diff --git a/oslo_policy/policy.py b/oslo_policy/policy.py
index a0e5ad34..ac116efe 100644
--- a/oslo_policy/policy.py
+++ b/oslo_policy/policy.py
@@ -325,11 +325,19 @@ def parse_file_contents(data):
                                      'policy_name2': 'policy2,...}
     """
     try:
-        parsed = yaml.safe_load(data)
-    except yaml.YAMLError as e:
-        # For backwards-compatibility, convert yaml error to ValueError,
-        # which is what JSON loader raised.
-        raise ValueError(six.text_type(e))
+        # NOTE(snikitin): jsonutils.loads() is much faster than
+        # yaml.safe_load(). However jsonutils.loads() parses only JSON while
+        # yaml.safe_load() parses JSON and YAML. So here we try to parse data
+        # by jsonutils.loads() first. In case of failure yaml.safe_load()
+        # will be used instead.
+        parsed = jsonutils.loads(data)
+    except ValueError:
+        try:
+            parsed = yaml.safe_load(data)
+        except yaml.YAMLError as e:
+            # For backwards-compatibility, convert yaml error to ValueError,
+            # which is what JSON loader raised.
+            raise ValueError(six.text_type(e))
     return parsed