{ } JSON Formatter

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Paste JSON in the left panel and click Format
Input
1
Output
Formatted Tree

        

Free Online JSON Formatter & Validator

Format, validate, beautify, and minify your JSON data instantly — right in your browser. No data is sent to any server. Everything runs locally with JavaScript for maximum privacy and speed. Used by thousands of developers daily for debugging APIs, formatting configuration files, and validating JSON data structures.

How to Use This JSON Formatter

  1. Paste your JSON into the left panel (or drag and drop a .json file, or load from a URL)
  2. Click Format (or press Ctrl+Enter) to beautify and validate instantly
  3. Switch between Formatted view and Tree view for different perspectives
  4. Use Minify to compress JSON for production use and reduce payload size
  5. Use Sort Keys to alphabetically order all object keys for consistency
  6. Use Repair to automatically fix common JSON errors like trailing commas and single quotes
  7. Copy or Download the result as a .json file

Features

JSON Formatter vs JSON Validator — What's the Difference?

A JSON formatter (also called JSON beautifier or JSON pretty printer) takes raw or minified JSON and reformats it with proper indentation and line breaks for readability. A JSON validator checks whether JSON conforms to the JSON specification (RFC 8259) and reports syntax errors.

This tool does both simultaneously — when you click Format, it parses your JSON (validating it), then outputs it with clean formatting. If there are errors, you get detailed error messages with exact line and column numbers, plus visual highlighting of the problematic area.

Common JSON Errors and How to Fix Them

These are the most frequent JSON syntax errors developers encounter:

What is JSON? A Developer's Guide

JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) is a lightweight, text-based data interchange format. Despite its name, JSON is language-independent and is used across virtually all programming languages including Python, Java, C#, Go, Ruby, PHP, and JavaScript.

JSON Data Types

Where is JSON Used?

JSON is the de facto standard for:

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a JSON formatter?

A JSON formatter is an online tool that takes raw or minified JSON data and reformats it with proper indentation and line breaks, making it easy to read and debug. It typically also validates the JSON syntax and highlights errors. This tool formats, validates, minifies, repairs, and visualizes JSON — all in one place.

Is my data safe?

Yes. This JSON formatter runs entirely in your browser. No data is transmitted to any server. You can verify this by opening your browser's Network tab in Developer Tools — you'll see zero outbound requests when formatting. You can even disconnect from the internet and the tool will still work perfectly.

What's the maximum file size?

This tool handles JSON up to 5MB comfortably in most modern browsers. Performance depends on your device's memory and processing power. For extremely large JSON files (50MB+), consider using a desktop editor like VS Code with a JSON extension.

How do I fix invalid JSON?

First, click Format to see the exact error with line and column numbers. Common fixes include: adding missing commas, replacing single quotes with double quotes, quoting keys, and removing trailing commas or comments. You can also click Repair to automatically fix many common issues.

Can I use this as a JSON validator?

Absolutely. Paste your JSON and click Format. If it's valid, you'll see a green "✓ Valid JSON" status with statistics. If not, you'll get a detailed error message with the line and column where the problem was found, plus visual highlighting of the error location.

What is the difference between JSON formatter and JSON validator?

A JSON formatter reformats JSON with proper indentation for readability. A JSON validator checks whether JSON is syntactically correct. This tool does both simultaneously — formatting and validating in one click.

Can I format JSON from an API URL?

Yes! Click the URL button in the toolbar, enter any API endpoint URL, and the tool will fetch the JSON and format it automatically. This is perfect for debugging API responses.

Does this tool support JSON5 or JSONC?

The Repair feature can handle some JSON5/JSONC syntax like trailing commas, single quotes, and comments — automatically converting them to valid JSON. For full JSON5 support, the Repair function strips comments and fixes common deviations from strict JSON.

What keyboard shortcuts are available?

Ctrl+Enter (or Cmd+Enter on Mac) formats the JSON. Tab inserts indentation in the input editor. The tool also auto-formats when you paste JSON.

JSON Formatter for Developers — Use Cases

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Load JSON from URL