JSON Formatter & Beautifier
Beautify, minify or sort JSON keys with custom indentation.
Clean, Readable JSON Makes Code Review and Debugging Faster
Minified or single-line JSON is unreadable for humans — debugging API responses, reviewing config files or understanding data structures requires properly indented, formatted JSON. Our JSON Formatter beautifies JSON with 2 or 4 space indentation (or tabs), optionally sorts keys alphabetically for easier comparison, and can minify JSON back to a compact single line for production use.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why should I format JSON code? ▼
Formatted JSON: is 10× faster to read and debug, makes it easy to spot missing keys or mismatched brackets, is required for code review, enables proper diff comparison between versions, and is expected in documentation and API reference guides. Minified JSON is only for production data transmission (reduces bandwidth by ~30%).
How to pretty-print JSON in Python? ▼
import json; print(json.dumps(data, indent=2)) — this formats with 2-space indentation. For sorting keys: json.dumps(data, indent=2, sort_keys=True). For command line: echo '{"a":1}' | python3 -m json.tool or use jq: echo '{"a":1}' | jq .
How to format JSON in VS Code? ▼
Right-click → Format Document, or Shift+Alt+F (Windows) / Shift+Option+F (Mac). VS Code uses your default formatter (Prettier recommended). Alternatively, paste into our online formatter for a quick format without opening VS Code.
What is the difference between JSON minification and compression? ▼
Minification removes whitespace (spaces, newlines) from JSON — reducing size by 20–40%. Compression (gzip/brotli) further reduces by 60–80% but requires server/client decompression. APIs should serve gzip-compressed JSON. Our tool minifies JSON — actual compression happens at the server/CDN level.
How to sort JSON keys alphabetically? ▼
Select "A→Z" sort mode in our formatter. Key sorting makes it easier to find specific keys in large JSON objects and enables consistent comparison between two versions of the same object.