JSON Formatter & Validator Guide
Learn how to format, validate, and work with JSON data. Includes syntax rules, best practices, and a free online JSON formatter tool.
What is JSON?
JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) is a lightweight data interchange format that is easy for humans to read and write, and easy for machines to parse and generate. It is the most common format for API responses and configuration files.
JSON supports: strings, numbers, booleans, null, arrays (ordered lists), and objects (key-value pairs).
JSON Formatting Best Practices
Always pretty-print JSON for readability — one property per line, 2-space indentation.
Use consistent naming: camelCase for JavaScript/TypeScript, snake_case for Python/PHP.
Avoid deeply nested structures (more than 4 levels). They are hard to read and slow to parse.
Always validate JSON before using it in production. Invalid JSON causes silent failures in most parsers.
Use descriptive key names. 'user_email' is better than 'ue'.