XML to JSON Converter
Convert XML files to JSON online for free. Proper handling of attributes, namespaces, and nested elements. Ready for REST APIs and modern web apps. No software needed. Up to 100 MB.
Drop your XML file hereTap to choose your XML file
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Max 100 MB
How to Convert XML to JSON
Upload
Drag and drop your XML file into the converter above, or click Choose XML File to browse your device.
Convert
Click Convert to JSON. Our server parses your XML structure — attributes, namespaces, nested elements — and transforms it into clean JSON. Takes a few seconds.
Download
Click Download JSON to save the converted file. That's it — no registration, no email required.
Convert XML to JSON on Any Device
On Windows
Windows developers often work with XML in Visual Studio or Notepad++, but converting XML to JSON locally requires installing additional tools like Node.js scripts or Python libraries. Our online converter lets you transform XML to JSON instantly from any Windows browser — Edge, Chrome, or Firefox — without setting up a development environment. Just upload, convert, and download.
On Mac
macOS includes plutil and xmllint for working with XML, but neither converts to JSON directly. You could write a Python script with xmltodict, but that requires terminal access and coding. Our online converter works directly in Safari, Chrome, or Firefox on your Mac — no Homebrew packages, no pip installs, no command-line knowledge needed.
On Linux
Linux has powerful XML tools like xsltproc, xmlstarlet, and jq, and you can chain them to convert XML to JSON. However, handling attributes, namespaces, and mixed content correctly requires careful scripting. Our online converter handles all these edge cases automatically and works in any Linux browser — Firefox, Chrome, or Chromium.
On Mobile
Working with XML files on phones and tablets is impractical — there are very few mobile apps that can parse XML and output JSON. Our converter runs entirely in your mobile browser on iPhone, iPad, or Android. Upload an XML file from your device, cloud storage, or email attachment, convert it to JSON, and download the result. No app installation required.
What is XML?
XML (eXtensible Markup Language) is a markup language designed to store and transport structured data. Created by the W3C in 1998, it uses a tree-based hierarchy of elements defined by opening and closing tags. XML supports attributes on elements, namespaces for avoiding naming conflicts, and schemas (DTD, XSD) for validating document structure.
XML is self-describing — element names convey meaning, and the document structure itself defines relationships between data points. It supports advanced features like XSLT transformations, XPath queries, and namespace-based modularity. These capabilities made XML the backbone of enterprise integration, SOAP web services, and configuration files for over two decades.
The main limitation of XML is its verbosity. Every element requires a closing tag, attributes have their own syntax, and the overall payload is significantly larger than equivalent data in other formats. This overhead matters for web APIs, mobile applications, and high-throughput data pipelines where bandwidth and parsing speed are critical.
What is JSON?
JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) is a lightweight data interchange format based on a subset of the JavaScript programming language. It uses simple key-value pairs, arrays, strings, numbers, booleans, and null values to represent structured data. JSON was formalized by Douglas Crockford in the early 2000s and has become the de facto standard for web APIs.
JSON's strength lies in its simplicity. It has only two structural types — objects (key-value collections) and arrays (ordered lists) — making it trivially easy to parse in virtually any programming language. JavaScript, Python, Ruby, Go, Java, C#, and every modern language include built-in JSON parsing. There is no need for specialized XML parsers, DOM trees, or SAX handlers.
JSON produces 30–70% smaller payloads than equivalent XML data because it eliminates closing tags, attribute syntax, and namespace declarations. This makes JSON the preferred format for REST APIs, single-page applications, mobile backends, NoSQL databases (MongoDB, CouchDB), and real-time data streaming.
XML vs JSON: Quick Comparison
| Feature | XML | JSON |
|---|---|---|
| Syntax | Tag-based markup with closing tags | Key-value pairs, arrays, minimal syntax |
| Readability | Verbose but self-describing | Compact and easy to scan |
| Attributes | Supported natively on any element | No attributes — everything is a key-value pair |
| Schema validation | DTD, XSD, RelaxNG | JSON Schema |
| Namespaces | Full namespace support (xmlns) | Not supported — use nested objects instead |
| Data types | Everything is text (schema-defined types) | Strings, numbers, booleans, null, arrays, objects |
| File size | Larger — closing tags, attribute syntax | 30–70% smaller for equivalent data |
| API usage | SOAP, legacy enterprise APIs | REST APIs, GraphQL, modern web services |
| Parsing speed | Slower — DOM/SAX parsers required | Faster — native in most languages |
| Comments | Supported (<!-- -->) | Not supported in standard JSON |
| Best for | Enterprise systems, SOAP, config files, documents | REST APIs, web apps, mobile, NoSQL databases |
Why Convert XML to JSON?
Modern APIs use JSON
The vast majority of modern REST APIs — including those from Google, AWS, GitHub, Stripe, and Twilio — use JSON as their primary data format. If you have data locked in XML format from legacy systems, SOAP services, or enterprise exports, converting to JSON makes it compatible with the modern web ecosystem. JSON is the lingua franca of web development.
Lighter payload, faster transfer
XML's closing tags, attribute syntax, and namespace declarations add significant overhead. A typical XML document is 30–70% larger than the same data represented in JSON. For APIs serving thousands of requests per second, mobile apps on slow connections, or data pipelines processing gigabytes daily, this size reduction translates directly into faster transfers and lower bandwidth costs.
Easier to parse in JavaScript & Python
JSON is native to JavaScript — JSON.parse() instantly converts a JSON string into a usable object. Python's json.loads() does the same. No DOM traversal, no XPath queries, no SAX event handlers. Working with JSON data requires fewer lines of code, fewer dependencies, and less cognitive overhead than equivalent XML processing.
NoSQL & modern databases
Document databases like MongoDB, CouchDB, Elasticsearch, and Firebase store data natively in JSON (or BSON). Converting XML data to JSON is often the first step in migrating from relational/XML-based systems to modern NoSQL architectures. JSON's flexible schema also makes it ideal for evolving data models without rigid schema migrations.
Frequently Asked Questions
@ symbol. For example, <book id="123"> becomes {"book": {"@id": "123"}}. This convention clearly distinguishes attributes from child elements in the resulting JSON structure. If an element has both attributes and text content, the text is placed in a #text property.
<soap:Envelope xmlns:soap="..."> becomes a JSON key "soap:Envelope". Namespace declarations (xmlns attributes) are included as @xmlns properties. This preserves the full semantic meaning of namespaced XML documents.
<![CDATA[...]]>) are treated as plain text content in the JSON output. The CDATA wrapper is removed and the content is placed directly as a string value. If the parent element has attributes, the CDATA text goes into the #text property. This ensures the content is preserved exactly as-is without any XML escaping issues.
#text property alongside the child element properties. For example, <p>Hello <b>world</b></p> becomes {"p": {"#text": "Hello ", "b": "world"}}. This preserves both the text and structure, though the exact interleaving of text and elements may not be fully round-trippable back to the original XML.