JSON Formatter - Format, Minify & Validate JSON Online

What is JSON?

JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) is a lightweight, text-based data interchange format. It's easy for humans to read and write, and easy for machines to parse and generate. JSON is the most common format for APIs, configuration files, and data storage.

JSON data consists of key-value pairs and arrays:

• Objects - Collections of key-value pairs wrapped in curly braces { }
• Arrays - Ordered lists of values wrapped in square brackets [ ]
• Values - Strings, numbers, booleans, null, objects, or arrays

How to Format JSON

Formatting (or beautifying) JSON adds proper indentation and line breaks to make the data readable:

1. Paste your JSON - Copy minified or messy JSON into the editor
2. Auto-format - JSON is automatically formatted with proper indentation
3. Customize - Choose 2 or 4 space indentation, sort keys, show indices
4. Navigate - Use the tree view to explore nested structures

How to Minify JSON

Minifying JSON removes all unnecessary whitespace to reduce file size:

• Removes all spaces, tabs, and line breaks
• Reduces file size by 20-50% typically
• Ideal for API responses and production deployments
• Maintains data integrity - only formatting changes

Example: A 10KB formatted JSON file might minify to just 6KB.

JSON Formatter Features

Common Use Cases

• Debug API responses - Format JSON from REST APIs to inspect data structure
• Edit configuration files - Validate and format package.json, tsconfig.json, etc.
• Optimize for production - Minify JSON to reduce bandwidth and load times
• Data analysis - Navigate large JSON datasets with tree view and search
• Learning JSON - Understand JSON structure with syntax highlighting

Frequently Asked Questions

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