Can I convert YAML back to JSON?

See the JSON Pretty YAML to JSON converter for the reverse direction.

Free Online JSON to YAML Converter

Need to drop JSON into a Kubernetes manifest or CI config? JSON to YAML in one click — paste your JSON, hit Convert and download clean YAML. Runs in your browser, nothing uploaded.

What does a JSON to YAML converter do?

JSON is the lingua franca of APIs; YAML is the lingua franca of configuration. The two formats describe the same kind of data — scalars, objects and arrays — but YAML trades braces and quotes for indentation, which makes hand-edited configs noticeably less noisy. A JSON to YAML converter bridges the gap when a JSON payload needs to land in a Kubernetes manifest, a GitHub Actions workflow or any other YAML-first system.

JSON Pretty serializes the input as YAML 1.2 with two-space indentation, preserves key order, and keeps native types intact. Need to inspect or reshape the source before converting? Open it in our JSON editor for a tree view with search and copy-by-path. New to JSON? Our beginner's guide to JSON walks through the structure with examples.

Example

The same data, before and after conversion:

JSON input

{
  "name": "web",
  "image": "nginx:latest",
  "ports": [8080, 8443],
  "env": {
    "NODE_ENV": "production"
  }
}

YAML output

name: web
image: nginx:latest
ports:
  - 8080
  - 8443
env:
  NODE_ENV: production

How to Use

Convert JSON to YAML in three simple steps — no account needed

Paste or upload your JSON

Paste raw JSON, or click "Upload file" to load a .json file from your device.

Click Convert to YAML

Press Convert. The tool serializes your data as YAML with two-space indentation and a 100-column line width.

Copy or download the YAML

Copy the YAML to the clipboard, or download it as a .yaml file ready for Kubernetes, Docker Compose or CI configs.

Benefits of Converting JSON to YAML format

Why convert JSON to YAML? A few cases where YAML is the better fit.

Easier on the eyes for configs: No braces, fewer quotes, indentation instead of punctuation. For configuration files reviewed and edited by humans every day, YAML cuts visual noise compared to JSON.
Standard in modern DevOps: Kubernetes manifests, Helm values, Docker Compose, GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, Ansible playbooks — they all read YAML. Converting JSON output from an API or generator drops it straight into your toolchain.
Comments stay with the data: YAML allows "#" comments anywhere. Convert once, then annotate the result inline so reviewers see the why next to the what — something JSON cannot offer.
Anchors and aliases for DRY configs: YAML lets you reference a block from elsewhere in the same file (&anchor and *alias). Useful when the same env block, resource limits or secrets show up in multiple places.
Multi-document streams: A single YAML file can hold several documents separated by "---". Kubernetes ships entire stacks this way, where one file equals one apply step.

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Format any JSON response and explore it in a clean tree view — right where you open it, no copy-paste.

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Frequently asked questions

It parses your JSON document and re-serializes the same data tree in YAML syntax. Strings, numbers, booleans and null are preserved as-is; nested objects and arrays become indented YAML blocks. The output is plain text you can drop into any system that reads YAML.

Mostly. YAML is a strict superset of JSON, so any valid JSON document is also valid YAML. The reverse is not always true — YAML has features (anchors, multi-document streams, comments) that JSON doesn't support — but converting JSON to YAML is always safe and lossless.

Objects become indented key/value blocks, and arrays become bulleted lists with a "- " prefix per item. Indentation is two spaces per level — the most widely adopted convention in tools like Kubernetes, GitHub Actions and Docker Compose.

Yes. Keys appear in the same order as the input JSON. This matters for human-readable configs where the document flow is part of the design — settings grouped at the top, dependencies at the bottom, and so on.

Strings with embedded newlines are emitted using YAML's block scalar style ("|" preserves line breaks) when that produces cleaner output. Short strings stay inline as quoted scalars. The receiving YAML parser sees exactly the same text either way.

No. JSON has no comment syntax, so there is nothing for the converter to surface. If you want to annotate the result for humans, edit the YAML by hand after downloading — YAML uses "#" for comments.

All three are preserved as native YAML scalars: 1 stays a number, true stays a boolean, null stays null. The converter does not coerce or wrap them in quotes — your downstream parser will see the same types as the source JSON.

Yes. Conversion runs entirely in your browser using JavaScript. Nothing is uploaded to a server, nothing is stored.

Yes. Multi-megabyte payloads are handled comfortably in the browser. For exceptionally large files, expect a brief pause while the YAML is rendered into the output area.

Yes — use the matching YAML to JSON converter for the reverse direction.

The output is valid YAML 1.2 (the current standard) and also parses cleanly under YAML 1.1 readers like older Ruby and Python tooling. There are no version-specific features in the generated text.