JSON to YAML Converter Online — Free Online Tool

OpenFormatter's converter preserves key order from your source JSON (so apiVersion appears before kind as Kubernetes convention dictates), uses 2-space indentation (the ecosystem standard), and auto-quotes any string containing YAML reserved characters or that would otherwise parse as a different type (like the famous yes → true Norway problem).

How to convert JSON to YAML online — 4 steps

1. Paste your JSON. Copy a Kubernetes config, Helm values document, GitHub Actions workflow JSON, or any valid JSON into the Input panel.
2. Click Convert. The tool parses your JSON in the browser and emits 2-space indented, block-style YAML 1.2.
3. Review the output. Mappings use key: value, sequences use - dashes, and strings containing reserved chars are auto-quoted to preserve their meaning.
4. Drop into your manifest. Click Copy and paste into your deployment.yaml, docker-compose.yaml, or values.yaml.

Sample JSON and YAML output

{
  "apiVersion": "v1",
  "kind": "Service",
  "metadata": {
    "name": "web-service",
    "namespace": "default"
  },
  "spec": {
    "selector": { "app": "web" },
    "ports": [
      { "name": "http", "port": 80, "targetPort": 8080 },
      { "name": "https", "port": 443, "targetPort": 8443 }
    ]
  }
}

apiVersion: v1
kind: Service
metadata:
  name: web-service
  namespace: default
spec:
  selector:
    app: web
  ports:
    -
      name: http
      port: 80
      targetPort: 8080
    -
      name: https
      port: 443
      targetPort: 8443

Common use cases

• check_circleConverting JSON Kubernetes manifests (from kubectl get -o json) into YAML for kubectl apply or GitOps pipelines
• check_circleTranslating Helm values JSON to values.yaml for chart installation and upgrade
• check_circleProducing Docker Compose YAML from JSON config generated by orchestration tools
• check_circleRewriting OpenAPI / Swagger JSON specs as YAML for human-readable API documentation
• check_circleConverting Terraform JSON output to YAML for Argo CD, Flux, or other GitOps controllers
• check_circleGenerating GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, or CircleCI workflow YAML from JSON pipeline definitions
• check_circleMigrating Ansible inventory or vars from JSON to YAML for playbook compatibility
• check_circleProducing Prometheus, Grafana, and Loki configs in YAML from JSON-based config builders

YAML vs JSON: when to convert?

JSON is the better wire format — strict, parseable everywhere, and trivially produced by code. YAML is the better human format — diffable, comment-friendly, and the default for the entire DevOps ecosystem. Convert JSON to YAML when configs need to be reviewed, edited, or stored in a Git repo. Keep JSON when configs are generated and consumed by code paths only. Round-trip safety is preserved as long as you stick to YAML 1.2 (the modern standard) — earlier YAML 1.1 had quirks like yes parsing as boolean true, which the converter avoids by auto-quoting risky strings.