diff --git a/docs/gst-hotdoc-plugins-scanner.c b/docs/gst-hotdoc-plugins-scanner.c
index dd754ab838..e892628f1d 100644
--- a/docs/gst-hotdoc-plugins-scanner.c
+++ b/docs/gst-hotdoc-plugins-scanner.c
@@ -690,8 +690,9 @@ main (int argc, char *argv[])
   GList *features, *tmp;
   gint i;
   gboolean first = TRUE;
+  GError *err = NULL;
 
-  g_assert (argc >= 2);
+  g_assert (argc >= 3);
 
   setlocale (LC_ALL, "");
   setlocale (LC_NUMERIC, "C");
@@ -706,7 +707,7 @@ main (int argc, char *argv[])
   gst_init (NULL, NULL);
 
   json = g_string_new ("{");
-  for (i = 1; i < argc; i++) {
+  for (i = 2; i < argc; i++) {
     gchar *basename;
     libfile = argv[i];
     plugin = gst_plugin_load_file (libfile, &error);
@@ -757,7 +758,13 @@ main (int argc, char *argv[])
   }
 
   g_string_append_c (json, '}');
-  g_print ("%s", json->str);
+  if (!g_file_set_contents (argv[1], json->str, -1, &err)) {
+    g_printerr ("Could not set json to %s: %s", argv[1], err->message);
+    g_clear_error (&err);
+
+    return -1;
+  }
+  g_string_free (json, TRUE);
 
   return 0;
 }
diff --git a/docs/gst-plugins-doc-cache-generator.py b/docs/gst-plugins-doc-cache-generator.py
index 6d4dfbbd7b..d1509e6235 100755
--- a/docs/gst-plugins-doc-cache-generator.py
+++ b/docs/gst-plugins-doc-cache-generator.py
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ import json
 import os
 import sys
 import subprocess
+import tempfile
 
 from collections import OrderedDict
 try:
@@ -84,7 +85,8 @@ if __name__ == "__main__":
     except FileNotFoundError:
         pass
 
-    cmd = [os.path.join(os.path.dirname(os.path.realpath(__file__)), 'gst-hotdoc-plugins-scanner')]
+    out = output_filename + '.tmp'
+    cmd = [os.path.join(os.path.dirname(os.path.realpath(__file__)), 'gst-hotdoc-plugins-scanner'), out]
     gst_plugins_paths = []
     for plugin_path in sys.argv[3:]:
         cmd.append(plugin_path)
@@ -110,11 +112,13 @@ if __name__ == "__main__":
             with open(stderrlogfile, 'r') as f:
                 print(f.read(), file=sys.stderr)
             raise
-    try:
-        plugins = json.loads(data.decode(), object_pairs_hook=OrderedDict)
-    except json.decoder.JSONDecodeError:
-        print("Could not decode:\n%s" % data.decode(), file=sys.stderr)
-        raise
+
+    with open(out, 'r') as jfile:
+        try:
+            plugins = json.load(jfile, object_pairs_hook=OrderedDict)
+        except json.decoder.JSONDecodeError:
+            print("Could not decode:\n%s" % jfile.read(), file=sys.stderr)
+            raise
 
     modified = dict_recursive_update(cache, plugins)