XML/JSON Converter
Convert between XML and JSON formats
Free Online XML to JSON and JSON to XML Converter
XML vs JSON: a complete comparison of both data formats
XML (eXtensible Markup Language) and JSON are the two most widely used data interchange formats in software development. XML is more verbose but ships advanced features: attributes on elements, namespaces that prevent name collisions, XSD schemas for strict structural validation, XSLT transformations and XPath queries. It suits documents with complex structure and enterprise validation requirements. JSON is more compact, native to JavaScript, easy to parse in any language, and the default for modern REST APIs and web applications. Many legacy enterprise systems still speak XML, which is exactly why conversion to JSON matters for modern frontends.
What are the technical challenges of converting XML to JSON?
Converting between XML and JSON runs into a few structural mismatches: XML attributes (<item id="1">) have no direct JSON equivalent and must be represented through a special property such as @attributes or _attributes; element order can be lost because JSON objects are unordered by specification; mixed text alongside child elements needs special handling; XML namespaces complicate the shape of JSON keys; and repeated elements sharing a name must become arrays. This tool handles those cases by producing a predictable, consistent JSON structure.
Practical use cases for XML-JSON conversion
Bidirectional conversion is essential for integrating legacy SOAP APIs, which speak XML, with modern React, Angular or Vue frontends; processing RSS and Atom feeds in JavaScript applications; migrating configuration from older systems to modern formats; transforming responses from enterprise services such as SAP, Oracle or Salesforce; inspecting and visualizing data exported from systems that only emit XML; synchronizing data between heterogeneous systems; and building test tooling for APIs that support several formats.
If you work with this tool, you will probably also find these useful JSON to CSV, CSV to JSON, JSON Formatter, YAML/JSON Converter.
Frequently asked questions
Are XML attributes preserved when converting to JSON?
Yes, attributes are preserved under a dedicated property in the JSON object. The most common convention uses @attributes or _attributes. For example, <item id="1" active="true">value</item> becomes {"item": {"@attributes": {"id": "1", "active": "true"}, "#text": "value"}}. The exact shape varies between libraries, but the information itself is kept.
Why does my valid XML produce JSON with an unexpected structure?
Several things can surprise you: repeated elements sharing a name become arrays, which may not match your expectation; special characters in XML element names can be awkward as JSON keys; namespaces may show up as prefixes in the keys; and empty elements can become null, an empty string or an empty object depending on the implementation. Always inspect the output and use an explicit conversion schema when you need precise control.
How should I handle XML namespaces when converting to JSON?
XML namespaces are handled in different ways: some tools strip them entirely to simplify the structure, others keep them as prefixes in property names (ns:element), and some create dedicated properties for xmlns declarations. For precise control, consider normalizing the XML with XSLT before conversion, or post-processing the resulting JSON to reshape it to your needs.