JSON

JSON is a lightweight text format for structured data, derived from JavaScript object literal syntax and formalized by Douglas Crockford around 2001. It represents data as key-value pairs and ordered arrays, and has become the dominant format for web API responses and configuration files, largely displacing XML in those roles. JSON is human-readable, language-independent, and natively understood by every modern programming language and browser.

File extensions	.json
MIME type	application/json
Developer	Douglas Crockford
First released	2001
Category	Other
Open standard	Yes

What opens JSON files

• Any text editor
• Visual Studio Code
• All modern web browsers (rendered as text)
• Postman / Insomnia

Browse File Formats

Reference details for 53 file formats — extensions, MIME types, what opens each one, and how they convert.

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