JSON is popular with developers because it’s a flexible format for data exchange that enjoys wide support in modern programming languages and software systems. It’s text based and lightweight and has an easy-to-parse data format, meaning it requires no additional code to understand and interpret the data provided.
JSON has gained momentum in API programming and web services because it delivers faster data interchange and web service results. It also helps that developers have ready access to open source, NoSQL document databases, such as MongoDB and others, that store data in JSON format and require no additional processing when they exchange data. Popular relational databases can now handle JSON as a native format, opening even more applications to the benefits of JSON.