Why Format JSON?

APIs often return minified JSON — all on one line with no whitespace. While compact, this is nearly impossible for humans to read. Formatting (pretty-printing) adds indentation and line breaks to make the structure visible.

Minified vs Formatted JSON

Minified: {"user":{"id":1,"name":"Alice","email":"alice@example.com"}}

Formatted:

{
  "user": {
    "id": 1,
    "name": "Alice",
    "email": "alice@example.com"
  }
}

Step-by-Step: Format JSON Online

1. Open JSON Parser.
2. Paste your minified JSON.
3. Click Format or Pretty Print.
4. Copy the formatted output.

JSON Validation Rules

• Keys must be quoted with double quotes (not single)
• No trailing commas after the last item
• Strings must be double-quoted
• Numbers are not quoted
• Null, true, false are lowercase and not quoted