diff --git a/src/.eslintrc b/src/.eslintrc
index 98bd042585b..428c1ee3b53 100644
--- a/src/.eslintrc
+++ b/src/.eslintrc
@@ -6,7 +6,8 @@
   "globals": {
     "Promise": true,
     "Float32Array": true,
-    "Uint8Array": true
+    "Uint8Array": true,
+    "ArrayBuffer": true
   },
   "rules": {
     "strict": [2, "global"],
diff --git a/src/lib/index.js b/src/lib/index.js
index d1ccb36f1a6..6f9a3d57c90 100644
--- a/src/lib/index.js
+++ b/src/lib/index.js
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ var lib = module.exports = {};
 
 lib.nestedProperty = require('./nested_property');
 lib.isPlainObject = require('./is_plain_object');
+lib.isArray = require('./is_array');
 
 var coerceModule = require('./coerce');
 lib.valObjects = coerceModule.valObjects;
diff --git a/src/lib/is_array.js b/src/lib/is_array.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..c01cdac4007
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/lib/is_array.js
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+/**
+* Copyright 2012-2016, Plotly, Inc.
+* All rights reserved.
+*
+* This source code is licensed under the MIT license found in the
+* LICENSE file in the root directory of this source tree.
+*/
+
+'use strict';
+
+/**
+ * Return true for arrays, whether they're untyped or not.
+ */
+module.exports = function isArray(a) {
+    return Array.isArray(a) || ArrayBuffer.isView(a);
+};
diff --git a/src/lib/nested_property.js b/src/lib/nested_property.js
index ac51e2ab4bd..a3e004c2caa 100644
--- a/src/lib/nested_property.js
+++ b/src/lib/nested_property.js
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@
 'use strict';
 
 var isNumeric = require('fast-isnumeric');
+var isArray = require('./is_array');
 
 /**
  * convert a string s (such as 'xaxis.range[0]')
@@ -93,7 +94,7 @@ function npGet(cont, parts) {
                 }
                 return allSame ? out[0] : out;
             }
-            if(typeof curPart === 'number' && !Array.isArray(curCont)) {
+            if(typeof curPart === 'number' && !isArray(curCont)) {
                 return undefined;
             }
             curCont = curCont[curPart];
@@ -122,7 +123,7 @@ function isDataArray(val, key) {
     var containers = ['annotations', 'shapes', 'range', 'domain', 'buttons'],
         isNotAContainer = containers.indexOf(key) === -1;
 
-    return Array.isArray(val) && isNotAContainer;
+    return isArray(val) && isNotAContainer;
 }
 
 function npSet(cont, parts) {
@@ -136,7 +137,7 @@ function npSet(cont, parts) {
         for(i = 0; i < parts.length - 1; i++) {
             curPart = parts[i];
 
-            if(typeof curPart === 'number' && !Array.isArray(curCont)) {
+            if(typeof curPart === 'number' && !isArray(curCont)) {
                 throw 'array index but container is not an array';
             }
 
@@ -170,7 +171,7 @@ function npSet(cont, parts) {
 
 // handle special -1 array index
 function setArrayAll(containerArray, innerParts, val) {
-    var arrayVal = Array.isArray(val),
+    var arrayVal = isArray(val),
         allSet = true,
         thisVal = val,
         deleteThis = arrayVal ? false : emptyObj(val),
@@ -215,7 +216,7 @@ function pruneContainers(containerLevels) {
     for(i = containerLevels.length - 1; i >= 0; i--) {
         curCont = containerLevels[i];
         remainingKeys = false;
-        if(Array.isArray(curCont)) {
+        if(isArray(curCont)) {
             for(j = curCont.length - 1; j >= 0; j--) {
                 if(emptyObj(curCont[j])) {
                     if(remainingKeys) curCont[j] = undefined;
@@ -239,7 +240,7 @@ function pruneContainers(containerLevels) {
 function emptyObj(obj) {
     if(obj === undefined || obj === null) return true;
     if(typeof obj !== 'object') return false; // any plain value
-    if(Array.isArray(obj)) return !obj.length; // []
+    if(isArray(obj)) return !obj.length; // []
     return !Object.keys(obj).length; // {}
 }
 
diff --git a/test/jasmine/tests/is_array_test.js b/test/jasmine/tests/is_array_test.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..bea361516db
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/jasmine/tests/is_array_test.js
@@ -0,0 +1,47 @@
+var Lib = require('@src/lib');
+
+describe('isArray', function() {
+    'use strict';
+
+    var isArray = Lib.isArray;
+
+    function A() {}
+
+    var shouldPass = [
+        [],
+        new Array(10),
+        new Float32Array(1),
+        new Int32Array([1, 2, 3])
+    ];
+
+    var shouldFail = [
+        A,
+        new A(),
+        document,
+        window,
+        null,
+        undefined,
+        'string',
+        true,
+        false,
+        NaN,
+        Infinity,
+        /foo/,
+        '\n',
+        new Date(),
+        new RegExp('foo'),
+        new String('string')
+    ];
+
+    shouldPass.forEach(function(obj) {
+        it('treats ' + JSON.stringify(obj) + ' as an array', function() {
+            expect(isArray(obj)).toBe(true);
+        });
+    });
+
+    shouldFail.forEach(function(obj) {
+        it('treats ' + JSON.stringify(obj !== window ? obj : 'window') + ' as NOT an array', function() {
+            expect(isArray(obj)).toBe(false);
+        });
+    });
+});
diff --git a/test/jasmine/tests/is_plain_object_test.js b/test/jasmine/tests/is_plain_object_test.js
index 95b199db902..cf2ba311f25 100644
--- a/test/jasmine/tests/is_plain_object_test.js
+++ b/test/jasmine/tests/is_plain_object_test.js
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ describe('isPlainObject', function() {
         null,
         undefined,
         [],
+        new Float32Array(1),
         'string',
         true,
         false,