diff --git a/changelogs/fragments/fix_from_xml.yaml b/changelogs/fragments/fix_from_xml.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9553d0a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelogs/fragments/fix_from_xml.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+---
+minor_changes:
+  - The from_xml filter returns a python dictionary instead of a json string.
diff --git a/plugins/plugin_utils/from_xml.py b/plugins/plugin_utils/from_xml.py
index 9216a05..eb1194e 100644
--- a/plugins/plugin_utils/from_xml.py
+++ b/plugins/plugin_utils/from_xml.py
@@ -13,8 +13,6 @@ from __future__ import absolute_import, division, print_function
 
 __metaclass__ = type
 
-import json
-
 from ansible.errors import AnsibleFilterError
 
 
@@ -46,7 +44,7 @@ def from_xml(data, engine):
         if not HAS_XMLTODICT:
             _raise_error("Missing required library xmltodict")
         try:
-            res = json.dumps(xmltodict.parse(data))
+            res = xmltodict.parse(data)
         except Exception:
             _raise_error("Input Xml is not valid")
         return res
diff --git a/tests/unit/plugins/filter/test_from_xml.py b/tests/unit/plugins/filter/test_from_xml.py
index 4643f53..18c2b0a 100644
--- a/tests/unit/plugins/filter/test_from_xml.py
+++ b/tests/unit/plugins/filter/test_from_xml.py
@@ -22,8 +22,12 @@ VALID_DATA = (
     "<schemas><schema/></schemas></netconf-state>"
 )
 
-OUTPUT = """{"netconf-state": \
-{"@xmlns": "urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:yang:ietf-netconf-monitoring", "schemas": {"schema": null}}}"""
+OUTPUT = {
+    "netconf-state": {
+        "@xmlns": "urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:yang:ietf-netconf-monitoring",
+        "schemas": {"schema": None},
+    },
+}
 
 
 class TestFromXml(TestCase):