YAML ↔ JSON Converter

Input (YAML or JSON)

Output

About YAML & JSON

YAML (YAML Ain't Markup Language) is a human-friendly data serialization format widely used in Kubernetes, Docker Compose, GitHub Actions, and configuration files. JSON is preferred for APIs and data exchange. Both represent the same data structures and are fully interchangeable.

Common Use Cases

KubernetesConvert kubectl JSON output to readable YAML manifests.

Docker ComposeValidate and reformat docker-compose.yml files.

GitHub ActionsDebug workflow YAML by converting to JSON for inspection.

API ConfigConvert API JSON responses to YAML for configuration files.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is YAML a superset of JSON?

Yes. Valid JSON is also valid YAML 1.2. However, YAML supports additional features like comments, anchors, and multi-line strings that have no JSON equivalent — those features are dropped when converting to JSON.

Why does YAML use indentation?

YAML uses indentation (spaces only, not tabs) to represent nesting, similar to Python. This makes it more readable than JSON's curly braces for configuration files, but requires careful formatting.

Can YAML comments be preserved in JSON?

No. JSON does not support comments, so YAML comments are lost when converting to JSON. This is one reason YAML is preferred for configuration files that humans edit frequently.