JSON Feed

What Is JSON Feed?

A JSON Feed is a web syndication format that publishes and distributes content that is regularly updated by means of JavaScript Object Notation (JSON). It is similar to RSS and Atom feeds but differs in using JSON rather than Extensible Markup Language (XML). Websites can make use of it in order to share blog entries, news items, microblog updates, podcasts, and other types of content with feed readers and applications.

In simple terms, a JSON Feed provides applications with a structured method of discovering and retrieving new content from a website.

What Is JSON Feed Used For?

JSON Feed can be used to power:

Feed readers and content aggregators
Blogs and news publishing systems
Microblogs
Podcast applications
Content dashboards
Applications that display regularly updated website content

How Does JSON Feed Work?

A JSON Feed works through a simple process:

Publish: A website publishes a new article, post, podcast, or other update.
Update: The new content is added as an item to the website’s JSON Feed.
Access: A feed reader or application requests the feed from its URL.
Process: The application parses the JSON and reads information such as the title, URL, content, and publication date.
Display: The application can then display or organize the latest updates.

What Does a JSON Feed Look Like?

A basic JSON Feed 1.1 can look like this:

{ “version”: “https://jsonfeed.org/version/1.1”,

“title”: “Example Blog”,

“items”: [

{

“id”: “1”,

“title”: “My First Post”,

“url”: “https://example.com/post”

}

]

}

In this case, the “version” names the JSON Feed specification, the “title” gives the name to the feed, and the “items” include the published content. Each item has to have a unique “ID”.

What Information Does a JSON Feed Contain?

A JSON Feed can include information about both the feed and individual content items.

Feed Information

Common fields include:

title for the feed name
home_page_url for the website
feed_url for the feed address
description for additional information
authors for feed creators
icon and favicon for visual identification

Content Information

Each item may have as part of it a title, URL, content, summary, publication date, author, tags, images, and other metadata. Furthermore, JSON Feed provides support for attachments of various types of media such as podcast audio and video.

JSON Feed vs Other Formats

Feature	JSON Feed	RSS Feed	JSON API
Primary purpose	Simple content syndication in JSON	Content syndication in XML	Data exchange between applications
Data format	JSON	XML	Usually JSON
Structure	Follows the JSON Feed specification	Follows RSS specifications	Depends on the API
Typical content	Posts, articles, updates, podcasts	Posts, articles, updates, podcasts	Products, users, records, application data
Designed for feed readers	Yes	Yes	No
Content updates	Regularly updated content	Regularly updated content	Dynamic or real-time data depending on the API