Yaml vs properties
The advantages are better readability and you can create maps.
You can test it with spring boot
Dependency:
<dependency>
<groupId>org.yaml</groupId>
<artifactId>snakeyaml</artifactId>
<version>1.13</version>
</dependency>
Read more at:
https://github.com/spring-projects/spring-boot/tree/master/spring-boot-actuator
http://unserializableone.blogspot.de/2007/06/alternative-to-properties-file-yaml.html