JSON to YAML converter

free

Convert JSON to YAML with sortable keys, configurable indent, and flow level.

IndentLine widthSort keys

JSON

{
  "server": {
    "host": "0.0.0.0",
    "port": 3000,
    "tls": {
      "enabled": true,
      "certPath": "/etc/ssl/cert.pem"
    }
  },
  "database": {
    "host": "db.internal",
    "port": 5432,
    "pool": {
      "min": 2,
      "max": 10
    }
  },
  "features": [
    "auth",
    "billing",
    "analytics"
  ],
  "debug": false
}

{
  "server": {
    "host": "0.0.0.0",
    "port": 3000,
    "tls": {
      "enabled": true,
      "certPath": "/etc/ssl/cert.pem"
    }
  },
  "database": {
    "host": "db.internal",
    "port": 5432,
    "pool": {
      "min": 2,
      "max": 10
    }
  },
  "features": [
    "auth",
    "billing",
    "analytics"
  ],
  "debug": false
}

342 chars · 342 BValid

YAML

server:
  host: 0.0.0.0
  port: 3000
  tls:
    enabled: true
    certPath: /etc/ssl/cert.pem
database:
  host: db.internal
  port: 5432
  pool:
    min: 2
    max: 10
features:
  - auth
  - billing
  - analytics
debug: false

226 chars · 226 B

Convert JSON to YAML using the battle-tested js-yaml dumper. Configurable indent (2 / 4 / 8) to match your team's convention, line-width wrapping so long strings break cleanly, and alphabetical key sorting for diff-friendly output. Useful for converting between JSON and YAML config formats without manual hand-translation.

Common use cases

Migrating CI config from JSON to YAML. GitHub Actions, CircleCI, GitLab — all use YAML. If you have an existing JSON config (or are generating one from a script), convert to YAML for human-readable check-in.
Kubernetes manifests from JSON. kubectl accepts both, but the community standard is YAML. Convert ConfigMaps, Secrets, and Deployments from JSON snippets to YAML for cleaner review in PRs.
Docker Compose translation. When you have a programmatically-generated JSON description of services, convert to YAML for use with `docker compose`.
Translating API responses to readable config. JSON's noise (quotes, commas, braces) makes it hard to read at a glance. YAML's whitespace-led syntax is much easier for human review.

Frequently asked

Why does my YAML have `'` around some values?

js-yaml quotes strings when they could otherwise be interpreted as another type — `'yes'`, `'no'`, `'true'`, `'12'`, `'on'`. These are YAML 1.1 ambiguities; the quotes preserve string semantics.

Should I sort keys?

Helpful for config files that go through code review — sorted keys make diffs predictable and small. Avoid sorting for ordered configs (Kubernetes containers, Docker compose services) where source order is meaningful.

What's `flowLevel`?

Controls when YAML switches from block style (newlines, indentation) to flow style (`{a: 1, b: 2}`). `-1` keeps everything in block style — most readable. Positive numbers force compact inline syntax past that depth.

Does it preserve comments from JSON?

JSON doesn't have comments. If your source is JSON5 or JSONC with `//` comments, strip them first — the YAML output will be comment-free regardless.

Can I convert YAML to JSON?

Use the JSON formatter (paste YAML into JSON formatter and use its parsing). A dedicated bidirectional swap on this page is on the roadmap.

Why is my indent option specifically 2 / 4 / 8?

The YAML spec requires indentation to be consistent and explicit. js-yaml accepts arbitrary numbers but most communities standardise on 2 (Kubernetes, Ansible) or 4. 8 is occasionally used for highly nested configs to keep scope visible.