How To Open JSON File In Windows/ Android/ Mac/ Chrome / iPhone Quickly ?

So you want to open JSON file ? Then you are certainly at the right place . Just read on further . Firstly let’s have the basics clear . JSON is the acronym for the Java Script Object Notation , which is used to store or send any data / array or string of objects from the server side to the client side (website or any Android app basically) .

If you are a computer geek , then you might already be familiar with the JSON format . But for any novice user , lets dive into the basics first to understand what it is and what it’s use precisely . (feel free to skip the section if you want)

What Is A JSON Format and Why It Is Used ?

Earlier we used to send the data using the xml formats from the server to client side . But now JSON is used for this data transfer using a structured set of human readable plain text format. A .json file simply contains the plain text data that can be interchanged between the browser (any website) and server. (provided you are connected to internet)

For example , the profile data in Google+ and the Mozilla Firefox bookmark backup data are all based upon the JSON formats .

Initially JSON is used only with the Javascript programming and for data exchanges between client – server application . But today it is used as a standalone language independent data storing and data exchange format .

Firstly you need to convert the objects in Java (or any other language) to JSON format and then on the client side you have to convert the JSON into objects again to retrieve the data. It is indeed the best alternative to the xml formats for data transfer .

Basically, JSON is a standardized text representation of a data object (array or hash or whatever) structure . So now you might be having a .json file stored in your local PC ,and you don’t really know how to open JSON file . No worries,in this post we’ll cover all the possible ways to open a JSON file correctly without any issues .

How To Open A JSON File ?

As discussed earlier , a .json file is simply a human readable plain text format containing structures of data (consisting of data sets and numbers with semicolons and coma precisely). So in order to open any .json file (a file specifically with the .json extension) you should have an appropriate program already installed in your PC/device in advance .

As we have already seen , a JSON data simply deals with the pain text data structures i.e. we can easily use any appropriate text editor program to read and edit the .json files quickly .

So let’snow dive into the list of programs that can easily allow you to open and access any JSON file easily in your PC/Android/iPhone .

How To Open JSON File In Windows 10/8/7 OS Device ?

In any Windows device , we have many options to view the text documents. But many times you may complain that you are getting issues opening a .json file in Windows device .

One important point here is that the Windows OS don’t automatically associate the .json files along with a text editor (as it usually does for other text docs).

Hence the easiest way for the Windows users to open any JSON file is that you have to simply right click on the .json file and select the option open with from the menu that is on the drop down (notepad/notepad++ / any text editor)

Also do keep in mind that if the JSON file is pretty large i.e. more than 150 KB then you can simply open the .json file using the Wordpad text editor .

Further if no editor program installed in your Windows device as such , then just simply  select the ‘Browse‘ option to allow the Windows to search for the appropriate program to open the JSON file .

Some popular programs you can use to open JSON file are as follows :

• Notepad/Notepad ++
• Microsoft Word
• Microsoft Wordpad editor
• Eclipse (or in Microsoft Visual Studio)

You can even set a default app to open these kind of JSON files in your Windows device . Now lets explore the available programs to view a .json file in Mac device .

How To Open JSON File In Mac OS Device ?

In Macbook , you can simply use the inbuilt Apple text editor to open JSON file . Also there are many other free and paid text editors available in Mac devices that you can surely use to write/review/read any programming code .

The best text editor to open JSON file is the Sublime Text 3 precisely . It can simply highlight the syntax and code  and has a good navigation abilities . But the only downside is its cost , though if you are a coder or editor then spending some pennies will be fine for the long run .

Atom and Brackets (by Adobe) are also very good free alternatives to the pricey Sublime Text indeed . Here also you can get any editing options and many different languages supported to edit/read any .json file .

UltraEdit , Visual Studio Code , TextMate are some of the other good options you can get in Mac OS .

How To Open JSON File In Android Device ?

Now its time for the mobile devices . Here also we have many good file viewer and text editor apps available that you can simply install and read the JSON files as text document . The best is the app named file viewer for Android .  Just install the app and open any .json file .

There are many other apps as well like the JSON Genie (JSON editor app) , JSON Viewer etc all these are free options indeed . So just install the apps and do whatever you want with the .json files without any issues .

How To Open JSON File In iPhone ?

Now in iOS devices also , we have many options available to view/edit any JSON file quickly . There are many good free and paid options precisely . JSON Viewer is one such highly praised app to manage .json files in your iPhone or iPad . Just select the JSON file and then select the open with option option and select the JSON viewer app to open the JSON file .

Another free option is the Jayson app , you can get good navigation and also an integrated Siri shortcuts to implement in this app . This is again a complete free option to use .

How To Open JSON File In Chrome Browser ?

If you want to open any data received from some API or server side (while working on any services) , and if you want to view the Array objects and JSON data then you need to install a Chrome extension named as JSONView .

There are many other  Chrome extensions available , but this one is the highest rated of all . So just download the extension and enable it in order to view the JSON data in a well structured manner in Google Chrome .

How To Open JSON File In Linux OS Devices ?

If you use Linux, you can open and view JSON files with Vim for Linux, which is a highly configurable text editor, or you can use another editor such as Pico or GNU Emacs

Hope you really liked this post regarding the different ways to  open a JSON file in various deices easily . If you know any other method , then simply let others also know in the comments section . Stay tuned for interesting stuff inthis series .