betterjson.com
A JSON formatter that's… better
betterjson.com is a free, online JSON validator and JSON formatter (or beautifier) that enables you to upload, validate, and format your JSON quickly and easily with just the click of a few buttons. All JSON processing is handled client-side so you can rest easy knowing your JSON isn't being sent somewhere you didn't intend.
Import
betterjson.com makes it a cinch to import your JSON so that it can be formatted. Simply paste your JSON directly into the editor or, if your JSON is in a file, use the Upload button to get started.
Validate
betterjson.com not only formats your JSON, but it validates it too, highlighting issues in-line, directly in the editor when you click the Format button.
Repair
Repair your JSON using betterjson.com's repair function. With this feature you can add missing quotes around keys, replace single quotes with double quotes, strip comments, and much more.
Format
betterjson.com formats—or pretty prints—your JSON with just the click of a button. Control the indentation of your JSON by choosing between one and four tab spaces before clicking the Format button.
Filter
Only care about a subset of your JSON? betterjson.com gives you the ability to filter your JSON using JSONPath. Click the Help button located in the filter bar in the JSON viewer for examples.
Minify
Need to make your JSON a little more compact? betterjson.com has you covered. Simply click the Minify button in the JSON viewer after formatting your JSON.
Dark Mode
betterjson.com gives you the choice between light mode and dark mode, so you can better tailor the experience to your preferences.
Fullscreen
Give your JSON room to breathe by enabling fullscreen mode. Fullscreen mode is supported in both the JSON editor and the JSON viewer.
Share
Generate a link to your JSON that can be shared with others for as long as you'd like. Share links can be appended with line numbers to enable line highlighting à la GitHub.
Export
Once your JSON looks the way you want it, either copy it using the Copy button or download it as a file via the Download button in the JSON viewer.
The History of JSON
JSON, short for JavaScript Object Notation, is a data-interchange format that was invented in the early 2000s by Douglas Crockford. At the time, Crockford had just started State Software with his colleage Chip Morningstar and was looking for a simple and efficient way to pass data between the browser and a web server.
Back then, XML was all the rage, but it was not exactly lightweight and would have required Crockford to write an XML parser in JavaScript which he wanted to avoid. He had an ingenious idea: Why not simply send the data in a format the browser already understands—why not send the data as JavaScript? And that's exactly what Crockford did.
The rest is history. Today, JSON is one of the most popular data-interchange formats and is used extensively within the software engineering industry.
To learn more about the history of JSON, check out Episode #087 of the CoRecursive Podcast in which Adam Gordon Bell interviews Douglas Crockford about the invention of JSON.
Contact
Have a feature request? Need to report a bug? Contact us at support@betterjson.com