Working with structured data is a daily task for developers, analysts, and system administrators. Whether you’re debugging an API response, cleaning up messy configuration files, or preparing documentation, the readability of your data can make a world of difference. Our free JSON & XML formatter helps you transform raw, minified, or poorly structured data into neatly organized, human-friendly formats—all without sending your data to a server. Everything happens in your browser, ensuring both speed and privacy.
JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) is one of the most widely used data exchange formats in modern web and mobile development. APIs, databases, configuration files, and even logs often rely on JSON because of its simplicity and flexibility. However, JSON files are frequently delivered in minified form—a single long line of text with no indentation. While this is efficient for machines, it makes human reading and debugging a nightmare.
Formatting JSON introduces proper indentation, spacing, and line breaks so you can clearly see keys, values, objects, and arrays. With color highlighting, distinguishing between strings, numbers, booleans, and null values becomes even easier. Developers often use a JSON beautifier to debug API payloads, review nested structures, or share readable data with team members.
XML (Extensible Markup Language) has been around for decades and remains important in enterprise software, legacy systems, configuration management, and data feeds. Unlike JSON, XML uses opening and closing tags to represent hierarchy, which can quickly become unreadable if the file is minified or lacks consistent indentation. A single missing tag or misalignment can cause an entire process to fail.
An XML formatter ensures that tags are properly indented, attributes are clearly visible, and nested structures reflect the intended hierarchy. This makes debugging, editing, and sharing XML documents much easier—especially when working with SOAP APIs, RSS feeds, or enterprise configuration files.
Readable formatting isn’t just for aesthetics—it has practical value:
Both formats have their advantages. JSON is lightweight, widely adopted in modern APIs, and easier for humans to read. XML, on the other hand, supports attributes, namespaces, and complex hierarchies, making it suitable for enterprise and legacy applications. Our formatter doesn’t force you to choose—you can work with both depending on your project’s needs.
Yes. All processing is done locally in your browser. Nothing is uploaded to a server, so your data remains private and secure.
Most JSON and XML files load without issue. Extremely large datasets (hundreds of MBs) may cause slowdowns, but for typical API responses and configs it’s instant.
Yes. If the JSON or XML is invalid, the tool will display an error message. This helps catch missing brackets, unmatched tags, or other common mistakes.
Currently, this tool focuses on beautification. Minification (removing whitespace to shrink file size) may be added in future versions.
Clean, structured data is easier to debug, share, and maintain. Our free online JSON & XML formatter ensures your files are always easy to read, properly indented, and color-coded for clarity. Whether you’re a developer, student, analyst, or sysadmin, this tool helps you handle structured data quickly and securely—without ever leaving your browser.