YAML
YAML is a human-oriented data serialisation language. People like it because comments and multiline strings are easy. People dislike it because indentation and implicit types cause incidents.
Common uses
- Kubernetes manifests
- CI pipelines
- Application config that humans edit
Strengths
- Comments
- Anchors in some dialects
- Less punctuation than JSON for nested config
Weaknesses
- Indentation errors
- The Norway problem and other implicit booleans in YAML 1.1
- Unsafe loaders in some languages can execute tags
Compatibility. YAML 1.1 and 1.2 disagree in places. ConvertPass loads with a JSON-compatible schema so tags are not executed.
Size and quality. Similar to pretty JSON. Not a compact interchange format.
How to open it. A text editor with whitespace visible is safer than a word processor.
How to convert it. YAML to JSON for APIs and JSON to YAML for readable config.
Security and privacy. Never use an unsafe YAML loader on untrusted input. ConvertPass does not execute YAML tags and does not render YAML as HTML.
Related tools
- YAML to JSON
Parse YAML into JSON without custom tags or server-side processing.
- JSON to YAML
Turn JSON into readable YAML without leaving your machine.
- TOML to JSON
Turn TOML config into JSON without uploading your secrets file.
Related comparisons
Last reviewed 16 August 2026.