JSON, or JavaScript Object Notation, is a lightweight data-interchange format. It is easy for humans to read and write, and for machines to parse and generate. JSON is a text-based format that uses curly braces ({}) to indicate objects, brackets ([]) to indicate arrays, and quotes ("") around string values. It is often used when transferring data in APIs. **Extension:** `.json` ## JSON Advantages - Human readable/writeable. - Supports several data types (string, number, object, array, true/false, and null) and nested data structures. - Flexible schema evolution. ## JSON Disadvantages - Must read the entire file - can't read line-by-line - Not compressed - Doesn't support binary data There are other versions of JSON that address some of these disadvantages (see BSON and NDJSON.) ## JSON Editors/Viewers - [JSON Crack](https://jsoncrack.com/) - Seamlessly visualize your JSON data instantly into graphs. - [VSCode: Prettier](https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=esbenp.prettier-vscode) - Prettier is an opinionated code formatter. Supports JSON formatting among several other code languages. %% wiki footer: Please don't edit anything below this line %% ## This note in GitHub <span class="git-footer">[Edit In GitHub](https://github.dev/data-engineering-community/data-engineering-wiki/blob/main/Tools/File%20Formats/JSON.md "git-hub-edit-note") | [Copy this note](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/data-engineering-community/data-engineering-wiki/main/Tools/File%20Formats/JSON.md "git-hub-copy-note")</span> <span class="git-footer">Was this page helpful? [👍](https://tally.so/r/mOaxjk?rating=Yes&url=https://dataengineering.wiki/Tools/File%20Formats/JSON) or [👎](https://tally.so/r/mOaxjk?rating=No&url=https://dataengineering.wiki/Tools/File%20Formats/JSON)</span>