diff --git a/include/boost/json/impl/value.ipp b/include/boost/json/impl/value.ipp
index b4e80f036..12d60f5ff 100644
--- a/include/boost/json/impl/value.ipp
+++ b/include/boost/json/impl/value.ipp
@@ -231,13 +231,28 @@ value(
     storage_ptr sp)
 {
     if(value_ref::maybe_object(init))
+    {
         ::new(&obj_) object(
             value_ref::make_object(
                 init, std::move(sp)));
+    }
     else
-        ::new(&arr_) array(
-            value_ref::make_array(
-                init, std::move(sp)));
+    {
+#ifndef BOOST_JSON_LEGACY_INIT_LIST_BEHAVIOR
+        if( init.size() == 1 )
+        {
+            ::new(&sca_) scalar();
+            value temp = init.begin()->make_value( std::move(sp) );
+            swap(temp);
+        }
+        else
+#endif
+        {
+            ::new(&arr_) array(
+                value_ref::make_array(
+                    init, std::move(sp)));
+        }
+    }
 }
 
 //----------------------------------------------------------
diff --git a/include/boost/json/value.hpp b/include/boost/json/value.hpp
index 24df80a7e..a642acec6 100644
--- a/include/boost/json/value.hpp
+++ b/include/boost/json/value.hpp
@@ -1014,11 +1014,16 @@ class value
 
     /** Construct from an initializer-list
 
-        If the initializer list consists of key/value
-        pairs, an @ref object is created. Otherwise
-        an @ref array is created. The contents of the
-        initializer list are copied to the newly constructed
-        value using the specified memory resource.
+        @li If the initializer list consists of key/value
+        pairs, an @ref object is created; otherwise,
+
+        @li if the size of the initializer list is exactly 1, the object is
+        constructed directly from that sole element; otherwise,
+
+        @li an @ref array is created.
+
+        The contents of the initializer list are copied to the newly
+        constructed value using the specified memory resource.
 
         @par Complexity
         Linear in `init.size()`.
@@ -1032,6 +1037,20 @@ class value
         @param sp A pointer to the @ref memory_resource
         to use. The container will acquire shared
         ownership of the memory resource.
+
+        @par Note
+        The previous behavior of this constructor was to always
+        construct either an @ref object or an @ref array. In practice though,
+        several C++ implementations did not treat `value{x}` as a constructor
+        from initializer list. This effectively resulted in different behavior
+        on different implementations. <br>
+
+        If you need the legacy behavior define macro
+        `BOOST_JSON_LEGACY_INIT_LIST_BEHAVIOR` when you are building the
+        library. The macro and the functionality will be deprecated in the
+        future and then removed, so we urge you to change your code for the new
+        behavior as soon as possible. The simplest way to create an @ref array
+        with 1 element using an initializer list is via `array{x}`.
     */
     BOOST_JSON_DECL
     value(
diff --git a/test/value.cpp b/test/value.cpp
index 66ce1c6f7..315e77028 100644
--- a/test/value.cpp
+++ b/test/value.cpp
@@ -2131,6 +2131,17 @@ class value_test
     void
     testInitList()
     {
+        {
+            value jv{};
+            BOOST_TEST( jv.is_null() );
+        }
+#ifndef BOOST_JSON_LEGACY_INIT_LIST_BEHAVIOR
+        {
+            value jv{0};
+            BOOST_TEST( jv == 0 );
+        }
+#endif
+
         check_array(value{0,0,0},               0, 0, 0);
         check_array(value{false,false,false},   false, false, false);
         check_array(value{false,2,false},       false, 2, false);