JSON to YAML Converter.

Convert JSON to YAML online — free and private

A JSON to YAML converter rewrites JSON as YAML, the human-friendly configuration format used across DevOps. Paste your JSON above, press Convert to YAML, and the tool emits clean, indented YAML. Because it runs client-side, you can convert JSON to YAML online without uploading configs or secrets to a server.

How to convert JSON to YAML in three steps

1. Paste your JSON into the input, or click “Load sample”.
2. Choose your options — indent width and quote style (minimal, single, or double).
3. Convert and export — copy the YAML or download it as data.yaml.

What JSON to YAML conversion actually changes

YAML 1.2 is a superset of JSON, so your JSON is already valid YAML — the point of converting is readability. Braces, brackets, and most quotes disappear; structure is carried by indentation instead:

{
  "apiVersion": "apps/v1",
  "kind": "Deployment",
  "spec": { "replicas": 3, "template": { "spec": {
    "containers": [{ "name": "web", "image": "nginx:1.27" }]
  }}}
}

becomes:

apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
spec:
  replicas: 3
  template:
    spec:
      containers:
        - name: web
          image: nginx:1.27

Same data, roughly half the punctuation — and now you can add comments, which JSON does not support at all.

Built for real config files

YAML powers Kubernetes manifests, GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, Ansible playbooks, and Docker Compose. This converter produces idiomatic output: minimal quoting so values stay clean, correct quoting when a string could be misread as a number or boolean, and literal block scalars for multiline text. Choose 2- or 4-space indentation to match your project's style.

Convert JSON to YAML in Python, Node, or the terminal

If you need this inside a script or pipeline rather than as a one-off, these are the standard approaches:

Python (PyYAML) — the two keyword arguments matter more than people expect:

import json, yaml

with open("data.json") as f:
    data = json.load(f)

with open("data.yaml", "w") as f:
    yaml.safe_dump(data, f, sort_keys=False, default_flow_style=False)

Without sort_keys=False, PyYAML alphabetises your keys — which scrambles a Kubernetes manifest. Without default_flow_style=False, you get inline {a: 1} maps instead of block style.

Command line (yq) — the quickest option in CI:

yq -P eval data.json > data.yaml      # mikefarah/yq
# or, with Python already installed:
python3 -c 'import sys,json,yaml; yaml.safe_dump(json.load(sys.stdin), sys.stdout, sort_keys=False)' < data.json

Node.js (js-yaml):

import yaml from "js-yaml";
import { readFileSync, writeFileSync } from "node:fs";

const data = JSON.parse(readFileSync("data.json", "utf8"));
writeFileSync("data.yaml", yaml.dump(data, { indent: 2, lineWidth: -1 }));

Set lineWidth: -1 or js-yaml wraps long strings at 80 columns, which quietly corrupts long image tags and URLs.

Common JSON to YAML problems (and fixes)

“My version number changed.” The classic YAML footgun: 1.10 parses as the number 1.1, and 3.0 becomes 3. This converter quotes values that would be misread, so "1.10" survives intact.

“My country code NO became false.” The Norway problem. Older YAML 1.1 parsers coerce yes, no, on, and off into booleans. Quoted output prevents it.

“My keys got alphabetised.” That is a PyYAML default, not YAML itself. This tool preserves your original key order.

“I need comments in the output.” JSON cannot store them, so nothing can invent them during conversion — add them to the YAML afterwards. This is precisely why teams convert to YAML for configs.

“My JSON will not parse.” Fix it first with the JSON repair tool or check it with the JSON validator.

Why use this JSON to YAML tool?

It is fast, ad-free, and 100% private, with no file-size cap — which matters more here than for most conversions, because Kubernetes manifests and CI configs routinely contain secrets, internal hostnames, and private registry paths that should never be pasted into a server-side tool. Need the reverse? Use the YAML to JSON converter. Related tools: JSON to XML, JSON to CSV, JSON formatter, and JSON diff for comparing two configs. Learn more in our guide on how to convert JSON to YAML.