JSON (JavaScript Object Notation)
A lightweight data format used to exchange information between systems.
JSON is the standard format for APIs and web data exchange. It uses key-value pairs and arrays in a human-readable format: {"name": "John", "age": 30, "hobbies": ["running", "coding"]}. JSON replaced XML as the dominant data format because it is smaller, faster to parse, and easier to read. Nearly every modern API returns data in JSON format.