diff --git a/composer.json b/composer.json
index f2015f0d..7c61b448 100644
--- a/composer.json
+++ b/composer.json
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
     "squizlabs/php_codesniffer" : "3.4.0"
   },
   "require": {
-    "ext-ldap": "*"
+    "ext-ldap": "*",
+    "ext-json": "*"
   }
 }
diff --git a/lam/lib/persistence.inc b/lam/lib/persistence.inc
index 5ad8b67d..b5f32782 100644
--- a/lam/lib/persistence.inc
+++ b/lam/lib/persistence.inc
@@ -77,7 +77,6 @@ class ConfigDataExporter {
 		/**
 		 * TODO
 		 *
-		 * pdf/account templates /config/templates
 		 * self service profiles
 		 * webauthn
 		 * cron job runs
diff --git a/lam/lib/selfService.inc b/lam/lib/selfService.inc
index 7d8b63c9..c96e0c82 100644
--- a/lam/lib/selfService.inc
+++ b/lam/lib/selfService.inc
@@ -213,7 +213,13 @@ function loadSelfServiceProfile($name, $scope) {
 		$file = @fopen($file, "r");
 		if ($file) {
 			$data = fread($file, 10000000);
-			$profile = unserialize($data);
+			$profileData = @json_decode($data, true);
+			if ($profileData === null) {
+				$profile = unserialize($data);
+			}
+			else {
+				$profile = selfServiceProfile::import($profileData);
+			}
 			fclose($file);
 		}
 		else {
@@ -249,7 +255,7 @@ function saveSelfServiceProfile($name, $scope, $profile) {
 	$file = @fopen($path, "w");
 	if ($file) {
 	  	// write settings to file
-		fputs($file, serialize($profile));
+		fputs($file, json_encode($profile->export()));
 		// close file
 		fclose($file);
 	}
@@ -521,6 +527,32 @@ class selfServiceProfile {
 		$this->baseUrl = '';
 	}
 
+	/**
+	 * Converts the export data back to a self service profile.
+	 *
+	 * @param array $data export data
+	 * @return selfServiceProfile profile
+	 */
+	public static function import($data) {
+		$profile = new selfServiceProfile();
+		$vars = get_class_vars(selfServiceProfile::class);
+		foreach ($data as $key => $value) {
+			if (in_array($key, $vars)) {
+				$profile->$key = $value;
+			}
+		}
+		return $profile;
+	}
+
+	/**
+	 * Returns a representation of the self service profile.
+	 *
+	 * @return array self service profile data
+	 */
+	public function export() {
+		return json_decode(json_encode($this), true);
+	}
+
 	/**
 	 * Returns the server's base URL (e.g. https://www.example.com).
 	 *
diff --git a/lam/tests/lib/selfServiceTest.php b/lam/tests/lib/selfServiceTest.php
index 67e3ce23..b7e65859 100644
--- a/lam/tests/lib/selfServiceTest.php
+++ b/lam/tests/lib/selfServiceTest.php
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ use PHPUnit\Framework\TestCase;
 /*
 
   This code is part of LDAP Account Manager (http://www.ldap-account-manager.org/)
-  Copyright (C) 2019  Roland Gruber
+  Copyright (C) 2019 - 2020  Roland Gruber
 
   This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
   it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ use PHPUnit\Framework\TestCase;
 
 */
 
-require_once 'lam/lib/selfService.inc';
+require_once __DIR__ . '/../../lib/selfService.inc';
 
 /**
  * Checks selfServiceProfile.
@@ -43,6 +43,23 @@ class selfServiceProfileTest extends TestCase {
 		$this->assertEquals('https://test.com', $profile->getBaseUrl());
 	}
 
+	public function testImportExport() {
+		$profile = new selfServiceProfile();
+		$moduleSettings = array('x1' => 'y1', 'x2' => 'y2');
+		$profile->moduleSettings = $moduleSettings;
+		$profile->baseColor = 'green';
+		$profile->language = 'de_DE@UTF8';
+		$profile->pageHeader = 'header';
+
+		$export = $profile->export();
+		$importedProfile = selfServiceProfile::import($export);
+
+		$this->assertEquals($moduleSettings, $importedProfile->moduleSettings);
+		$this->assertEquals('green', $importedProfile->baseColor);
+		$this->assertEquals('de_DE@UTF8', $importedProfile->language);
+		$this->assertEquals('header', $importedProfile->pageHeader);
+	}
+
 }
 
 ?>
\ No newline at end of file