diff --git a/src/read.jl b/src/read.jl
index 50354d4..f36b264 100644
--- a/src/read.jl
+++ b/src/read.jl
@@ -29,8 +29,11 @@ Read JSON.
 """
 function read(json::AbstractString; jsonlines::Bool=false,
               numbertype::Union{DataType, Nothing}=nothing, kw...)
+    return parse(read_json_str(json); jsonlines, numbertype, kw...)
+end
 
-    str = read_json_str(json)
+function parse(str::AbstractString; jsonlines::Bool=false,
+               numbertype::Union{DataType, Nothing}=nothing, kw...)
     buf = codeunits(str)
     len = length(buf)
     if len == 0
@@ -72,6 +75,11 @@ function read(json::AbstractString; jsonlines::Bool=false,
     invalid(error, buf, pos, Any)
 end
 
+function parsefile(fname::AbstractString; jsonlines::Bool=false,
+                   numbertype::Union{DataType, Nothing}=nothing, kw...)
+    return parse(VectorString(Mmap.mmap(fname)); jsonlines, numbertype, kw...)
+end
+
 macro check()
     esc(quote
         if (tapeidx + 1) > length(tape)
diff --git a/src/structs.jl b/src/structs.jl
index 9a42ff2..3fff1c3 100644
--- a/src/structs.jl
+++ b/src/structs.jl
@@ -13,8 +13,7 @@ function rawbytes end
 read(io::Union{IO, Base.AbstractCmd}, ::Type{T}; kw...) where {T} = read(Base.read(io, String), T; kw...)
 read(bytes::AbstractVector{UInt8}, ::Type{T}; kw...) where {T} = read(VectorString(bytes), T; kw...)
 
-function _prepare_read(json::AbstractString, ::Type{T}) where {T}
-    str = read_json_str(json)
+function _prepare_read(str::AbstractString, ::Type{T}) where {T}
     buf = codeunits(str)
     len = length(buf)
     if len == 0
@@ -30,7 +29,7 @@ function _prepare_read(json::AbstractString, ::Type{T}) where {T}
     invalid(error, buf, pos, T)
 end
 
-function read(str::AbstractString, ::Type{T}; jsonlines::Bool=false, kw...) where {T}
+function parse(str::AbstractString, ::Type{T}; jsonlines::Bool=false, kw...) where {T}
     buf, pos, len, b = _prepare_read(str, T)
     if jsonlines
         if StructType(T) != ArrayType()
@@ -43,13 +42,21 @@ function read(str::AbstractString, ::Type{T}; jsonlines::Bool=false, kw...) wher
     return x
 end
 
+function read(str::AbstractString, ::Type{T}; jsonlines::Bool=false, kw...) where {T}
+    return parse(read_json_str(str), T; jsonlines, kw...)
+end
+
+function parsefile(fname::AbstractString, ::Type{T}; jsonlines::Bool=false, kw...) where {T}
+    return parse(VectorString(Mmap.mmap(fname)), T; jsonlines, kw...)
+end
+
 """
     JSON3.read!(json_str, x; kw...)
 
 Incrementally update an instance of a mutable object `x` with the contents of `json_str`.  See [`JSON3.read`](@ref) for more details.
 """
 function read!(str::AbstractString, x::T; kw...) where {T}
-    buf, pos, len, b = _prepare_read(str, T)
+    buf, pos, len, b = _prepare_read(read_json_str(str), T)
     pos, x = read!(StructType(T), buf, pos, len, b, T, x; kw...)
     return x
 end
diff --git a/test/runtests.jl b/test/runtests.jl
index a036012..f26a9a1 100644
--- a/test/runtests.jl
+++ b/test/runtests.jl
@@ -167,18 +167,20 @@ StructTypes.StructType(::Type{UndefGuy}) = StructTypes.Mutable()
 
 @testset "read.jl" begin
 
-@test_throws ArgumentError JSON3.read("")
-@test JSON3.read("{\"hey\":1}").hey == 1
-@test JSON3.read("[\"hey\",1]") == ["hey",1]
-@test JSON3.read("1.0") === Int64(1)
-@test JSON3.read("1") === Int64(1)
-@test JSON3.read("1.1") === 1.1
-@test JSON3.read("+1.1") === 1.1
-@test JSON3.read("-1.1") === -1.1
-@test JSON3.read("\"hey\"") == "hey"
-@test JSON3.read("null") === nothing
-@test JSON3.read("true") === true
-@test JSON3.read("false") === false
+for readfunc in [JSON3.read, JSON3.parse]
+    @test_throws ArgumentError readfunc("")
+    @test readfunc("{\"hey\":1}").hey == 1
+    @test readfunc("[\"hey\",1]") == ["hey",1]
+    @test readfunc("1.0") === Int64(1)
+    @test readfunc("1") === Int64(1)
+    @test readfunc("1.1") === 1.1
+    @test readfunc("+1.1") === 1.1
+    @test readfunc("-1.1") === -1.1
+    @test readfunc("\"hey\"") == "hey"
+    @test readfunc("null") === nothing
+    @test readfunc("true") === true
+    @test readfunc("false") === false
+end
 
 # numbertype
 @test JSON3.read("1.0", numbertype=Float64) === 1.0