(err);
 
-    // combine the stats into the file list
-    var fileList = files.map(function (file, i) {
-      return { name: file, stat: stats[i] };
-    });
-
-    // sort file list
-    fileList.sort(fileSort);
+    // create locals for rendering
+    var locals = {
+      directory: dir.name,
+      displayIcons: Boolean(icons),
+      fileList: files,
+      path: path,
+      style: style,
+      viewName: view
+    };
 
-    // read stylesheet
-    fs.readFile(stylesheet, 'utf8', function (err, style) {
+    // render html
+    render(locals, function (err, body) {
       if (err) return next(err);
-
-      // create locals for rendering
-      var locals = {
-        directory: dir,
-        displayIcons: Boolean(icons),
-        fileList: fileList,
-        path: path,
-        style: style,
-        viewName: view
-      };
-
-      // render html
-      render(locals, function (err, body) {
-        if (err) return next(err);
-        send(res, 'text/html', body)
-      });
+      send(res, 'text/html', body)
     });
   });
 };
@@ -218,16 +240,31 @@ serveIndex.html = function _html(req, res, files, next, dir, showUp, icons, path
  * Respond with application/json.
  */
 
-serveIndex.json = function _json(req, res, files) {
-  send(res, 'application/json', JSON.stringify(files))
+serveIndex.json = function _json(req, res, directory, nodes) {
+  send(res, 'application/json', JSON.stringify({ directory: directory, nodes: nodes }))
 };
 
 /**
  * Respond with text/plain.
  */
 
-serveIndex.plain = function _plain(req, res, files) {
-  send(res, 'text/plain', (files.join('\n') + '\n'))
+serveIndex.plain = function _plain(req, res, dir, files) {
+  var directory = {
+    name: dir.name.replace(/\/?$/, '/')
+  };
+
+  // include size and date
+  var nodes = files.map(function (file) {
+    // human readable
+    var size = bytes(file.size)
+
+    return [
+      file.lastModified.toISOString(),
+      size,
+      file.name + ('inode/directory' === file.type ? '/' : '')
+    ].join('\t')
+  })
+  send(res, 'text/plain', (directory.name + '\n' + nodes.join('\n') + '\n'))
 };
 
 /**
@@ -235,7 +272,7 @@ serveIndex.plain = function _plain(req, res, files) {
  * @private
  */
 
-function createHtmlFileList(files, dir, useIcons, view) {
+function createHtmlFileList(files, dirname, useIcons, view) {
   var html = '<ul id="files" class="view-' + escapeHtml(view) + '">'
     + (view === 'details' ? (
       '<li class="header">'
@@ -246,8 +283,8 @@ function createHtmlFileList(files, dir, useIcons, view) {
 
   html += files.map(function (file) {
     var classes = [];
-    var isDir = file.stat && file.stat.isDirectory();
-    var path = dir.split('/').map(function (c) { return encodeURIComponent(c); });
+    var isDir = 'inode/directory' === file.type
+    var path = dirname.split('/').map(function (c) { return encodeURIComponent(c); });
 
     if (useIcons) {
       classes.push('icon');
@@ -269,11 +306,11 @@ function createHtmlFileList(files, dir, useIcons, view) {
 
     path.push(encodeURIComponent(file.name));
 
-    var date = file.stat && file.name !== '..'
-      ? file.stat.mtime.toLocaleDateString() + ' ' + file.stat.mtime.toLocaleTimeString()
+    var date = file.lastModified && file.name !== '..'
+      ? file.lastModified.toLocaleDateString() + ' ' + file.lastModified.toLocaleTimeString()
       : '';
     var size = file.stat && !isDir
-      ? file.stat.size
+      ? file.size
       : '';
 
     return '<li><a href="'
@@ -421,7 +458,7 @@ function iconStyle(files, useIcons) {
   for (i = 0; i < files.length; i++) {
     var file = files[i];
 
-    var isDir = file.stat && file.stat.isDirectory();
+    var isDir = 'inode/directory' === file.type
     var icon = isDir
       ? { className: 'icon-directory', fileName: icons.folder }
       : iconLookup(file.name);
@@ -511,7 +548,7 @@ function send (res, type, body) {
  * in same order.
  */
 
-function stat(dir, files, cb) {
+function fstat(dir, files, cb) {
   var batch = new Batch();
 
   batch.concurrency(10);
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 10d93e7f..7d440ea0 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@
   "dependencies": {
     "accepts": "~1.3.4",
     "batch": "0.6.1",
+    "bytes": "^3.0.0",
     "debug": "2.6.9",
     "escape-html": "~1.0.3",
     "http-errors": "~1.6.2",
diff --git a/test/test.js b/test/test.js
index b0c9531d..72977afe 100644
--- a/test/test.js
+++ b/test/test.js
@@ -436,7 +436,9 @@ describe('serveIndex(root)', function () {
       it('should provide "fileList" local', function (done) {
         var server = createServer(fixtures, {'template': function (locals, callback) {
           callback(null, JSON.stringify(locals.fileList.map(function (file) {
-            file.stat = file.stat instanceof fs.Stats;
+            file.type = -1 !== file.type.indexOf('/')
+            file.size = file.size >= 0
+            file.lastModified = file.lastModified instanceof Date
             return file;
           })));
         }});
@@ -444,7 +446,7 @@ describe('serveIndex(root)', function () {
         request(server)
         .get('/users/')
         .set('Accept', 'text/html')
-        .expect('[{"name":"..","stat":true},{"name":"#dir","stat":true},{"name":"index.html","stat":true},{"name":"tobi.txt","stat":true}]')
+        .expect('[{"name":"..","type":true,"size":true,"lastModified":true},{"name":"#dir","type":true,"size":true,"lastModified":true},{"name":"index.html","type":true,"size":true,"lastModified":true},{"name":"tobi.txt","type":true,"size":true,"lastModified":true}]')
         .expect(200, done);
       });
 
@@ -504,9 +506,9 @@ describe('serveIndex(root)', function () {
       it('should get file list', function (done) {
         var server = createServer()
 
-        serveIndex.html = function (req, res, files) {
+        serveIndex.html = function (req, res, dir, files) {
           var text = files
-            .filter(function (f) { return /\.txt$/.test(f) })
+            .filter(function (f) { return /\.txt$/.test(f.name) })
             .sort()
           res.setHeader('Content-Type', 'text/html')
           res.end('<b>' + text.length + ' text files</b>')
@@ -521,9 +523,9 @@ describe('serveIndex(root)', function () {
       it('should get dir name', function (done) {
         var server = createServer()
 
-        serveIndex.html = function (req, res, files, next, dir) {
+        serveIndex.html = function (req, res, dir, files, next) {
           res.setHeader('Content-Type', 'text/html')
-          res.end('<b>' + dir + '</b>')
+          res.end('<b>' + dir.name + '</b>')
         }
 
         request(server)
@@ -535,7 +537,7 @@ describe('serveIndex(root)', function () {
       it('should get template path', function (done) {
         var server = createServer()
 
-        serveIndex.html = function (req, res, files, next, dir, showUp, icons, path, view, template) {
+        serveIndex.html = function (req, res, dir, files, next, showUp, icons, path, view, template) {
           res.setHeader('Content-Type', 'text/html')
           res.end(String(fs.existsSync(template)))
         }
@@ -549,7 +551,7 @@ describe('serveIndex(root)', function () {
       it('should get template with tokens', function (done) {
         var server = createServer()
 
-        serveIndex.html = function (req, res, files, next, dir, showUp, icons, path, view, template) {
+        serveIndex.html = function (req, res, dir, files, next, showUp, icons, path, view, template) {
           res.setHeader('Content-Type', 'text/html')
           res.end(fs.readFileSync(template, 'utf8'))
         }
@@ -567,7 +569,7 @@ describe('serveIndex(root)', function () {
       it('should get stylesheet path', function (done) {
         var server = createServer()
 
-        serveIndex.html = function (req, res, files, next, dir, showUp, icons, path, view, template, stylesheet) {
+        serveIndex.html = function (req, res, dir, files, next, showUp, icons, path, view, template, stylesheet) {
           res.setHeader('Content-Type', 'text/html')
           res.end(String(fs.existsSync(stylesheet)))
         }