A JSON file is nothing more than structured plain text. However, opening one directly in a basic text editor often results in an unreadable, massive block of text.

If you want an exhaustive guide on viewing JSON across mobile devices, MacOS, and Windows, read our massive pillar guide on How to Open JSON Files Properly. But if you just want to immediately view the file you have right now, here is the secret.

The Fastest Way to View minified JSON

Data exports from platforms like Google or Facebook “minify” their JSON exports. Minification removes all the beautiful indents, line breaks, and spacing in order to compress the file size for faster downloads.

Because JSON is just text, the fastest way to view it properly is to drop it into a browser-based visualization tool.

Open your downloaded .json file using Notepad (Windows) or TextEdit (Mac).
Press Ctrl + A (or Cmd + A) to select all the messy text.
Open the IZHubs JSON Formatter.
Paste the text, and the tool will instantly expand, format, and color-code the data so a human can read it perfectly.

Unlike downloadable software, our web tool runs 100% locally in your browser. This means your private export data (like your Instagram messages) never gets uploaded to a remote server.

Troubleshooting Unreadable Files

Sometimes, when you attempt to view a JSON file, the formatter warns you that the data is invalid. This typically happens for two reasons:

1. Escaped Data

If the JSON you are viewing is filled with backslashes (\) before every quote mark, the data was stringified aggressively by a database export script. You cannot parse this visually until it is cleaned. Learn exactly how to fix this in our Unescape JSON Developer Guide.

2. Network Truncation

If you downloaded the .json file using a manual browser fetch that failed halfway through, the file will be mechanically broken. This mimics the infamous network error detailed in our fetch unexpected end of JSON input blog. Re-download the file to ensure you have the complete payload.