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Lessons 6 / 6JSON Conversion Workflows8 min
Lesson 6 of 68 minJSON Conversion Workflows

JSON vs YAML vs XML

Choose the format based on the job: APIs, configs, documents, or human editing.

Core concepts

  • JSON is common in APIs.
  • YAML is common in configs.
  • XML is verbose but supports document structures.
  • Conversion can change readability.

Example

JSON: { "theme": "dark", "enabled": true }
YAML:
theme: dark
enabled: true

Practice

Convert a small JSON config to YAML and compare which version is easier to edit by hand.

JSON to YAMLYAML to JSONJSON to XML

Checklist

  • Use JSON for API payloads.
  • Use YAML for editable config when tooling supports it.
  • Use XML when the system expects XML.
  • Validate after conversion.

Quiz

Which format is usually the safest default for API payloads?

Playground