Paste JSON or open a .json file from your computer to view, format and decode nested JSON online.
Convert any JSON string to one line without spaces or indentation
Generate a JSON schema from a JSON string
Convert a JSON schema to a JSON string
Compare two JSON objects and highlight the differences
Convert JSON to TOON format for LLM-optimized token efficiency
Convert TOON format back to standard JSON
Decode, format and view any JSON in three steps. Everything runs in your browser.
.json, .txt or extension-less file, or drag the file onto the box. Raw escaped strings copied straight from logs work too."{\"name\":\"John\"}", click Decode Nested JSON to unescape every level at once.Your data never leaves your browser. Nothing is uploaded or stored.
Nested JSON (also called double-encoded or stringified JSON) is JSON that has been stored as a string inside another JSON document. Instead of a real object, you get one long string full of backslashes.
{
"event": "order",
"payload": "{\"id\":42,\"items\":[\"apple\"]}"
}{
"event": "order",
"payload": {
"id": 42,
"items": ["apple"]
}
}Each time JSON is serialized again, another layer of escaping is added: \" becomes \\\", and so on. After two or three rounds the data is almost unreadable.
message or log field of its own JSON line, as in Docker, Kubernetes and CloudWatch logs.Message field inside Body is a string of a string.data or metadata before sending it.A standard parser such as JSON.parse or a typical online formatter decodes only one level. By the JSON spec, "{\"id\":42}" is a valid string, so the formatter keeps it as a string, still on one line with every backslash. Fixing it by hand means copying the string out, unescaping it, and repeating for each level, and a find-and-replace on \" breaks as soon as there is more than one level.
NextJSON finds every string that contains JSON and decodes it recursively, at any depth, in one click. It also accepts a whole escaped string pasted straight from a log, with or without its outer quotes.
See how Next JSON effortlessly decodes multiple levels of encoded JSON strings with just one click. No more manual decoding
Decode a JSON string containing escaped quotes and nested objects.
{
"user": "{\"name\":\"John\",\"age\":30}",
"status": "active"
}{
"user": {
"name": "John",
"age": 30
},
"status": "active"
}Flat deeply nested JSON strings with multiple levels of encoding.
{
"level1": "{\"level2\": \"{\\\"key\\\": \\\"value\\\"}\"}"
}
{
"level1": {
"level2": {
"key": "value"
}
}
}Process arrays containing multiple encoded JSON strings.
{
"items": [
"{\"id\":1,\"value\":\"first\"}",
"{\"id\":2,\"value\":\"second\"}"
]
}{
"items": [
{
"id": 1,
"value": "first"
},
{
"id": 2,
"value": "second"
}
]
}You can open a JSON file online right on this page, with nothing to install.
.json, .txt or extension-less file.The file is read in your browser and never uploaded.
cat file.json or jq . file.jsonWhile formatting JSON data from my log files, I found it tricky to decode the nested parts. So, I built this site to make my life easier! If it helps others too, that’s even better!
No, this site does not store or share your data in the cloud. Your data remains private and is kept locally on your broswer.
Nested JSON strings often occur when JSON data is serialized multiple times, such as when storing JSON in databases or passing it through multiple systems. Decoding is necessary to access and work with the actual data structure rather than dealing with escaped string representations.
This tool automatically detects and recursively decodes JSON strings at any depth of nesting. It can handle scenarios where JSON has been encoded multiple times, carefully preserving the data structure while removing escape characters and converting string representations back into proper JSON objects.
Yes, the decoder can process arrays containing multiple encoded JSON strings. It will iterate through array elements and decode any JSON strings it finds, maintaining the array structure while properly parsing each encoded element.
Yes, we welcome all suggestions! Please feel free to share your feedback using the link at the bottom of the page.