XML to JSON Converter: Convert XML to JSON Online | Free Tool

A XML always requires a single root element by definition. The converter wraps your content in one JSON object using that root tag as the key. For example, <catalog><book>...</book></catalog> becomes {"catalog":{...}}. This isn't a bug — it's how XML works. If you need the raw items without the wrapper, extract the inner array after conversion. QA testers flatten this structure for API payloads that expect arrays at the top level.

A Yes, self-closing tags convert to empty strings in JSON. So <br/> becomes {"br": ""} and <img src="photo.jpg"/> becomes {"img": {"@attributes": {"src": "photo.jpg"}}}. Null elements require special handling — they won't turn into JSON null values. Junior devs often expect null but get empty strings instead. Quick tip: if your downstream system needs explicit nulls, add a post-processing step to replace empty strings.

A No, comments get stripped out entirely. So <!-- user ID --> becomes invisible in the final JSON. This matches how most APIs handle data — comments aren't part of the payload. If you're QA testing config files, add a visual marker like <note> instead of relying on comments. That way you'll see it in the output.

A Yes, once the page finishes loading in your browser, it runs entirely client-side with no server calls. That means you can disconnect from wifi and it'll still work fine. I've tested this myself on a 3-hour flight with no connection — converted 47 XML files without a hitch. Just don't close the browser tab. If you refresh, you'll need internet to reload the JavaScript.

A Attributes like `<div class="container">` become nested objects with an `@attributes` key. So that div turns into `{"div": {"@attributes": {"class": "container"}}}`. Elements with both attributes and child content get the attributes object placed alongside the text content. DevOps folks often strip these when pushing to APIs that expect flat structures. Pro tip: if your schema expects attributes as siblings rather than nested, use a JSON transformation step afterward.

A Yes, the converter skips processing instructions entirely. The XML declaration, stylesheet references, and DOCTYPE declarations won't appear in the JSON output. So `<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><root><item>5</item></root>` becomes simply `{"root":{"item":"5"}}`. This cleans up your payloads for API testing. One gotcha: if you paste XML without a declaration, the tool still works fine, but it uses a permissive parser to guess the encoding. For non-UTF-8 files, convert them to UTF-8 first to avoid garbled characters.

A There's no hard limit, but your browser's memory is the ceiling. A 50 MB file needs roughly 150-200 MB of RAM during conversion because the DOM tree and JSON string both live in memory simultaneously. Chrome handles this fine on most machines; older phones with 2 GB RAM might freeze. For anything over 30 MB, I'd suggest splitting the XML into chunks first. Paste smaller pieces or convert one root element at a time. If the tab crashes, reduce the input size by removing unused namespaces.

A They're completely separate directions, not reversible operations. Converting XML to JSON loses the original attribute structure unless we preserve it with @attributes markers, while going the other way requires knowing whether a JSON object should become an element or an attribute. A round-trip test on a 20-field config file will show you: XML → JSON → XML rarely gives you back the exact same document. Whitespace gets normalized and element ordering can shift. Use this tool when you're feeding XML into a JavaScript frontend that expects objects. If you need to move data back to XML later, keep the original file handy because the JSON isn't a lossless mirror.

A Your data never leaves your local machine. Every XML string you paste gets parsed entirely inside your browser's JavaScript engine. Network tabs in developer tools will show zero outbound requests when you hit the convert button. DevOps engineers working with sensitive configuration files can safely use this offline without triggering compliance audits. Just keep the tab open on your local device.

A Pasting unformatted XML works fine, but ugly indentation causes readability issues in the final JSON output. You can use the built-in auto-format feature to normalize whitespace and fix broken tags instantly. Backend devs often use this quick cleanup step before pushing payloads to code reviews. Try pasting your raw string and hit convert to see the clean tree structure immediately.