diff --git a/llvm/tools/llvm-profdata/llvm-profdata.cpp b/llvm/tools/llvm-profdata/llvm-profdata.cpp
--- a/llvm/tools/llvm-profdata/llvm-profdata.cpp
+++ b/llvm/tools/llvm-profdata/llvm-profdata.cpp
@@ -57,6 +57,8 @@
   PF_Binary
 };
 
+enum class ShowOutputFormat { Text, TextEncoding, Json, Yaml };
+
 static void warn(Twine Message, std::string Whence = "",
                  std::string Hint = "") {
   WithColor::warning();
@@ -2250,9 +2252,14 @@
                             std::vector<uint32_t> DetailedSummaryCutoffs,
                             bool ShowAllFunctions, bool ShowCS,
                             uint64_t ValueCutoff, bool OnlyListBelow,
-                            const std::string &ShowFunction, bool TextFormat,
-                            bool ShowBinaryIds, bool ShowCovered,
-                            raw_fd_ostream &OS) {
+                            const std::string &ShowFunction,
+                            ShowOutputFormat OutputFormat, bool ShowBinaryIds,
+                            bool ShowCovered, raw_fd_ostream &OS) {
+  if (OutputFormat == ShowOutputFormat::Json)
+    exitWithError("JSON output is not supported for instr profiles");
+  if (OutputFormat == ShowOutputFormat::Yaml)
+    exitWithError("YAML output is not supported for instr profiles");
+  bool TextFormat = (OutputFormat == ShowOutputFormat::TextEncoding);
   auto ReaderOrErr = InstrProfReader::create(Filename);
   std::vector<uint32_t> Cutoffs = std::move(DetailedSummaryCutoffs);
   if (ShowDetailedSummary && Cutoffs.empty()) {
@@ -2610,13 +2617,16 @@
   return 0;
 }
 
-static int showSampleProfile(const std::string &Filename, bool ShowCounts,
-                             uint32_t TopN, bool ShowAllFunctions,
-                             bool ShowDetailedSummary,
-                             const std::string &ShowFunction,
-                             bool ShowProfileSymbolList,
-                             bool ShowSectionInfoOnly, bool ShowHotFuncList,
-                             bool JsonFormat, raw_fd_ostream &OS) {
+static int
+showSampleProfile(const std::string &Filename, bool ShowCounts, uint32_t TopN,
+                  bool ShowAllFunctions, bool ShowDetailedSummary,
+                  const std::string &ShowFunction, bool ShowProfileSymbolList,
+                  bool ShowSectionInfoOnly, bool ShowHotFuncList,
+                  ShowOutputFormat OutputFormat, raw_fd_ostream &OS) {
+  if (OutputFormat == ShowOutputFormat::TextEncoding)
+    exitWithError("TextEncoding output is not supported for sample profiles");
+  if (OutputFormat == ShowOutputFormat::Yaml)
+    exitWithError("YAML output is not supported for sample profiles");
   using namespace sampleprof;
   LLVMContext Context;
   auto ReaderOrErr =
@@ -2634,12 +2644,12 @@
     exitWithErrorCode(EC, Filename);
 
   if (ShowAllFunctions || ShowFunction.empty()) {
-    if (JsonFormat)
+    if (OutputFormat == ShowOutputFormat::Json)
       Reader->dumpJson(OS);
     else
       Reader->dump(OS);
   } else {
-    if (JsonFormat)
+    if (OutputFormat != ShowOutputFormat::Text)
       exitWithError(
           "the JSON format is supported only when all functions are to "
           "be printed");
@@ -2685,12 +2695,21 @@
 }
 
 static int showDebugInfoCorrelation(const std::string &Filename,
+                                    ShowOutputFormat OutputFormat,
                                     bool ShowDetailedSummary,
                                     bool ShowProfileSymbolList,
                                     raw_fd_ostream &OS) {
   std::unique_ptr<InstrProfCorrelator> Correlator;
   if (auto Err = InstrProfCorrelator::get(Filename).moveInto(Correlator))
     exitWithError(std::move(Err), Filename);
+  if (OutputFormat == ShowOutputFormat::TextEncoding)
+    exitWithError(
+        "TextEncoding output is not supported by for debug info correlation");
+  if (OutputFormat == ShowOutputFormat::Json)
+    exitWithError("JSON output is not supported by for debug info correlation");
+  if (OutputFormat == ShowOutputFormat::Yaml)
+    exitWithError("YAML output is not supported by for debug info correlation");
+
   if (auto Err = Correlator->correlateProfileData())
     exitWithError(std::move(Err), Filename);
 
@@ -2716,12 +2735,22 @@
 
   cl::opt<bool> ShowCounts("counts", cl::init(false),
                            cl::desc("Show counter values for shown functions"));
+  cl::opt<ShowOutputFormat> OutputFormat(
+      "output-format", cl::desc("The output format for the show command"),
+      cl::init(ShowOutputFormat::Text),
+      cl::values(
+          clEnumValN(ShowOutputFormat::Text, "text", "print text output"),
+          clEnumValN(ShowOutputFormat::TextEncoding, "test-encoding",
+                     "emit text encoding"),
+          clEnumValN(ShowOutputFormat::Json, "json", "emit JSON encoding"),
+          clEnumValN(ShowOutputFormat::Yaml, "yaml", "emit YAML encoding")));
   cl::opt<bool> TextFormat(
-      "text", cl::init(false),
-      cl::desc("Show instr profile data in text dump format"));
+      "text",
+      cl::desc("Show instr profile data in text dump format "
+               "(deprecated, please use --output-format=text-encoding)"));
   cl::opt<bool> JsonFormat(
-      "json", cl::init(false),
-      cl::desc("Show sample profile data in the JSON format"));
+      "json", cl::desc("Show sample profile data in the JSON format "
+                       "(deprecated, please use --output-format=json)"));
   cl::opt<bool> ShowIndirectCallTargets(
       "ic-targets", cl::init(false),
       cl::desc("Show indirect call site target values for shown functions"));
@@ -2799,6 +2828,10 @@
            << ": Input file name cannot be the same as the output file name!\n";
     return 1;
   }
+  if (TextFormat)
+    OutputFormat = ShowOutputFormat::TextEncoding;
+  if (JsonFormat)
+    OutputFormat = ShowOutputFormat::Json;
 
   std::error_code EC;
   raw_fd_ostream OS(OutputFilename.data(), EC, sys::fs::OF_TextWithCRLF);
@@ -2809,20 +2842,21 @@
     WithColor::warning() << "-function argument ignored: showing all functions\n";
 
   if (!DebugInfoFilename.empty())
-    return showDebugInfoCorrelation(DebugInfoFilename, ShowDetailedSummary,
-                                    ShowProfileSymbolList, OS);
+    return showDebugInfoCorrelation(DebugInfoFilename, OutputFormat,
+                                    ShowDetailedSummary, ShowProfileSymbolList,
+                                    OS);
 
   if (ProfileKind == instr)
     return showInstrProfile(
         Filename, ShowCounts, TopNFunctions, ShowIndirectCallTargets,
         ShowMemOPSizes, ShowDetailedSummary, DetailedSummaryCutoffs,
         ShowAllFunctions, ShowCS, ValueCutoff, OnlyListBelow, ShowFunction,
-        TextFormat, ShowBinaryIds, ShowCovered, OS);
+        OutputFormat, ShowBinaryIds, ShowCovered, OS);
   if (ProfileKind == sample)
     return showSampleProfile(
         Filename, ShowCounts, TopNFunctions, ShowAllFunctions,
         ShowDetailedSummary, ShowFunction, ShowProfileSymbolList,
-        ShowSectionInfoOnly, ShowHotFuncList, JsonFormat, OS);
+        ShowSectionInfoOnly, ShowHotFuncList, OutputFormat, OS);
   return showMemProfProfile(Filename, ProfiledBinary, OS);
 }