diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index 09ce924d..0be33f00 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -20,6 +20,11 @@
             <version>4.12</version>
             <scope>test</scope>
         </dependency>
+        <dependency>
+            <groupId>com.googlecode.json-simple</groupId>
+            <artifactId>json-simple</artifactId>
+            <version>1.1.1</version>
+        </dependency>
     </dependencies>
 
     <build>
diff --git a/src/main/java/seng302/FileParser.java b/src/main/java/seng302/FileParser.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..2fe26d0f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/main/java/seng302/FileParser.java
@@ -0,0 +1,92 @@
+package seng302;
+
+import org.json.simple.JSONObject;
+import org.json.simple.parser.JSONParser;
+import org.json.simple.parser.ParseException;
+
+import java.io.FileReader;
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.io.FileNotFoundException;
+import java.util.ArrayList;
+
+
+/**
+ * Read team name from a given Json file. So that user can extract information
+ * efficiently from external files.
+ */
+
+public class FileParser {
+
+	private String filePath;
+	private JSONObject content;
+	/** used to construct an instance of file parser
+	 *
+	 * @param filePath a string like path to show location of desired file to
+	 *                 be parsed
+	 */
+	public FileParser(String filePath) throws Exception {
+		this.filePath = filePath;
+		this.readFile();
+	}
+
+	/**
+	 * Reads content from a given file, and return the content as JSONObject.
+	 * Throws FileNotFoundException, if the given file cannot be found.
+	 */
+	private void readFile() throws FileNotFoundException{
+		JSONParser parser = new JSONParser();
+		try {
+			Object obj = parser.parse(new FileReader(filePath));
+
+			JSONObject jsonObject = (JSONObject) obj;
+			this.content = jsonObject;
+		} catch (FileNotFoundException e) {
+			throw e;
+		} catch (IOException e) {
+			e.printStackTrace();
+		} catch (ParseException e) {
+			e.printStackTrace();
+		}
+	}
+
+	/**
+	 * Gets time scale setting parameter.
+	 * @return long time scale. -1 if parameter is invalid (eg. scale is
+	 * negative number, or containing non numeric character) or cannot be found.
+	 */
+	public long getTimeScale() {
+		try {
+			long timeScale = (long) this.content.get("time-scale");
+			return timeScale >= 0 ? timeScale : -1;
+		} catch (Exception e) {
+			return -1;
+		}
+	}
+
+	/**
+	 * Gets race name in the setting file.
+	 * @return a string of race name. null if race name is invalid or cannot
+	 * be found.
+	 */
+	public String getRaceName() {
+		try {
+			return (String) this.content.get("race-name");
+		} catch (Exception e) {
+			return null;
+		}
+	}
+
+	/**
+	 * Gets an array of teams who participate the race.
+	 * @return an ArrayList containing strings of team names. null if teams
+	 * setting is invalid or there is no team.
+	 */
+	public ArrayList<String> getTeams() {
+		try {
+			return (ArrayList<String>) this.content.get("teams");
+		} catch (Exception e) {
+			return null;
+		}
+	}
+
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/test/java/seng302/FileParserTest.java b/src/test/java/seng302/FileParserTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..05c71a9e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/test/java/seng302/FileParserTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,53 @@
+package seng302;
+
+import org.junit.Test;
+
+import java.io.FileNotFoundException;
+import java.util.ArrayList;
+
+import static org.junit.Assert.*;
+
+/** Unit test for FileParser class
+ * Created by Haoming on 5/03/17.
+ */
+public class FileParserTest {
+
+	/*
+		test if it fails from reading non existed file
+	 */
+	@Test (expected = FileNotFoundException.class)
+	public void readNonExistedFile() throws Exception {
+		FileParser fileParser = new FileParser("test/java/seng302/non-existed.json");
+	}
+
+	/*
+		test a valid json file with valid content.
+	 */
+	@Test
+	public void readValidFile() throws Exception{
+		FileParser fileParser = new FileParser("src/test/java/seng302/valid.json");
+
+		assertEquals(fileParser.getRaceName(), "IDK");
+
+		ArrayList<String> teams = new ArrayList<>();
+		teams.add("team1");
+		teams.add("team2");
+		teams.add("team3");
+		assertTrue(teams.equals(fileParser.getTeams()));
+	}
+
+	/*
+		test an invalid json file within wrong type value and misnamed
+		variable name.
+	 */
+	@Test
+	public void readInvaldFile() throws Exception {
+		FileParser fileParser = new FileParser("src/test/java/seng302/invalid.json");
+
+		assertEquals(fileParser.getRaceName(), null);
+		assertEquals(fileParser.getTeams(), null);
+		assertEquals(fileParser.getTimeScale(), -1);
+		assertEquals(fileParser.getTeams(), null);
+	}
+
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/test/java/seng302/invalid.json b/src/test/java/seng302/invalid.json
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..43331785
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/test/java/seng302/invalid.json
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+{
+  "time-scale": "abc",
+  "race-name": 123,
+  "teams-with-wrong-name":["team1","team2","team3"]
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/test/java/seng302/valid.json b/src/test/java/seng302/valid.json
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..21b0c2dc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/test/java/seng302/valid.json
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+{
+  "time-scale": 100,
+  "race-name": "IDK",
+  "teams":["team1","team2","team3"]
+}
\ No newline at end of file