JSON Beautifier Guide 2026: Format and Pretty Print JSON

What is a JSON Beautifier?

A JSON beautifier (also called formatter or pretty printer) transforms compact JSON into readable, indented format.

Before (Minified)

{"users":[{"name":"Alice","age":30},{"name":"Bob","age":25}]}

After (Beautified)

{
  "users": [
    {
      "name": "Alice",
      "age": 30
    },
    {
      "name": "Bob",
      "age": 25
    }
  ]
}

Why Beautify JSON?

Readability - Easier to understand structure

Debugging - Find errors quickly

Code Review - Better diff comparisons

Documentation - Clearer examples

Online Beautifiers

Big JSON Viewer

Go to bigjson.online

Paste or upload JSON

View formatted output

Copy or download

Handles files up to 100MB+

JSONLint

Classic validator with formatting.

Command Line Tools

jq

# Install
brew install jq  # Mac
apt install jq   # Linux

# Beautify
jq '.' input.json > output.json

# Custom indent
jq --indent 4 '.' input.json

# Sort keys
jq -S '.' input.json

Python

# Built-in module
python -m json.tool input.json

# Custom indent
python -c "import json; print(json.dumps(json.load(open('input.json')), indent=4))"

Code Editor Formatting

VS Code

• Shortcut: Shift+Alt+F (Windows) or Shift+Option+F (Mac)
• Command: Ctrl+Shift+P → "Format Document"
• Auto-format on save: Enable in settings

Programmatic Beautification

JavaScript

const ugly = '{"name":"John","age":30}';
const pretty = JSON.stringify(JSON.parse(ugly), null, 2);
console.log(pretty);

// Custom indent (4 spaces)
JSON.stringify(obj, null, 4);

// Tabs instead of spaces
JSON.stringify(obj, null, '\t');

Python

import json

ugly = '{"name":"John","age":30}'
data = json.loads(ugly)
pretty = json.dumps(data, indent=2)
print(pretty)

# Sort keys
json.dumps(data, indent=2, sort_keys=True)

JSON Minification

The opposite - remove whitespace to reduce file size:

// JavaScript
const minified = JSON.stringify(obj);

// jq
jq -c '.' input.json

Tool Comparison

| Tool | Speed | Large Files | Validation | Free |

|------|-------|-------------|------------|------|

| Big JSON Viewer | Fast | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |

| jq | Very Fast | ✅ | ❌ | ✅ |

| VS Code | Fast | Medium | ✅ | ✅ |

| Python | Medium | Medium | ❌ | ✅ |

Best Practices

Format before committing to version control

Use consistent indentation (2 or 4 spaces)

Configure editor to format on save

Minify for production to save bandwidth

Formatting Options

Indentation Styles

• 2 spaces: Standard for web development
• 4 spaces: Common in Python projects
• Tabs: Less common, larger file size

Key Sorting

Alphabetically sorted keys make diffs clearer:

{
  "age": 30,
  "email": "alice@example.com",
  "name": "Alice"
}

Conclusion

For quick formatting, use Big JSON Viewer or jq. For regular editing, configure your editor to auto-format on save!