diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 8ef69776..d9ce9346 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@
 
 - Change Poetry version to be `>=1.1.12,<2` in Docker development setup (prevents `JSONDecodeError` issue under Python 3.10) ([#178](https://github.com/torchbox/django-pattern-library/pull/178)).
 - Move demo/test app pattern-library from `/pattern-library/` to `/` ([#178](https://github.com/torchbox/django-pattern-library/pull/178)).
+- Allow `.yml` extension for YAML files ([#161](https://github.com/torchbox/django-pattern-library/issues/161)).
 
 ### Removed
 
diff --git a/docs/getting-started.md b/docs/getting-started.md
index 103fb0a3..b22aee91 100644
--- a/docs/getting-started.md
+++ b/docs/getting-started.md
@@ -168,7 +168,7 @@ We additionally need to customize a base template, so the standalone component c
 
 ### Component data
 
-We can provide context and tags overrides for our new component by creating a `quote_block.yaml` YAML file alongside the HTML, at `patterns/components/quote_block/quote_block.yaml` in our example.
+We can provide context and tags overrides for our new component by creating a `quote_block.yaml` YAML file alongside the HTML, at `patterns/components/quote_block/quote_block.yaml` in our example. You can use either `.yaml` or `.yml` as the file extension.
 
 ```yaml
 context:
diff --git a/docs/reference/api.md b/docs/reference/api.md
index a8a4efa2..27d10734 100644
--- a/docs/reference/api.md
+++ b/docs/reference/api.md
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ YAML isn’t everyone’s favorite markup language, but it has the advantage of
 
 Here is what you need to know:
 
-- Always use `.yaml` for patterns configuration.
+- Use `.yaml` or `.yml` as the file extension for pattern configuration files. If both are present, the `.yaml` file takes precendence.
 - Use Mappings in place of Python Dictionaries.
 - Use Sequences in place of Python lists (or iterables like QuerySets).
 - The pattern library uses [PyYAML](https://pyyaml.org/wiki/PyYAMLDocumentation) in particular
diff --git a/pattern_library/utils.py b/pattern_library/utils.py
index b55f602f..19b3f90d 100644
--- a/pattern_library/utils.py
+++ b/pattern_library/utils.py
@@ -149,7 +149,11 @@ def get_pattern_config_str(template_name):
     try:
         context_file = get_template(context_name)
     except TemplateDoesNotExist:
-        return ''
+        context_name = context_path + '.yml'
+        try:
+            context_file = get_template(context_name)
+        except TemplateDoesNotExist:
+            return ''
 
     return context_file.render()
 
diff --git a/tests/templates/patterns/atoms/test_atom_yml/test_atom_yml.html b/tests/templates/patterns/atoms/test_atom_yml/test_atom_yml.html
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..9635774f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/templates/patterns/atoms/test_atom_yml/test_atom_yml.html
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+{{ atom_var }}
diff --git a/tests/templates/patterns/atoms/test_atom_yml/test_atom_yml.yml b/tests/templates/patterns/atoms/test_atom_yml/test_atom_yml.yml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..4e492ed5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/templates/patterns/atoms/test_atom_yml/test_atom_yml.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+context:
+  atom_var: 'atom_var value from test_atom.yml (notice the missing "a" in the extension)'
diff --git a/tests/tests/test_utils.py b/tests/tests/test_utils.py
index 615ecc67..b5d805a0 100644
--- a/tests/tests/test_utils.py
+++ b/tests/tests/test_utils.py
@@ -3,7 +3,9 @@
 from django.conf import settings
 from django.test import SimpleTestCase, override_settings
 
-from pattern_library.utils import get_template_ancestors, get_template_dirs
+from pattern_library.utils import (
+    get_pattern_config_str, get_template_ancestors, get_template_dirs
+)
 
 
 class TestGetTemplateAncestors(SimpleTestCase):
@@ -79,3 +81,22 @@ def test_get_template_dirs_list_dirs(self):
             'dpl/pattern_library',
             'dpl/tests',
         ])
+
+
+class TestGetPatternConfigStr(SimpleTestCase):
+    def test_not_existing_template(self):
+        result = get_pattern_config_str("doesnotexist")
+
+        self.assertEqual(result, "")
+
+    def test_atom_yaml(self):
+        result = get_pattern_config_str("patterns/atoms/test_atom/test_atom.html")
+
+        self.assertNotEqual(result, "")
+        self.assertIn("atom_var value from test_atom.yaml", result)
+
+    def test_atom_yml(self):
+        result = get_pattern_config_str("patterns/atoms/test_atom_yml/test_atom_yml.html")
+
+        self.assertNotEqual(result, "")
+        self.assertIn("atom_var value from test_atom.yml", result)