JSON to XML Converter
Well-Formed XML in One Paste

Jobs This JSON to XML Converter Handles for You

This JSON to XML converter takes the objects, lists and values in a JSON document and writes the same data as XML elements. Every key becomes a tag, and every value sits inside one. The work happens in your browser tab, so the data stays with you.

The two formats look alike at first, but they follow different rules. XML needs exactly one root element, while JSON can start with a list. XML tag names cannot begin with a digit or contain spaces, while JSON keys can be almost anything. XML also has attributes, which JSON does not have at all.

So a good conversion makes a few decisions. This one makes them openly and lists each one in the checks table under the result. As a result, you always know why the XML looks the way it does.

How JSON Maps to XML Elements

An object becomes an element with child elements, one for each key. A plain value becomes the text inside its element. A list works differently, because XML has no list type. Instead, the element simply repeats: a key called book holding three items becomes three book elements in a row.

Two special keys give you more control. A key that starts with @, such as @id, becomes an attribute on its parent element. A key named #text becomes the text of the element itself. Together they let you write almost any XML shape from plain JSON.

Choosing the Root Element

Every XML document has one outer element that holds everything else. When your JSON already has a single top-level key, such as {"catalog": {...}}, that key becomes the root, and the tool adds nothing extra.

When the JSON starts with a list or with several keys, the converter wraps it in a root element for you. Its default name is root, but you can type any name, such as orders or products. A list at the top also gets one item element per entry, so every record stays separate.

Convert JSON to XML With Safe Tag Names

JSON keys often break XML naming rules. A key like first name has a space, 2024 starts with a digit, and price($) contains symbols. Any of these would make the XML invalid, so the parser at the other end would refuse the whole file.

The converter repairs such names instead. A run of spaces or symbols becomes one underscore, so first name turns into first_name and price($) into price. A leading digit gets an underscore in front, while letters from any language stay as they are. It then lists the keys it changed in the checks, so no name changes without you knowing. The rules it follows come from the W3C XML specification.

Special Characters and Escaping

Some characters mean something in XML. In XML, & opens an entity and < opens a tag. Therefore the converter writes them as &amp; and &lt; inside text, and it escapes quotes inside attributes. The result opens cleanly in any XML reader.

Accents, emoji and every other script pass through untouched, because the tool writes the file as UTF-8. The optional declaration at the top says exactly that. Turn it off if the XML is going inside another document.

Attributes or Elements: Which to Use

Both hold data, so the choice is mostly about what the receiving system expects. As a rule of thumb, attributes suit short labels about an element, such as an id, a language or a currency. Elements suit the real content, and anything that can repeat or contain more structure.

Namespaces work too. Add a key such as @xmlns:g with the namespace address, then use prefixed keys like g:price. The converter keeps those names exactly, because a colon between two valid parts is legal in XML. That means product feeds and other namespaced formats come out ready to use.

When the JSON Itself Has an Error

The converter reads your JSON strictly, following RFC 8259. A trailing comma, a single quote or a missing bracket stops the conversion with the exact line and column. One click on Show me where puts the cursor on the problem.

JSON to XML Online, for Real Work

XML is still everywhere behind the scenes. Banks and payment gateways exchange it. Many shipping, invoicing and government systems accept nothing else. Sitemaps and RSS feeds are XML too, which is why our XML sitemap generator writes it.

Meanwhile, most modern APIs speak JSON. So developers often sit between the two, taking JSON from one service and feeding XML to another. This tool covers that step in seconds, and the reverse trip is one click away on the XML to JSON page.