diff --git a/quickwit/Cargo.toml b/quickwit/Cargo.toml
index b3b0da4f933..14b47e5cedb 100644
--- a/quickwit/Cargo.toml
+++ b/quickwit/Cargo.toml
@@ -258,6 +258,7 @@ tracing = "0.1"
 tracing-opentelemetry = "0.28"
 tracing-subscriber = { version = "0.3", features = [
   "env-filter",
+  "json",
   "std",
   "time",
 ] }
diff --git a/quickwit/quickwit-cli/src/logger.rs b/quickwit/quickwit-cli/src/logger.rs
index 365526f8182..140f728b809 100644
--- a/quickwit/quickwit-cli/src/logger.rs
+++ b/quickwit/quickwit-cli/src/logger.rs
@@ -12,8 +12,8 @@
 // See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 // limitations under the License.
 
-use std::env;
 use std::sync::Arc;
+use std::{env, fmt};
 
 use anyhow::Context;
 use opentelemetry::trace::TracerProvider;
@@ -21,12 +21,19 @@ use opentelemetry::{global, KeyValue};
 use opentelemetry_sdk::propagation::TraceContextPropagator;
 use opentelemetry_sdk::trace::BatchConfigBuilder;
 use opentelemetry_sdk::{trace, Resource};
-use quickwit_common::get_bool_from_env;
+use quickwit_common::{get_bool_from_env, get_from_env_opt};
 use quickwit_serve::{BuildInfo, EnvFilterReloadFn};
-use tracing::Level;
+use time::format_description::BorrowedFormatItem;
+use tracing::{Event, Level, Subscriber};
+use tracing_subscriber::field::RecordFields;
+use tracing_subscriber::fmt::format::{
+    DefaultFields, Format, FormatEvent, FormatFields, Full, Json, JsonFields, Writer,
+};
 use tracing_subscriber::fmt::time::UtcTime;
+use tracing_subscriber::fmt::FmtContext;
 use tracing_subscriber::layer::SubscriberExt;
 use tracing_subscriber::prelude::*;
+use tracing_subscriber::registry::LookupSpan;
 use tracing_subscriber::EnvFilter;
 
 use crate::QW_ENABLE_OPENTELEMETRY_OTLP_EXPORTER_ENV_KEY;
@@ -52,18 +59,6 @@ pub fn setup_logging_and_tracing(
     global::set_text_map_propagator(TraceContextPropagator::new());
     let (reloadable_env_filter, reload_handle) = tracing_subscriber::reload::Layer::new(env_filter);
     let registry = tracing_subscriber::registry().with(reloadable_env_filter);
-    let event_format = tracing_subscriber::fmt::format()
-        .with_target(true)
-        .with_timer(
-            // We do not rely on the Rfc3339 implementation, because it has a nanosecond precision.
-            // See discussion here: https://github.com/time-rs/time/discussions/418
-            UtcTime::new(
-                time::format_description::parse(
-                    "[year]-[month]-[day]T[hour]:[minute]:[second].[subsecond digits:3]Z",
-                )
-                .expect("Time format invalid."),
-            ),
-        );
     // Note on disabling ANSI characters: setting the ansi boolean on event format is insufficient.
     // It is thus set on layers, see https://github.com/tokio-rs/tracing/issues/1817
     if get_bool_from_env(QW_ENABLE_OPENTELEMETRY_OTLP_EXPORTER_ENV_KEY, false) {
@@ -91,20 +86,28 @@ pub fn setup_logging_and_tracing(
         let tracer = provider.tracer("quickwit");
         let telemetry_layer = tracing_opentelemetry::layer().with_tracer(tracer);
 
+        let event_format = EventFormat::get_from_env();
+        let fmt_fields = event_format.format_fields();
+
         registry
             .with(telemetry_layer)
             .with(
                 tracing_subscriber::fmt::layer()
                     .event_format(event_format)
+                    .fmt_fields(fmt_fields)
                     .with_ansi(ansi_colors),
             )
             .try_init()
             .context("failed to register tracing subscriber")?;
     } else {
+        let event_format = EventFormat::get_from_env();
+        let fmt_fields = event_format.format_fields();
+
         registry
             .with(
                 tracing_subscriber::fmt::layer()
                     .event_format(event_format)
+                    .fmt_fields(fmt_fields)
                     .with_ansi(ansi_colors),
             )
             .try_init()
@@ -116,3 +119,75 @@ pub fn setup_logging_and_tracing(
         Ok(())
     }))
 }
+
+enum EventFormat<'a> {
+    Full(Format<Full, UtcTime<Vec<BorrowedFormatItem<'a>>>>),
+    Json(Format<Json>),
+}
+
+impl EventFormat<'_> {
+    /// Gets the log format from the environment variable `QW_LOG_FORMAT`. Returns a JSON
+    /// formatter if the variable is set to `json`, otherwise returns a full formatter.
+    fn get_from_env() -> Self {
+        if get_from_env_opt::<String>("QW_LOG_FORMAT")
+            .map(|log_format| log_format.eq_ignore_ascii_case("json"))
+            .unwrap_or(false)
+        {
+            let json_format = tracing_subscriber::fmt::format().json();
+            EventFormat::Json(json_format)
+        } else {
+            // We do not rely on the RFC3339 implementation, because it has a nanosecond precision.
+            // See discussion here: https://github.com/time-rs/time/discussions/418
+            let timer_format = time::format_description::parse(
+                "[year]-[month]-[day]T[hour]:[minute]:[second].[subsecond digits:3]Z",
+            )
+            .expect("time format description should be valid");
+            let timer = UtcTime::new(timer_format);
+
+            let full_format = tracing_subscriber::fmt::format()
+                .with_target(true)
+                .with_timer(timer);
+
+            EventFormat::Full(full_format)
+        }
+    }
+
+    fn format_fields(&self) -> FieldFormat {
+        match self {
+            EventFormat::Full(_) => FieldFormat::Default(DefaultFields::new()),
+            EventFormat::Json(_) => FieldFormat::Json(JsonFields::new()),
+        }
+    }
+}
+
+impl<S, N> FormatEvent<S, N> for EventFormat<'_>
+where
+    S: Subscriber + for<'a> LookupSpan<'a>,
+    N: for<'a> FormatFields<'a> + 'static,
+{
+    fn format_event(
+        &self,
+        ctx: &FmtContext<'_, S, N>,
+        writer: Writer<'_>,
+        event: &Event<'_>,
+    ) -> fmt::Result {
+        match self {
+            EventFormat::Full(format) => format.format_event(ctx, writer, event),
+            EventFormat::Json(format) => format.format_event(ctx, writer, event),
+        }
+    }
+}
+
+enum FieldFormat {
+    Default(DefaultFields),
+    Json(JsonFields),
+}
+
+impl<'a> FormatFields<'a> for FieldFormat {
+    fn format_fields<R: RecordFields>(&self, writer: Writer<'_>, fields: R) -> fmt::Result {
+        match self {
+            FieldFormat::Default(default_fields) => default_fields.format_fields(writer, fields),
+            FieldFormat::Json(json_fields) => json_fields.format_fields(writer, fields),
+        }
+    }
+}