JSON Beautifier
Paste JSON below and click Beautify. Use Minify to strip whitespace for smaller payloads, or Validate to surface syntax errors with the exact line and column.
What is JSON?
JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) is a lightweight, text-based data
interchange format standardised in
RFC 8259
and ECMA-404.
It maps cleanly to the data types available in most programming languages —
objects, arrays, strings, numbers, booleans, and null — which
is why it has become the default wire format for modern web APIs.
When to beautify vs. minify
- Beautify when you need to read a response, diff two payloads, or paste an example into docs.
- Minify when you want to reduce network bandwidth — for instance, when embedding a config into a query string or a data URI.
- Validate whenever a downstream parser rejects your input: the error line and column typically point within a few characters of the real problem (usually a missing quote, comma, or brace).
Common JSON gotchas
- Trailing commas — allowed in JavaScript object literals, rejected by strict JSON parsers.
- Single quotes — JSON requires double quotes around keys and strings.
- Unquoted keys — a frequent copy-from-JavaScript mistake.
- Comments — not part of the JSON specification. Use JSONC or JSON5 if you truly need them.
Privacy notes
This page never uploads your JSON. All parsing and formatting runs in a dedicated Web Worker inside your browser. You can verify this by opening your browser's DevTools Network tab while clicking Beautify — no request leaves your device. See our Privacy Policy for details.