JSON ↔ YAML Converter

What Is This Tool?

YAML is the format of choice for most modern configuration files — Kubernetes manifests, Docker Compose, GitHub Actions and GitLab CI pipelines, Ansible playbooks — because it's more readable than JSON for humans editing files by hand: no quotes required around most keys, no trailing commas to get wrong, and comments are supported. JSON, meanwhile, is what most APIs and programming languages produce and consume natively.

This tool bridges the two using js-yaml, a widely used JavaScript implementation of the YAML specification, so parsing and generation follow the same rules a YAML-aware tool like `kubectl` or a CI runner would apply.

Converting JSON to YAML turns objects into indented key: value blocks and arrays into `-` prefixed list items. Converting YAML to JSON does the reverse, and also resolves YAML-specific type shortcuts (like unquoted `true`, `null`, or numbers) into their proper JSON types.

Why Use It?

• Bidirectional — convert JSON to YAML or YAML to JSON from the same screen.
• Standards-based parsing and generation via js-yaml, so the output matches what real YAML tooling (Kubernetes, CI systems, Ansible) expects.
• Handles nested objects and arrays at any depth, converting between YAML's indentation-based structure and JSON's braces and brackets.
• Correctly interprets YAML type shortcuts — unquoted true/false, null, and numeric values become their proper JSON types rather than strings.
• Copy to clipboard or download as a .json or .yaml file.
• 100% client-side — nothing you paste is uploaded anywhere.

How to Use

1. Choose a direction: "JSON → YAML" or "YAML → JSON".
2. Paste your data into the input box.
3. Click "Convert".
4. Review the result, then copy it or click "Download" to save a file.

Example

Input

{"name":"Alice","roles":["admin","editor"],"active":true}

Output

name: Alice
roles:
  - admin
  - editor
active: true

Note how the array becomes a list of dashed items under "roles", and the boolean stays unquoted true rather than becoming the string "true".

Practical tips

• Writing a Kubernetes manifest or GitHub Actions workflow: draft the structure as JSON (many editors and AI tools generate JSON more reliably), then convert to YAML for the final file.
• Debugging a YAML config that's misbehaving: convert it to JSON to see exactly which values are strings, numbers, or booleans — YAML's flexible syntax can hide type mismatches that are obvious in JSON.
• If your JSON contains keys with special characters or that start with a number, js-yaml will automatically quote them in the YAML output so they parse back correctly.

Why type coercion is the trickiest part of YAML

YAML's biggest usability win over JSON — not requiring quotes around most values — is also its biggest source of subtle bugs. The classic example is the "Norway problem": in YAML 1.1 (used by many older parsers), an unquoted value of `no` is interpreted as the boolean `false`, not the string "no", which has broken real-world country-code configs listing Norway. This tool follows the YAML 1.2 specification, which narrowed the set of unquoted values treated as booleans to just `true` and `false` (and their case variants), reducing — though not eliminating — this class of surprise. When in doubt about how a value will be typed, quoting it explicitly in your YAML is the safest choice.

Frequently Asked Questions