JSON to YAML Converter

When to use JSON and when to use YAML

JSON is what APIs and JavaScript use. YAML is easier to read and edit by hand, which is why it is used for configuration files such as Docker Compose, Kubernetes, GitHub Actions and many Laravel or Node.js tools. Both describe the same data: maps (key: value), lists and plain values.

What the YAML reader understands

• Nested maps and lists, comments (#), quoted and unquoted text, and text spread over several lines.
• Multi-line blocks with | (keeps line breaks) and > (joins lines), including |- and |+.
• Inline lists and maps such as [a, b] and {x: 1, y: 2}.
• Anchors and aliases (&base, *base) and merge keys (<<: *base), which are common in Docker and CI files. The JSON output contains the merged values.
• Several documents separated by --- become a JSON array.

Things to know

• This tool follows YAML 1.2: yes, no, on and off stay text. Only true and false become booleans. When converting JSON to YAML, such words are quoted so that older YAML readers don't change them.
• Comments cannot be stored in JSON, so they are dropped when converting YAML to JSON.
• Very large whole numbers (above 9,007,199,254,740,991) are kept as text so that no digits are lost.
• Tabs are not allowed for indentation in YAML. The error message points to the line that needs fixing.

Privacy

The conversion runs entirely in your browser. Your data, including configuration files that may contain passwords or keys, is never uploaded.