CSV to JSON

Parsing CSV into structured JSON

CSV is the lowest common denominator of tabular data: every spreadsheet and database can export it. JSON is what your code and APIs want to consume. This tool reads comma-separated rows and turns each one into an object, using the first row as the set of keys. A clean conversion means you can take a report someone emailed you and feed it straight into an app.

Headers and quoting are everything

Two details decide whether the parse works. First, the header row: those column names become the JSON keys, so they must be present and unique. Second, quoting. A field that contains a comma, a line break, or a double quote must be wrapped in double quotes, and an embedded quote is escaped by doubling it (""). A parser that ignores quoting will split "Smith, John" into two broken columns.

Example

CSV input:

name,city
"Smith, John",Jakarta
Ada,Bandung

JSON output:

[
  { "name": "Smith, John", "city": "Jakarta" },
  { "name": "Ada", "city": "Bandung" }
]

FAQ

Are all values strings? By default yes, because CSV has no types. A value of 42 arrives as the string "42" unless the tool offers type coercion, which you should use carefully to avoid turning a zip code into a number and losing leading zeros.

My delimiter is a semicolon, not a comma. Many locales export with ; because the comma is a decimal separator. Set the delimiter explicitly rather than hoping for auto-detection.

What about empty cells? An empty field becomes an empty string, not null, unless you ask for that. Decide which you want before importing. Clean the output with the JSON formatter.