Convert XML to JSON on Mac, Linux, or Windows Free

The free Whale XML to JSON converter runs in any modern browser — Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Edge — on Mac, Linux, Windows, and Chromebook. There's nothing to install on any platform. Open the tool, paste or upload your XML, and download the JSON. The conversion is local: your file never leaves your machine.

Using the Browser Converter on Any Platform

The browser converter works identically across platforms because it's a web page — it runs in your browser, not as a native app. The only requirement is a modern browser, which every platform ships with by default.

Mac: Works in Safari, Chrome, and Firefox. Apple Silicon and Intel Macs both run it correctly. No extra setup needed.

Windows: Works in Edge (pre-installed), Chrome, and Firefox on Windows 10 and 11. No admin rights required — just open a browser tab.

Linux: Works in Chrome, Firefox, and Chromium on any distribution — Ubuntu, Fedora, Arch, Debian. The tool has no OS-specific dependencies.

Chromebook: Chrome is the native browser and runs the tool without issues. No Linux subsystem or Android app needed.

Mac Terminal Options: xmllint and Python

Mac users who prefer the terminal have two good built-in options:

Python (built-in on Mac): A one-liner converts XML to JSON using the standard library. Open Terminal and run:

python3 -c "import xml.etree.ElementTree as ET, json, sys; print(json.dumps(ET.parse(sys.argv[1]).getroot(), default=lambda x: {'tag':x.tag,'attrib':x.attrib,'text':x.text,'children':list(x)}, indent=2))" yourfile.xml

This is simplified — for production use, the xmltodict library (pip install xmltodict) gives cleaner output with proper attribute and array handling.

xmllint: Pre-installed on Mac. Useful for formatting and validating XML but does not convert to JSON directly. Use it to check XML validity before converting with the browser tool.

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Linux Terminal: Command-Line XML to JSON

Linux has the same Python and xmllint options as Mac. Python 3 is included in most distributions. The xmltodict library installs via pip: pip install xmltodict.

A clean Python script for XML to JSON:

import xmltodict, json; print(json.dumps(xmltodict.parse(open('input.xml').read()), indent=2))

Run it as: python3 -c "import xmltodict,json;print(json.dumps(xmltodict.parse(open('input.xml').read()),indent=2))"

For batch conversion or automation in a shell script, the Python approach is more maintainable than the browser tool. For individual files and quick inspection, the browser converter is faster — no script needed.

Windows: Browser and PowerShell Options

On Windows, the browser converter is the fastest no-install option. Open Edge, navigate to the tool, paste your XML, done.

For Windows users who prefer a scripting approach, PowerShell has XML handling built in:

[xml]$xml = Get-Content 'input.xml'; $xml | ConvertTo-Json -Depth 10 | Out-File 'output.json'

PowerShell's ConvertTo-Json handles nested XML objects and produces formatted JSON. The -Depth parameter controls how many nested levels are included — increase it for deeply nested XML structures.

Python is available on Windows via the Microsoft Store or python.org download and can be used with the same xmltodict approach as Linux and Mac.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does the browser tool work offline?

You need internet access to load the page. Once loaded, conversion runs locally — but you can't reload the page without connectivity.

Which is faster — browser tool or command line?

For single files, both are nearly instant. For batch conversion (many files), command-line tools like Python xmltodict are much faster.

Does the tool work on Linux ARM (Raspberry Pi)?

Yes. It's a web page — any browser on any architecture runs it. Tested on standard desktop Linux; Chromium on Raspberry Pi works.

Can I automate this conversion in a script?

The browser tool is manual. For automation, use Python xmltodict, Node.js xml2js, or PowerShell ConvertTo-Json depending on your platform and language preference.