When do you need to escape JSON?
Inside a JSON string, some characters have special meaning. A double quote would end the string, a backslash starts an escape sequence, and raw line breaks are not allowed at all. To embed text — including an entire JSON document — as a string value, those characters must be escaped. You also run into escaped JSON constantly in the opposite direction: log files, message queues, environment variables and API fields often contain JSON that was stringified, so it is full of \" sequences and hard to read.
Escape sequences
| Character | Escaped |
|---|---|
double quote " | \" |
backslash \ | \\ |
| new line | \n |
| carriage return | \r |
| tab | \t |
| other control characters | \u0000–\u001f |
How to use it
- Choose Escape to turn raw text into a JSON string, or Unescape to reverse it.
- Paste your text. When unescaping, you can include or omit the surrounding quotes.
- If the unescaped result is itself JSON, it is pretty-printed automatically (you can turn this off).
Example
Escaped
{\"user\":\"asha\",\"note\":\"hi\\nthere\"}Unescaped
{
"user": "asha",
"note": "hi\nthere"
}Frequently asked questions
Is this the same as JSON.stringify?
Escape mode produces exactly what JSON.stringify produces for a string. Tick “wrap in quotes” to include the surrounding double quotes.
Does it escape non-English characters?
No — JSON allows any Unicode character directly, so é or 日本 stay readable. When unescaping, \u sequences are converted back into the real characters.
Can I unescape text that was escaped twice?
Yes, run Unescape again on the result.
Is my text uploaded?
No. Everything runs in your browser.