diff --git a/src/Umbraco.Core/Serialization/JsonCreationConverter.cs b/src/Umbraco.Core/Serialization/JsonCreationConverter.cs
index 3a781bbf63..8b8ae8278d 100644
--- a/src/Umbraco.Core/Serialization/JsonCreationConverter.cs
+++ b/src/Umbraco.Core/Serialization/JsonCreationConverter.cs
@@ -4,33 +4,6 @@ using Newtonsoft.Json.Linq;
 
 namespace Umbraco.Core.Serialization
 {
-    /// <summary>
-    /// This is used in order to deserialize a json object on a property into a json string since the property's type is 'string'
-    /// </summary>
-    internal class JsonToStringConverter : JsonConverter
-    {
-        public override void WriteJson(JsonWriter writer, object value, JsonSerializer serializer)
-        {
-            throw new NotImplementedException();
-        }
-
-        public override object ReadJson(JsonReader reader, Type objectType, object existingValue, JsonSerializer serializer)
-        {
-            if (reader.ValueType == typeof(string))
-            {
-                return reader.Value;
-            }
-            // Load JObject from stream
-            JObject jObject = JObject.Load(reader);
-            return jObject.ToString();
-        }
-
-        public override bool CanConvert(Type objectType)
-        {
-            return typeof(string).IsAssignableFrom(objectType);
-        }
-    }
-
     internal abstract class JsonCreationConverter<T> : JsonConverter
     {
         /// <summary>
diff --git a/src/Umbraco.Core/Umbraco.Core.csproj b/src/Umbraco.Core/Umbraco.Core.csproj
index e4f17fdd48..6acadd06af 100644
--- a/src/Umbraco.Core/Umbraco.Core.csproj
+++ b/src/Umbraco.Core/Umbraco.Core.csproj
@@ -691,6 +691,7 @@
     <Compile Include="Serialization\IStreamedResult.cs" />
     <Compile Include="Serialization\JsonCreationConverter.cs" />
     <Compile Include="Serialization\JsonNetSerializer.cs" />
+    <Compile Include="Serialization\JsonToStringConverter.cs" />
     <Compile Include="Serialization\SerializationExtensions.cs" />
     <Compile Include="Serialization\SerializationService.cs" />
     <Compile Include="Serialization\StreamedResult.cs" />
diff --git a/src/Umbraco.Web.UI.Client/common/filters/treeiconclass.filter.js b/src/Umbraco.Web.UI.Client/common/filters/treeiconclass.filter.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..a6830145ad
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/Umbraco.Web.UI.Client/common/filters/treeiconclass.filter.js
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+'use strict';
+
+define(['angular'], function (angular) {
+
+    /**
+    * @ngdoc filter 
+    * @name umbraco.filters:umbTreeIconClass
+    * @restrict E
+    * @description This will properly render the tree icon class based on the tree icon set on the server
+    **/
+    function treeIconClassFilter() {
+        return function (treeNode, standardClasses) {
+            if (treeNode.iconIsClass) {
+                return standardClasses + " " + treeNode.icon;
+            }
+            return standardClasses;
+        };
+    };
+    angular.module('umbraco.filters').filter("umbTreeIconClass", treeIconClassFilter);
+
+});
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/Umbraco.Web.UI.Client/common/filters/treeiconimage.filter.js b/src/Umbraco.Web.UI.Client/common/filters/treeiconimage.filter.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..a67a56223b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/Umbraco.Web.UI.Client/common/filters/treeiconimage.filter.js
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+'use strict';
+
+define(['angular'], function (angular) {
+
+    /**
+    * @ngdoc filter 
+    * @name umbraco.filters:umbTreeIconImage
+    * @restrict E
+    * @description This will properly render the tree icon image based on the tree icon set on the server
+    **/
+    function treeIconImageFilter() {
+        return function (treeNode) {
+            if (treeNode.iconIsClass) {
+                return "";
+            }
+            return "<img src='" + treeNode.iconFilePath + "'></img>";
+        };
+    };
+    angular.module('umbraco.filters').filter("umbTreeIconImage", treeIconImageFilter);
+
+});
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/Umbraco.Web.UI/umbraco/Views/common/tree.html b/src/Umbraco.Web.UI/umbraco/Views/common/tree.html
index 3bc62493b4..4c27139baa 100644
--- a/src/Umbraco.Web.UI/umbraco/Views/common/tree.html
+++ b/src/Umbraco.Web.UI/umbraco/Views/common/tree.html
@@ -13,7 +13,8 @@
              ng-class="{'icon-caret-right': !node.expanded, 'icon-caret-down': node.expanded}" 
              ng-click="getTreeChildren(node)"></ins>
 
-        <i class="icon umb-tree-icon sprTree {{node.icon}}"></i>
+        <i class="{{node|umbTreeIconClass:'icon umb-tree-icon sprTree'}}" ng-bind-html-unsafe="node|umbTreeIconImage">            
+        </i>
 
         <a ng-href="#{{node.view}}">{{node.name}}</a>
         <i class="umb-options" ng-click="showContextMenu(node, $event)"><i></i><i></i><i></i></i>
diff --git a/src/Umbraco.Web.UI/umbraco/js/umbraco.filters.js b/src/Umbraco.Web.UI/umbraco/js/umbraco.filters.js
index 711c6d98de..f1fe4a6df4 100644
--- a/src/Umbraco.Web.UI/umbraco/js/umbraco.filters.js
+++ b/src/Umbraco.Web.UI/umbraco/js/umbraco.filters.js
@@ -4,19 +4,51 @@
  * Licensed MIT
  */
 'use strict';
-define([ 'app','angular'], function (app,angular) {
-angular.module('umbraco.filters', [])
-        .filter('interpolate', ['version', function(version) {
-            return function(text) {
-                return String(text).replace(/\%VERSION\%/mg, version);
-            };
-        }])
-        .filter('propertyEditor', function() {
-            return function(input) {
-                return "views/propertyeditors/" + String(input).replace('.', '/') + "/editor.html";
-            };
-        });
+define(['app', 'angular'], function (app, angular) {
+    angular.module('umbraco.filters', [])
+            .filter('interpolate', ['version', function (version) {
+                return function (text) {
+                    return String(text).replace(/\%VERSION\%/mg, version);
+                };
+            }])
+            .filter('propertyEditor', function () {
+                return function (input) {
+                    return "views/propertyeditors/" + String(input).replace('.', '/') + "/editor.html";
+                };
+            });
+
+    /**
+    * @ngdoc filter 
+    * @name umbraco.filters:umbTreeIconImage
+    * @restrict E
+    * @description This will properly render the tree icon image based on the tree icon set on the server
+    **/
+    function treeIconImageFilter() {
+        return function (treeNode) {
+            if (treeNode.iconIsClass) {
+                return "";
+            }
+            return "<img src='" + treeNode.iconFilePath + "'></img>";
+        };
+    };
+    angular.module('umbraco.filters').filter("umbTreeIconImage", treeIconImageFilter);
+
+    /**
+    * @ngdoc filter 
+    * @name umbraco.filters:umbTreeIconClass
+    * @restrict E
+    * @description This will properly render the tree icon class based on the tree icon set on the server
+    **/
+    function treeIconClassFilter() {
+        return function (treeNode, standardClasses) {
+            if (treeNode.iconIsClass) {
+                return standardClasses + " " + treeNode.icon;
+            }
+            return standardClasses;
+        };
+    };
+    angular.module('umbraco.filters').filter("umbTreeIconClass", treeIconClassFilter);
 
 
-return app;
+    return app;
 });
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/Umbraco.Web/Trees/TreeNode.cs b/src/Umbraco.Web/Trees/TreeNode.cs
index 94917fbc34..5b18f2f750 100644
--- a/src/Umbraco.Web/Trees/TreeNode.cs
+++ b/src/Umbraco.Web/Trees/TreeNode.cs
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 using System.Collections.Generic;
 using System.Runtime.Serialization;
 using Newtonsoft.Json;
+using Umbraco.Core.IO;
 
 namespace Umbraco.Web.Trees
 {
@@ -65,6 +66,33 @@ namespace Umbraco.Web.Trees
         [DataMember(Name = "icon")]
         public string Icon { get; set; }
 
+        /// <summary>
+        /// Returns true if the icon represents a CSS class instead of a file path
+        /// </summary>
+        [DataMember(Name = "iconIsClass")]
+        public bool IconIsClass
+        {
+            get
+            {
+                //if it starts with a '.' or doesn't contain a '.' at all then it is a class
+                return Icon.StartsWith(".") || Icon.Contains(".") == false;
+            }
+        }
+
+        /// <summary>
+        /// Returns the icon file path if the icon is not a class, otherwise returns an empty string
+        /// </summary>
+        [DataMember(Name = "iconFilePath")]
+        public string IconFilePath
+        {
+            get
+            {
+                return IconIsClass
+                           ? string.Empty
+                           : IOHelper.ResolveUrl("~/umbraco/images/umbraco/" + Icon);
+            }
+        }
+
         /// <summary>
         /// The URL path for the editor for this model
         /// </summary>
diff --git a/src/Umbraco.Web/Trees/TreeNodeCollection.cs b/src/Umbraco.Web/Trees/TreeNodeCollection.cs
index e29fb160b1..41f2caed2c 100644
--- a/src/Umbraco.Web/Trees/TreeNodeCollection.cs
+++ b/src/Umbraco.Web/Trees/TreeNodeCollection.cs
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 using System.Collections.Generic;
 using System.Runtime.Serialization;
+using Newtonsoft.Json.Linq;
 
 namespace Umbraco.Web.Trees
 {
diff --git a/src/Umbraco.Web/Umbraco.Web.csproj b/src/Umbraco.Web/Umbraco.Web.csproj
index e41f527696..d1cd2891b9 100644
--- a/src/Umbraco.Web/Umbraco.Web.csproj
+++ b/src/Umbraco.Web/Umbraco.Web.csproj
@@ -303,6 +303,7 @@
     <Compile Include="Trees\ApplicationTreeExtensions.cs" />
     <Compile Include="Trees\TreeNode.cs" />
     <Compile Include="Trees\TreeNodeCollection.cs" />
+    <Compile Include="Trees\TreeNodeSerializer.cs" />
     <Compile Include="Trees\TreeQueryStringParameters.cs" />
     <Compile Include="Trees\ApplicationTreeApiController.cs" />
     <Compile Include="Editors\BackOfficeController.cs" />