JSON Formatter & Validator

Paste JSON to format, validate and explore — with tree view and path copy.

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Input
Output
{ } Formatted output will appear here
— — — —
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What is a JSON Formatter?

A JSON formatter (also called a JSON beautifier) takes raw or minified JSON and reformats it with consistent indentation, making it easy to read and debug. Developers use JSON formatters constantly — when inspecting API responses, debugging configuration files, or reviewing data structures in code review.

This formatter also validates your JSON as you type, pinpointing the exact line and character where a syntax error occurs. The interactive tree view lets you collapse and expand nested objects and arrays, and hovering any value shows its full JSON path — ready to copy with one click.

Everything runs entirely in your browser. Your JSON is never sent to any server or stored anywhere. This is especially important when working with JSON that contains API keys, credentials, or sensitive user data.

How to Use

  1. Paste your JSON into the left panel, or click Sample to load an example.
  2. The right panel instantly shows the formatted output. If your JSON is invalid, a red error banner explains exactly what went wrong and where.
  3. Switch between Tree (interactive), Pretty (indented text), and Minify (single line) modes using the tabs above.
  4. In Tree mode, click the ▶ arrows to collapse or expand nodes. Hover any value to reveal its JSON path — click the path badge to copy it.
  5. Use Copy to copy the output, or ↓ .json to download the file.
  6. Adjust indentation (2 spaces, 4 spaces, or tab) using the dropdown.

Frequently Asked Questions

Formatting (or beautifying) takes valid JSON and adds consistent indentation and line breaks to make it human-readable — it changes the whitespace but not the data. Validation checks whether the JSON is syntactically correct according to the JSON specification (RFC 8259). This tool does both simultaneously: it validates first, and if the JSON is valid, it formats and displays it. If the JSON is invalid, it tells you exactly where the error is.

"Unexpected token" errors usually mean one of these things: a trailing comma after the last item in an object or array (JSON doesn't allow this, unlike JavaScript); single quotes instead of double quotes around keys or string values; a missing comma between two items; an unquoted key (JSON keys must always be in double quotes); or comments in the JSON (JSON does not support comments — use JSONC or strip them first). The error banner shows the line and position to help you locate the problem quickly.

A JSON path is a string that describes the location of a value within a JSON structure, similar to a file path. For example, users[0].email refers to the email field of the first item in the users array. JSON paths are useful when writing code to access specific values — you can hover any value in the tree view here, copy its path, and paste it directly into your code.

Yes, with a caveat. For JSON under ~50KB, the full interactive tree view is rendered. For larger files, the tool automatically switches to a syntax-highlighted text view to avoid freezing your browser tab — rendering tens of thousands of DOM nodes is simply too slow for any browser-based tool. The Pretty and Minify modes work on any size file since they output plain text. If you need to work with very large JSON regularly, a dedicated desktop tool like VS Code with JSON extensions is more appropriate.

Yes. This tool runs entirely in your browser using JavaScript — your JSON never leaves your device. Nothing is sent to any server, logged, or stored. This is particularly important if your JSON contains API keys, authentication tokens, passwords, or personal user data. You can verify this by opening your browser's Network tab in DevTools while using the tool — you'll see zero outbound requests.
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