JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) is a lightweight data interchange format that's easy for humans to read and write, and easy for machines to parse and generate. It's language-independent but uses conventions familiar to programmers of the C-family of languages. JSON has become the de facto standard for data exchange in web applications.

JSON Structure

JSON is built on two structures: objects (collections of key/value pairs enclosed in {}) and arrays (ordered lists of values enclosed in []). Values can be strings, numbers, booleans (true/false), null, objects, or arrays. This simple structure can represent complex, nested data.

Common Use Cases

Beautifying minified API request and response payloads
Catching syntax errors in configuration files before deploys
Reviewing nested logs and webhook payloads in a tree view
Cleaning JSON before schema validation or API debugging
Preparing payloads for schema-aware validation workflows

JSON Examples

Input: {"name":"John"}

Output:

{
  "name": "John"
}

Input: [1,2,3]

Output:

[
  1,
  2,
  3
]

Frequently Asked Questions

What's the difference between JSON and JavaScript objects?

JSON is a text format that follows specific rules: keys must be double-quoted strings, and values are limited to specific types. JavaScript objects are more flexible and can contain functions, undefined values, and use single quotes.

Can JSON contain comments?

No, standard JSON does not support comments. Some parsers accept comments, but it's not part of the official specification. For configuration files needing comments, consider JSON5 or YAML.