XML ↔ JSON Converter
Convert XML to JSON and JSON to XML instantly
Fast, secure, and private — all processing happens in your browser
XML Input
Paste your XML content
JSON Output
Your converted result
⚡ Fast & Instant
Conversion happens instantly in your browser with no server uploads or delays.
🔒 Secure & Private
Your data is never stored or sent anywhere. Everything stays on your device.
🎉 Free Forever
No registration, no limits, completely free to use for everyone.
How the Converter Works
Paste your XML or JSON into the input box and click convert. The conversion happens locally in your browser, so your data never leaves your device. This makes the tool fast, private, and reliable even for sensitive content.
The converter preserves structure, nested elements, and attributes. For attributes, we use a common convention that maps them into JSON properties (for example, @id), so you keep all metadata.
Common Use Cases
XML and JSON are two of the most widely used data formats in software development. While JSON dominates modern web APIs and frontend applications, XML remains deeply embedded in enterprise systems, government data feeds, healthcare integrations (HL7/CCD), financial messaging (ISO 20022), and publishing workflows (DocBook, DITA). Bridging these two formats is a daily task for many developers.
API Modernization
Many organizations are migrating legacy SOAP services to REST APIs. Converting XML responses to JSON lets frontend teams consume data without waiting for a complete backend rewrite. This converter helps test those mappings quickly.
Data Pipeline Prototyping
Data engineers building ETL pipelines often receive XML from upstream systems and need JSON for downstream consumers like Elasticsearch, MongoDB, or data lakes. Use this tool to prototype transformations before writing production code.
Configuration Migration
Moving from XML-based configs (Maven, Spring, .NET) to JSON-based tooling (package.json, tsconfig.json, Docker Compose) is easier when you can see both formats side by side and validate the structure manually.
Debugging & Inspection
XML payloads from SOAP APIs or RSS/Atom feeds can be hard to read. Converting to JSON and formatting the output makes nested structures visible at a glance, helping you spot missing fields or incorrect nesting.
Learn More
Example: XML to JSON Walkthrough
This quick walkthrough shows how the converter handles nested elements and attributes. The XML input uses a root element with a list of items and a status attribute. The output JSON preserves the structure and maps attributes into properties prefixed with @.
XML Input
<catalog status="active">
<item>
<id>100</id>
<name>Notebook</name>
</item>
<item>
<id>101</id>
<name>Pen</name>
</item>
</catalog>JSON Output
{
"catalog": {
"@status": "active",
"item": [
{ "id": "100", "name": "Notebook" },
{ "id": "101", "name": "Pen" }
]
}
}If you prefer different attribute conventions, you can post-process the JSON after conversion or standardize your XML structure before converting.
How Conversion Rules Work
XML and JSON have fundamentally different data models. XML represents data through a tree of elements and attributes where every value is a string. JSON uses a richer type system with objects, arrays, strings, numbers, booleans, and null. Understanding these differences is essential for predictable conversions.
Elements to properties: Each XML child element becomes a key-value pair in a JSON object. The element tag name becomes the key, and the text content becomes the value. Nested elements become nested objects.
Repeated elements to arrays: When the same tag name appears multiple times under a parent, those elements are grouped into a JSON array. This is important because a single <item> becomes an object, but two or more <item> tags become an array — a common source of bugs if your code doesn't handle both cases.
Attributes to prefixed keys: XML attributes don't have a direct JSON equivalent. Our converter uses the widely adopted @ prefix convention (e.g.,@id), which keeps attributes distinct from child elements and is recognized by libraries like xml2js, fast-xml-parser, and Jackson.
JSON to XML root requirement: Every valid XML document needs exactly one root element. When your JSON has a single top-level key, that key naturally becomes the root. If you have multiple top-level keys, wrap them in a containing object (e.g., {"root": { ... }}) before converting.
Type information: XML treats everything as text. When converting XML to JSON, numbers and booleans remain strings (e.g., "42" not 42). If your downstream system expects typed values, apply a post-processing step to coerce strings to the appropriate types.
Validation & Quality Tips
- Validate XML with a schema (XSD) to ensure structure and data constraints
- Validate JSON with JSON Schema to enforce required fields and types
- Use our XML Formatter or JSON Formatter to improve readability before sharing
- Normalize dates to ISO 8601 to avoid parsing issues across systems
Common Pitfalls (and How to Avoid Them)
Trailing commas in JSON are a frequent error. JSON does not allow a comma after the last property or array item.
Unescaped characters in XML (like &or <) can break parsing. Replace them with their escaped equivalents.
Mixed content (text and elements interleaved) can be represented in JSON, but it often requires conventions that vary between tools. If possible, keep XML content structured and consistent.
Privacy, Security, and Performance
Everything runs locally in your browser. That means your data never leaves your device and isn’t stored by us. This is ideal for sensitive payloads and internal data structures.
- No server uploads, no data retention
- Fast parsing and formatting for small to medium payloads
- For very large files, break data into smaller chunks for best performance
FAQ Highlights
Is my data private?
Yes. All conversion happens inside your browser. Nothing is uploaded or stored on our servers.
Do you support attributes?
Attributes are preserved and mapped using a clear convention so you keep metadata and context.
Is there a size limit?
There’s no hard limit, but performance depends on your browser and device. For large payloads, consider splitting files.
Can I format output?
Yes. Use our dedicated XML Formatter or JSON Formatter for pretty-printing, minification, and validation.
For more answers, visit the FAQ page.
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