JSON Formatter

About this tool

Paste JSON from an API, a log or a config file and press Format to get clean, indented JSON that is easy to read. Choose 2 spaces, 4 spaces or tabs, sort the keys A to Z, or press Minify to put the JSON back on one line for sending or storing. If the JSON has a mistake, the formatter shows the line and column. Your data stays in your browser, which matters when the JSON holds tokens or customer details.

What JSON format looks like

JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) is text with a few strict rules: objects in curly braces with keys in double quotes, arrays in square brackets, and values that are strings, numbers, true, false, null, objects or arrays. There are no comments and no trailing commas. Formatting only adds spaces and line breaks; the data stays exactly the same. An example:

{
  "id": 1024,
  "name": "Wireless Mouse",
  "price": 19.99,
  "inStock": true,
  "tags": ["usb", "office"],
  "seller": { "name": "Acme", "rating": 4.6 }
}

Format JSON in VS Code, Notepad++ or a terminal

VS Code formats a .json file with Format Document (Shift+Alt+F on Windows, Shift+Option+F on a Mac). Notepad++ needs a plugin: open Plugins > Plugins Admin, install JSON Viewer, then use Plugins > JSON Viewer > Format JSON. On a computer or server with Python, json.tool beautifies a file, and jq does it with colours if you have it installed.

python3 -m json.tool data.json              # beautify with 4 spaces
python3 -m json.tool --indent 2 data.json   # beautify with 2 spaces
jq . data.json                              # beautify with jq
jq -c . data.json                           # minify to one line

Viewers, extensions and comparing JSON

Firefox shows a JSON address as a readable, collapsible view by itself, and browser extensions add a JSON viewer to Chrome. To compare two JSON files, format both here with Sort keys ticked and put them side by side in any diff tool, such as Compare Selected in VS Code: with the keys in the same order, only the real differences stand out. There's nothing to download; the formatter works in any browser, on a phone too.

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