The JSON Feed Guide

For decades, RSS and Atom (both XML-based) controlled the syndication market. While powerful, XML can be cumbersome for modern developers to parse and generate. Enter JSON Feed.

What is JSON Feed?

JSON Feed is a format similar to RSS and Atom but built using JSON (JavaScript Object Notation). It was released in 2017 by Manton Reece and Brent Simmons to simplify syndication for the modern web.

Because JSON is the native data format of the web (APIs, mobile apps, JavaScript), handling JSON feeds is trivial for developers compared to parsing nested XML nodes.

Example JSON Feed

Here is what a basic JSON Feed looks like. Notice how readable and flat the structure is:

{
  "version": "https://jsonfeed.org/version/1.1",
  "title": "My Example Feed",
  "home_page_url": "https://example.org/",
  "feed_url": "https://example.org/feed.json",
  "items": [
    {
      "id": "2",
      "content_text": "This is a second item.",
      "url": "https://example.org/second-item"
    },
    {
      "id": "1",
      "content_html": "<p>Hello, world!</p>",
      "url": "https://example.org/initial-post"
    }
  ]
}

Key Advantages

• Native Parsing: No need for complex XML parsers. `JSON.parse()` works out of the box in JavaScript.
• Simplicity: No namespaces (`xml:atom`, `itunes:`), CDATA sections, or strict closing tags.
• Extensibility: Custom fields can be added easily using underscores (e.g., `_my_custom_field`).

Does RSS Validator support JSON Feed?

Yes! Our validator automatically detects if a URL is returning a JSON Feed structure and validates it against the official JSON Feed spec (v1 and v1.1).