Converting JSON to CSV (and Back) the Right Way

JSON and CSV solve different problems. JSON is great for nested, typed data and APIs; CSV is the lingua franca of spreadsheets and data imports. Moving between them is one of the most common data chores — here's how to do it cleanly.

JSON → CSV

The JSON Converter turns an array of objects into rows. Each object becomes a row, and the union of all keys becomes the header. A few things to keep in mind:

• Nested objects and arrays are serialized as JSON strings inside a cell, so no data is lost.
• Quoting follows RFC 4180: any value containing a comma, quote or newline is wrapped in double quotes.
• Missing keys become empty cells, which keeps every row aligned to the header.

[
  { "id": 1, "name": "Ada", "active": true },
  { "id": 2, "name": "Linus", "active": false }
]

becomes:

id,name,active
1,Ada,true
2,Linus,false

CSV → JSON

Going the other way, the converter reads the header row as keys and coerces values: numbers become numbers, true/false become booleans, and null becomes null. Everything else stays a string.

Tips for clean conversions

• Flatten deeply nested JSON before exporting to CSV if you want each field in its own column.
• Validate your JSON first with the JSON Validator to avoid surprises.
• For programmatic use, generate TypeScript interfaces from a sample so your import code is type-safe.

Try it now with the JSON Converter.