diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/rest/action/admin/cluster/RestGetSnapshotsAction.java b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/rest/action/admin/cluster/RestGetSnapshotsAction.java
index f42180b5029b8..160bada6474d0 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/rest/action/admin/cluster/RestGetSnapshotsAction.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/rest/action/admin/cluster/RestGetSnapshotsAction.java
@@ -20,18 +20,26 @@
 package org.elasticsearch.rest.action.admin.cluster;
 
 import org.elasticsearch.action.admin.cluster.snapshots.get.GetSnapshotsRequest;
+import org.elasticsearch.action.admin.cluster.snapshots.get.GetSnapshotsResponse;
 import org.elasticsearch.client.node.NodeClient;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.Strings;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.settings.Settings;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.ToXContent;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.XContentBuilder;
 import org.elasticsearch.rest.BaseRestHandler;
+import org.elasticsearch.rest.BytesRestResponse;
 import org.elasticsearch.rest.RestController;
 import org.elasticsearch.rest.RestRequest;
-import org.elasticsearch.rest.action.RestToXContentListener;
+import org.elasticsearch.rest.RestResponse;
+import org.elasticsearch.rest.action.RestBuilderListener;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
+import java.util.Collections;
+import java.util.Map;
 
 import static org.elasticsearch.client.Requests.getSnapshotsRequest;
 import static org.elasticsearch.rest.RestRequest.Method.GET;
+import static org.elasticsearch.rest.RestStatus.OK;
 
 /**
  * Returns information about snapshot
@@ -52,10 +60,19 @@ public RestChannelConsumer prepareRequest(final RestRequest request, final NodeC
         String repository = request.param("repository");
         String[] snapshots = request.paramAsStringArray("snapshot", Strings.EMPTY_ARRAY);
 
-        GetSnapshotsRequest getSnapshotsRequest = getSnapshotsRequest(repository).snapshots(snapshots);
+        final GetSnapshotsRequest getSnapshotsRequest = getSnapshotsRequest(repository).snapshots(snapshots);
         getSnapshotsRequest.ignoreUnavailable(request.paramAsBoolean("ignore_unavailable", getSnapshotsRequest.ignoreUnavailable()));
         getSnapshotsRequest.verbose(request.paramAsBoolean("verbose", getSnapshotsRequest.verbose()));
         getSnapshotsRequest.masterNodeTimeout(request.paramAsTime("master_timeout", getSnapshotsRequest.masterNodeTimeout()));
-        return channel -> client.admin().cluster().getSnapshots(getSnapshotsRequest, new RestToXContentListener<>(channel));
+        return channel -> client.admin().cluster().getSnapshots(getSnapshotsRequest,
+            new RestBuilderListener<GetSnapshotsResponse>(channel) {
+                @Override
+                public RestResponse buildResponse(GetSnapshotsResponse response, XContentBuilder builder) throws Exception {
+                    Map<String, String> params = Collections.singletonMap("verbose", Boolean.toString(getSnapshotsRequest.verbose()));
+                    ToXContent.MapParams xContentParams = new ToXContent.MapParams(params);
+                    response.toXContent(builder, xContentParams);
+                    return new BytesRestResponse(OK, builder);
+                }
+            });
     }
 }
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/snapshots/SnapshotInfo.java b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/snapshots/SnapshotInfo.java
index a54e72159f8ae..de6a4e2987e25 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/snapshots/SnapshotInfo.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/snapshots/SnapshotInfo.java
@@ -346,6 +346,7 @@ public XContentBuilder toXContent(final XContentBuilder builder, final Params pa
             return toXContentSnapshot(builder, params);
         }
 
+        final boolean verbose = params.paramAsBoolean("verbose", false);
         // write snapshot info for the API and any other situations
         builder.startObject();
         builder.field(SNAPSHOT, snapshotId.getName());
@@ -359,22 +360,22 @@ 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 +384,7 @@ 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.yml b/rest-api-spec/src/main/resources/rest-api-spec/test/snapshot.get/10_basic.yml
index 515662355da3e..70008415122d3 100644
--- a/rest-api-spec/src/main/resources/rest-api-spec/test/snapshot.get/10_basic.yml
+++ b/rest-api-spec/src/main/resources/rest-api-spec/test/snapshot.get/10_basic.yml
@@ -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: