XML to JSON Converter

XML and JSON describe data differently, so there is no single correct way to convert XML to JSON. XML has attributes, ordered child elements, text mixed with elements, comments and namespaces; JSON has objects, arrays and plain values. This converter uses the convention most APIs and libraries share, so the output looks familiar and converts back cleanly.

An element with only text becomes a string, so <title>Dune</title> is "title": "Dune". An element with attributes becomes an object whose attribute keys start with @, so <book id="1"> gives "@id": "1". If that element also holds text, the text is stored under #text. When the same child element appears more than once, the children are collected into an array. An empty element such as <br/> becomes null. Text that sits between child elements, as in <p>Hello <b>world</b>!</p>, is kept in order under #mixed as ["Hello ", {"b": "world"}, "!"], with no spaces added.

Going the other way, the JSON to XML converter follows the same rules. Keys that start with @ become attributes, #text becomes the element's text, arrays become repeated elements and null becomes an empty element. If the JSON has more than one top-level key, or is an array, it is wrapped in a root element whose name you choose. Keys that are not valid XML names, such as ones with spaces, are reported by name and path rather than silently changed.

Because XML stores everything as text, "42" and "true" stay strings unless you ask the converter to turn numbers and booleans into real JSON types. Comments and the XML declaration are dropped, since JSON has no place for them. The converter runs in your browser and never uploads what you paste.