Why did my single repeated element not become an array?

Without a schema, a converter cannot tell whether one means a one-element list or a single object. Normalise on the consuming side, or wrap known-repeating elements explicitly.

How are XML attributes represented?

As properties with a distinguishing prefix, so they cannot collide with child element names. Text content of an element that also has attributes is placed in its own property.

Can I convert JSON to XML and back losslessly?

JSON to XML and back is usually faithful. XML to JSON and back is not, because attributes, namespaces, comments and mixed content have no canonical JSON representation.

Are namespaces supported?

Prefixed names are preserved as text, but namespace URI bindings are not modelled. If namespaces are semantically important, process the XML with a namespace-aware parser instead.

Developer🔒 Browser (client-side)API: browser-only📴 Works offlineintermediate

JSON / XML Converter

Converts between JSON and XML so you can move data between systems that use different formats.

Data stays in your browser

Ready to runInstant execution

All tools →

Result

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What does this tool do?

Converts between JSON and XML so you can move data between systems that use different formats.

Why would I use it?

An XML-based API needs the JSON data you already have.
A legacy system exports XML and you need JSON for a modern service.
You are migrating configuration between tools.

Real-life example

Input

{"user":{"id":1,"name":"Ada"}}

Output

<user><id>1</id><name>Ada</name></user>

Objects become elements; the conversion follows a predictable mapping.

Input → Process → Output → Next

Input: Paste JSON or XML and choose the direction.
Process: The browser maps objects ↔ elements, arrays ↔ repeated elements, and attributes when applicable.
Output: The converted document plus warnings for any data that does not map cleanly.
Next action: Review warnings (e.g. numbers becoming strings) before using the output.

Common mistakes

Expecting a round-trip to be byte-identical (whitespace and order can differ).
Ignoring data-loss warnings for nulls or arrays.
Using special characters in element names without escaping.

What the result means

The output follows a best-effort structural mapping; warnings flag places where fidelity is lost.

Privacy & security

Your input is processed entirely in your browser and never sent to a YAS server.

API automation is not supported for this tool. Complex JSON ⇄ XML conversion runs client-side in the tool page. This tool intentionally cannot be executed through the YAS API (server-side).

API

No public API for this tool

This tool runs in your browser and cannot be executed through the YAS API. Complex JSON ⇄ XML conversion runs client-side in the tool page.

How JSON / XML Converter works

JSON to XML wraps each key in an element of the same name and recurses into the value; arrays become repeated sibling elements, since XML has no array construct. XML to JSON does the inverse: child elements become object properties, repeated siblings collapse into an array, attributes are given a distinguishing prefix, and text content is placed in a dedicated property when an element has both attributes and text.

The mapping is inherently asymmetric because the data models differ. XML has attributes, namespaces, comments, processing instructions, mixed content and significant element order; JSON has none of these. Any convention for representing them in JSON is exactly that — a convention — so a round trip through JSON and back will not reproduce the original document byte-for-byte.

When to use it: real-world scenarios

Integrating a modern service with a SOAP endpoint

The legacy system speaks XML, your service speaks JSON. Converting at the boundary lets the rest of the codebase stay in one data model.

Reading an XML feed in JavaScript

RSS, Atom and vendor product feeds are XML. Converting to JSON removes the DOM traversal code and makes the structure inspectable at a glance.

Migrating configuration off XML

Ant, Maven and older application configs convert to JSON as a first step toward a modern format, with namespaces and attributes needing review.

Understanding an unfamiliar XML schema

Seeing the JSON shape of a sample document is often faster than reading the XSD, especially for deciding which fields are repeated.

Pro tips

Decide up front how attributes are represented — commonly an @ or _ prefix — and keep it consistent across every service that consumes the output.
A single-element list becomes an object, not an array, unless the converter knows the schema. Handle both shapes on the consuming side or normalise immediately after conversion.
XML element names allow characters that are awkward as JSON keys (colons in namespace prefixes, hyphens). Expect to normalise them.
Mixed content — text interleaved with child elements, as in HTML-style markup — has no clean JSON representation. If your XML uses it, keep that part as a raw string.

Limitations and edge cases

What this tool deliberately does not do, and where it will disagree with other implementations.

Namespaces are flattened into prefixed names rather than preserved as bindings.
Comments, processing instructions, the DOCTYPE and the XML declaration are dropped.
Element order is preserved only insofar as JSON object key order is preserved, which no consumer is obliged to respect.
This tool is browser-only with no API endpoint, and very large documents are bounded by available memory.

Frequently asked questions

Why did my single repeated element not become an array?: Without a schema, a converter cannot tell whether one <item> means a one-element list or a single object. Normalise on the consuming side, or wrap known-repeating elements explicitly.
How are XML attributes represented?: As properties with a distinguishing prefix, so they cannot collide with child element names. Text content of an element that also has attributes is placed in its own property.
Can I convert JSON to XML and back losslessly?: JSON to XML and back is usually faithful. XML to JSON and back is not, because attributes, namespaces, comments and mixed content have no canonical JSON representation.
Are namespaces supported?: Prefixed names are preserved as text, but namespace URI bindings are not modelled. If namespaces are semantically important, process the XML with a namespace-aware parser instead.