diff --git a/extensions/vscode-api-tests/src/commands.test.ts b/extensions/vscode-api-tests/src/commands.test.ts
index 2106a2f2be5106802727012e1a402b35cc79932f..182bc2f26a214ccbe3489b756eab910e77f34218 100644
--- a/extensions/vscode-api-tests/src/commands.test.ts
+++ b/extensions/vscode-api-tests/src/commands.test.ts
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@
 
 import * as assert from 'assert';
 import {join} from 'path';
-import {commands, workspace, window, Uri} from 'vscode';
+import {commands, workspace, window, Uri, ViewColumn} from 'vscode';
 
 suite('commands namespace tests', () => {
 
@@ -103,4 +103,14 @@ suite('commands namespace tests', () => {
 
 		return Promise.all([a, b, c, d]);
 	});
+
+	test('api-command: vscode.open', function () {
+		let uri = Uri.file(join(workspace.rootPath, './image.png'));
+		let a = commands.executeCommand('vscode.open', uri).then(() => assert.ok(true), () => assert.ok(false));
+		let b = commands.executeCommand('vscode.open', uri, ViewColumn.Two).then(() => assert.ok(true), () => assert.ok(false));
+		let c = commands.executeCommand('vscode.open').then(() => assert.ok(false), () => assert.ok(true));
+		let d = commands.executeCommand('vscode.open', uri, true).then(() => assert.ok(false), () => assert.ok(true));
+
+		return Promise.all([a, b, c, d]);
+	});
 });
diff --git a/extensions/vscode-api-tests/testWorkspace/image.png b/extensions/vscode-api-tests/testWorkspace/image.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..ff8b42295dd3078e8336b79f03385de09d68ed33
Binary files /dev/null and b/extensions/vscode-api-tests/testWorkspace/image.png differ
diff --git a/src/vs/workbench/api/node/extHostApiCommands.ts b/src/vs/workbench/api/node/extHostApiCommands.ts
index 13ca417da28e098057069a8629f75756290e5638..bb823b1ef822d9a7e94ad4d0b710f27587d40da2 100644
--- a/src/vs/workbench/api/node/extHostApiCommands.ts
+++ b/src/vs/workbench/api/node/extHostApiCommands.ts
@@ -208,6 +208,16 @@ class ExtHostApiCommands {
 				{ name: 'title', description: '(optional) Human readable title for the diff editor', constraint: v => v === void 0 || typeof v === 'string' }
 			]
 		});
+
+		this._register('vscode.open', (resource: URI, column: vscode.ViewColumn) => {
+			return this._commands.executeCommand('_workbench.open', [resource, typeConverters.fromViewColumn(column)]);
+		}, {
+				description: 'Opens the provided resource in the editor. Can be a text or binary file.',
+				args: [
+					{ name: 'resource', description: 'Resource to open', constraint: URI },
+					{ name: 'column', description: '(optional) Column in which to open', constraint: v => v === void 0 || typeof v === 'number' }
+				]
+			});
 	}
 
 	// --- command impl
diff --git a/src/vs/workbench/electron-browser/actions.ts b/src/vs/workbench/electron-browser/actions.ts
index 8e88934dfe6cef7d665d1226c1592e99b81a6cb1..d94f1842ac965cefb7afaefb7b1a454fcd2d4032 100644
--- a/src/vs/workbench/electron-browser/actions.ts
+++ b/src/vs/workbench/electron-browser/actions.ts
@@ -491,4 +491,20 @@ KeybindingsRegistry.registerCommandDesc({
 	},
 	when: undefined,
 	primary: undefined
+});
+
+KeybindingsRegistry.registerCommandDesc({
+	id: '_workbench.open',
+	weight: KeybindingsRegistry.WEIGHT.workbenchContrib(0),
+	handler(accessor: ServicesAccessor, args: [URI, number]) {
+
+		const editorService = accessor.get(IWorkbenchEditorService);
+		let [resource, column] = args;
+
+		return editorService.openEditor({ resource }, column).then(() => {
+			return void 0;
+		});
+	},
+	when: undefined,
+	primary: undefined
 });
\ No newline at end of file