JSON pretty-print vs minify: which output to use

Pretty-print inserts newlines and indent so a diff and a code review stay readable. Minify strips whitespace so a payload is smaller on the wire. Parsers treat both as the same document if the tokens match.

Pretty for anything a human will open. Minify for localStorage, fixtures in a build, and responses you will not read. Mixing them in git produces noisy diffs; pick one style per file and keep it.

Neither mode “fixes” invalid JSON. Validate first. Repair is a separate toggle for trailing commas, not a substitute for a correct payload.

Pretty-print is for reading and for a diff. Minify is for a request body or a file you pay to store. They are the same data if the parse succeeds. A minify that also sorts keys will make a noisy diff against a file that kept insertion order. Keep the pretty form in git if humans edit it. This page is the choice; the converter runs either mode.