diff --git a/src/main/java/picard/vcf/MergeVcfs.java b/src/main/java/picard/vcf/MergeVcfs.java
index ee0ae76bc..6f9d0c9a0 100644
--- a/src/main/java/picard/vcf/MergeVcfs.java
+++ b/src/main/java/picard/vcf/MergeVcfs.java
@@ -71,7 +71,7 @@
 )
 public class MergeVcfs extends CommandLineProgram {
 
-    @Option(shortName= StandardOptionDefinitions.INPUT_SHORT_NAME, doc="VCF or BCF input files File format is determined by file extension.", minElements=1)
+    @Option(shortName= StandardOptionDefinitions.INPUT_SHORT_NAME, doc="VCF or BCF input files (File format is determined by file extension), or a file having a '.list' suffix containing the path to the files.", minElements=1)
     public List<File> INPUT;
 
     @Option(shortName = StandardOptionDefinitions.OUTPUT_SHORT_NAME, doc = "The merged VCF or BCF file. File format is determined by file extension.")
@@ -94,6 +94,7 @@ public MergeVcfs() {
     protected int doWork() {
         final ProgressLogger progress = new ProgressLogger(log, 10000);
         final List<String> sampleList = new ArrayList<String>();
+        INPUT = IOUtil.unrollFiles(INPUT, IOUtil.VCF_EXTENSIONS);
         final Collection<CloseableIterator<VariantContext>> iteratorCollection = new ArrayList<CloseableIterator<VariantContext>>(INPUT.size());
         final Collection<VCFHeader> headers = new HashSet<VCFHeader>(INPUT.size());