diff --git a/spine-unity/Assets/Examples/Spine/Raptor/raptor.skel.bytes b/spine-unity/Assets/Examples/Spine/Raptor/raptor.skel.bytes
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..507d86e2e
Binary files /dev/null and b/spine-unity/Assets/Examples/Spine/Raptor/raptor.skel.bytes differ
diff --git a/spine-unity/Assets/Examples/Spine/Raptor/raptor.skel.bytes.meta b/spine-unity/Assets/Examples/Spine/Raptor/raptor.skel.bytes.meta
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..7dae281bc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spine-unity/Assets/Examples/Spine/Raptor/raptor.skel.bytes.meta
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+fileFormatVersion: 2
+guid: 5d6edb328bfcef44a9d1bf852e5724bc
+timeCreated: 1427642224
+licenseType: Free
+TextScriptImporter:
+  userData: 
+  assetBundleName: 
+  assetBundleVariant: 
diff --git a/spine-unity/Assets/spine-unity/Editor/SkeletonDataAssetInspector.cs b/spine-unity/Assets/spine-unity/Editor/SkeletonDataAssetInspector.cs
index 07c439dfd..78c0b8470 100644
--- a/spine-unity/Assets/spine-unity/Editor/SkeletonDataAssetInspector.cs
+++ b/spine-unity/Assets/spine-unity/Editor/SkeletonDataAssetInspector.cs
@@ -455,8 +455,8 @@ public class SkeletonDataAssetInspector : Editor {
 			warnings.Add("Missing Skeleton JSON");
 		else {
 
-			if (SpineEditorUtilities.IsSpineJSON((TextAsset)skeletonJSON.objectReferenceValue) == false) {
-				warnings.Add("Skeleton JSON is not a Valid JSON file");
+			if (SpineEditorUtilities.IsValidSpineData((TextAsset)skeletonJSON.objectReferenceValue) == false) {
+				warnings.Add("Skeleton data file is not a valid JSON or binary file.");
 			} else {
 				bool detectedNullAtlasEntry = false;
 				List<Atlas> atlasList = new List<Atlas>();
diff --git a/spine-unity/Assets/spine-unity/Editor/SpineEditorUtilities.cs b/spine-unity/Assets/spine-unity/Editor/SpineEditorUtilities.cs
index 0ee6a02c9..a697c8fc5 100644
--- a/spine-unity/Assets/spine-unity/Editor/SpineEditorUtilities.cs
+++ b/spine-unity/Assets/spine-unity/Editor/SpineEditorUtilities.cs
@@ -251,8 +251,8 @@ public class SpineEditorUtilities : AssetPostprocessor {
 					imagePaths.Add(str);
 					break;
 				case ".json":
-					TextAsset spineJson = (TextAsset)AssetDatabase.LoadAssetAtPath(str, typeof(TextAsset));
-					if (IsSpineJSON(spineJson)) {
+					TextAsset spineDataFile = (TextAsset)AssetDatabase.LoadAssetAtPath(str, typeof(TextAsset));
+					if (IsValidSpineData(spineDataFile)) {
 						skeletonPaths.Add(str);
 					}
 					break;
@@ -518,6 +518,9 @@ public class SpineEditorUtilities : AssetPostprocessor {
 	public static List<string> GetRequiredAtlasRegions (string jsonPath) {
 		List<string> requiredPaths = new List<string>();
 
+		// FIXME - This doesn't work for a binary skeleton file!
+		if (jsonPath.Contains(".skel")) return requiredPaths;
+
 		TextAsset spineJson = (TextAsset)AssetDatabase.LoadAssetAtPath(jsonPath, typeof(TextAsset));
 
 		StringReader reader = new StringReader(spineJson.text);
@@ -592,8 +595,14 @@ public class SpineEditorUtilities : AssetPostprocessor {
 		return arr;
 	}
 
-	public static bool IsSpineJSON (TextAsset asset) {
-		object obj = Json.Deserialize(new StringReader(asset.text));
+	public static bool IsValidSpineData (TextAsset asset) {
+		if (asset.name.Contains(".skel")) return true;
+
+		object obj = null;
+		try {
+			obj = Json.Deserialize(new StringReader(asset.text));
+		} catch (System.Exception) {
+		}
 		if (obj == null) {
 			Debug.LogError("Is not valid JSON");
 			return false;
diff --git a/spine-unity/Assets/spine-unity/SkeletonDataAsset.cs b/spine-unity/Assets/spine-unity/SkeletonDataAsset.cs
index 71b006b93..d82e3eb7c 100644
--- a/spine-unity/Assets/spine-unity/SkeletonDataAsset.cs
+++ b/spine-unity/Assets/spine-unity/SkeletonDataAsset.cs
@@ -97,31 +97,45 @@ public class SkeletonDataAsset : ScriptableObject {
 
 		if (skeletonData != null)
 			return skeletonData;
-
-		SkeletonJson json;
+		
+		AttachmentLoader attachmentLoader;
+		float skeletonDataScale;
 
 #if !SPINE_TK2D
-		json = new SkeletonJson(atlasArr);
-		json.Scale = scale;
+		attachmentLoader = new AtlasAttachmentLoader(atlasArr);
+		skeletonDataScale = scale;
 #else
 		if (spriteCollection != null) {
-			json = new SkeletonJson(new SpriteCollectionAttachmentLoader(spriteCollection));
-			json.Scale = (1.0f / (spriteCollection.invOrthoSize * spriteCollection.halfTargetHeight) * scale) * 100f;
+			attachmentLoader = new SpriteCollectionAttachmentLoader(spriteCollection)
+			skeletonDataScale = (1.0f / (spriteCollection.invOrthoSize * spriteCollection.halfTargetHeight) * scale) * 100f;
 		} else {
 			if (atlasArr.Length == 0) {
 				Reset();
-				if (!quiet)
-					Debug.LogError("Atlas not set for SkeletonData asset: " + name, this);
+				if (!quiet) Debug.LogError("Atlas not set for SkeletonData asset: " + name, this);
 				return null;
 			}
-			json = new SkeletonJson(atlasArr);
-			json.Scale = scale;
+			attachmentLoader = new AtlasAttachmentLoader(atlasArr);
+			skeletonDataScale = scale;
 		}
 #endif
 
-		
 		try {
-			skeletonData = json.ReadSkeletonData(new StringReader(skeletonJSON.text));
+			//var stopwatch = new System.Diagnostics.Stopwatch();
+			if (skeletonJSON.name.ToLower().Contains(".skel")) {
+				var input = new MemoryStream(skeletonJSON.bytes);
+				var binary = new SkeletonBinary(attachmentLoader);
+				binary.Scale = skeletonDataScale;
+				//stopwatch.Start();
+				skeletonData = binary.ReadSkeletonData(input);
+			} else {
+				var input = new StringReader(skeletonJSON.text);
+				var json = new SkeletonJson(attachmentLoader);
+				json.Scale = skeletonDataScale;
+				//stopwatch.Start();
+				skeletonData = json.ReadSkeletonData(input);
+			}
+			//stopwatch.Stop();
+			//Debug.Log(stopwatch.Elapsed);
 		} catch (Exception ex) {
 			if (!quiet)
 				Debug.LogError("Error reading skeleton JSON file for SkeletonData asset: " + name + "\n" + ex.Message + "\n" + ex.StackTrace, this);