JavaScript Object Notation

What is JavaScript Object Notation?

JSON represents data as nested objects and arrays of a few primitive types — string, number, boolean, null — in a syntax compact enough to read and strict enough to parse unambiguously. It displaced XML as the web's default interchange format because it carries far less overhead and maps directly onto the data structures every programming language already has. For revenue teams the relevance is practical rather than theoretical: API responses, webhook payloads, agent tool calls and structured page markup are all JSON. Its strengths are nesting and universality; its weaknesses are the absence of a native date type, no comments, and no schema enforcement unless you add JSON Schema on top. Where JSON is a poor fit is bulk tabular movement — a million-row export belongs in Parquet or CSV, because JSON repeats every key on every record and pays for it in size.

Why it matters

• The default payload format for essentially every modern API and webhook.
• Handles nested structure that flat formats like CSV cannot express.
• Poorly suited to bulk tabular data, where repeated keys make it needlessly large.

Use cases

• API payloads. Request and response bodies exchanged between integrated systems.
• Webhook events. Event notifications delivered as a JSON POST body.
• Structured markup. JSON-LD embedding Schema.org data in a page for search and AI engines.