JSON VIEW PARSER

What is JSON?

JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) is a lightweight, text-based format for storing and exchanging data. It is easy for humans to read and write, and easy for machines to parse and generate. Although it grew out of JavaScript, JSON is language-independent and is used by virtually every programming language. You will find it almost everywhere modern software communicates — in REST and GraphQL APIs, configuration files, databases, log files, and browser local storage.

A small example of a JSON document looks like this:

{
  "name": "Ada Lovelace",
  "age": 36,
  "isMember": true,
  "roles": ["admin", "editor"],
  "address": {
    "city": "London",
    "zip": "W1A 1AA"
  },
  "nickname": null
}

JSON syntax rules

JSON is built from just two structures and a handful of value types:

• Objects are wrapped in curly braces { } and contain "key": value pairs.
• Arrays are wrapped in square brackets [ ] and contain an ordered list of values.
• Values can be a string, number, boolean (true/false), null, an object, or an array.
• Keys must be double-quoted strings, and items are separated by commas — with no trailing comma after the last item.
• Strings use double quotes (not single quotes), and comments are not allowed in standard JSON.

How to use JSON View Parser

1. Paste or type your JSON into the Input panel on the left of the home page. It validates automatically as you type.
2. Press Parse (or Ctrl + Enter) to process the document. If anything is wrong, you will see the exact line and column of the error.
3. Read the output in whichever view suits you: the Pretty Print tab for clean, colorized code, the Collapsible Tree tab to expand and explore nested data, or the Statistics tab for insights such as size and depth.
4. Format or minify with one click to re-indent your JSON or compress it to a single line.
5. Search within the output, or load a sample to experiment.

Power users can work entirely from the keyboard. Press Alt + / at any time to open the full list of keyboard shortcuts.

Common JSON errors and how to fix them

// ❌ Invalid           // ✅ Valid
{                      {
  "a": 1,                "a": 1,
  "b": 2,                "b": 2
}                      }

// ❌ Invalid            // ✅ Valid
{ 'name': 'Ada' }       { "name": "Ada" }

// ❌ Invalid            // ✅ Valid
{ name: "Ada" }         { "name": "Ada" }

// ❌ Invalid            // ✅ Valid
{ "list": [1, 2, 3 }    { "list": [1, 2, 3] }

Tip: when you hit any of these, use our tool to pinpoint the exact line and column of the error, then correct it in the Input panel.

Tips and best practices

• Use 2-space indentation for readable, diff-friendly JSON.
• Minify JSON before sending it over a network to reduce payload size.
• Validate JSON from external sources before relying on it — a single stray character can break parsing.
• Keep keys consistent (for example all camelCase) across your data.
• Remember that JSON has no date type — dates are usually stored as ISO-8601 strings, e.g. "2026-06-06".

More JSON articles

Ready to try it? Head back to the JSON parser, or learn more about this tool.