How to write .NET objects as JSON (serialize)

Article
09/07/2024

This article shows how to use the System.Text.Json namespace to serialize to JavaScript Object Notation (JSON). If you're porting existing code from Newtonsoft.Json, see How to migrate to System.Text.Json.

Tip

You can use AI assistance to serialize to JSON with GitHub Copilot.

To write JSON to a string or to a file, call the JsonSerializer.Serialize method.

Serialization examples

The following example creates JSON as a string:

using System.Text.Json;

namespace SerializeBasic
{
    public class WeatherForecast
    {
        public DateTimeOffset Date { get; set; }
        public int TemperatureCelsius { get; set; }
        public string? Summary { get; set; }
    }

    public class Program
    {
        public static void Main()
        {
            var weatherForecast = new WeatherForecast
            {
                Date = DateTime.Parse("2019-08-01"),
                TemperatureCelsius = 25,
                Summary = "Hot"
            };

            string jsonString = JsonSerializer.Serialize(weatherForecast);

            Console.WriteLine(jsonString);
        }
    }
}
// output:
//{"Date":"2019-08-01T00:00:00-07:00","TemperatureCelsius":25,"Summary":"Hot"}

Dim jsonString As String

The JSON output is minified (whitespace, indentation, and new-line characters are removed) by default.

The following example uses synchronous code to create a JSON file:

using System.Text.Json;

namespace SerializeToFile
{
    public class WeatherForecast
    {
        public DateTimeOffset Date { get; set; }
        public int TemperatureCelsius { get; set; }
        public string? Summary { get; set; }
    }

    public class Program
    {
        public static void Main()
        {
            var weatherForecast = new WeatherForecast
            {
                Date = DateTime.Parse("2019-08-01"),
                TemperatureCelsius = 25,
                Summary = "Hot"
            };

            string fileName = "WeatherForecast.json"; 
            string jsonString = JsonSerializer.Serialize(weatherForecast);
            File.WriteAllText(fileName, jsonString);

            Console.WriteLine(File.ReadAllText(fileName));
        }
    }
}
// output:
//{"Date":"2019-08-01T00:00:00-07:00","TemperatureCelsius":25,"Summary":"Hot"}

jsonString = JsonSerializer.Serialize(weatherForecast1)
File.WriteAllText(fileName, jsonString)

The following example uses asynchronous code to create a JSON file:

using System.Text.Json;

namespace SerializeToFileAsync
{
    public class WeatherForecast
    {
        public DateTimeOffset Date { get; set; }
        public int TemperatureCelsius { get; set; }
        public string? Summary { get; set; }
    }

    public class Program
    {
        public static async Task Main()
        {
            var weatherForecast = new WeatherForecast
            {
                Date = DateTime.Parse("2019-08-01"),
                TemperatureCelsius = 25,
                Summary = "Hot"
            };

            string fileName = "WeatherForecast.json";
            await using FileStream createStream = File.Create(fileName);
            await JsonSerializer.SerializeAsync(createStream, weatherForecast);

            Console.WriteLine(File.ReadAllText(fileName));
        }
    }
}
// output:
//{"Date":"2019-08-01T00:00:00-07:00","TemperatureCelsius":25,"Summary":"Hot"}

Dim createStream As FileStream = File.Create(fileName)
Await JsonSerializer.SerializeAsync(createStream, weatherForecast1)

The preceding examples use type inference for the type being serialized. An overload of Serialize() takes a generic type parameter:

using System.Text.Json;

namespace SerializeWithGenericParameter
{
    public class WeatherForecast
    {
        public DateTimeOffset Date { get; set; }
        public int TemperatureCelsius { get; set; }
        public string? Summary { get; set; }
    }

    public class Program
    {
        public static void Main()
        {
            var weatherForecast = new WeatherForecast
            {
                Date = DateTime.Parse("2019-08-01"),
                TemperatureCelsius = 25,
                Summary = "Hot"
            };

            string jsonString = JsonSerializer.Serialize<WeatherForecast>(weatherForecast);

            Console.WriteLine(jsonString);
        }
    }
}
// output:
//{"Date":"2019-08-01T00:00:00-07:00","TemperatureCelsius":25,"Summary":"Hot"}

jsonString = JsonSerializer.Serialize(Of WeatherForecastWithPOCOs)(weatherForecast)

You can also use GitHub Copilot to generate serialization code for you. For instructions, see the Use GitHub Copilot section in this article.

Serialization behavior

By default, all public properties are serialized. You can specify properties to ignore. You can also include private members.
The default encoder escapes non-ASCII characters, HTML-sensitive characters within the ASCII-range, and characters that must be escaped according to the RFC 8259 JSON spec.
By default, JSON is minified. You can pretty-print the JSON.
By default, casing of JSON names matches the .NET names. You can customize JSON name casing.
By default, circular references are detected and exceptions thrown. You can preserve references and handle circular references.
By default, fields are ignored. You can include fields.

When you use System.Text.Json indirectly in an ASP.NET Core app, some default behaviors are different. For more information, see Web defaults for JsonSerializerOptions.

Supported types include:

.NET primitives that map to JavaScript primitives, such as numeric types, strings, and Boolean.
User-defined plain old CLR objects (POCOs).
One-dimensional and jagged arrays (T[][]).
Collections and dictionaries from the following namespaces:
For more information, see Supported collection types in System.Text.Json.

You can implement custom converters to handle additional types or to provide functionality that isn't supported by the built-in converters.

Here's an example showing how a class that contains collection properties and a user-defined type is serialized:

using System.Text.Json;

namespace SerializeExtra
{
    public class WeatherForecast
    {
        public DateTimeOffset Date { get; set; }
        public int TemperatureCelsius { get; set; }
        public string? Summary { get; set; }
        public string? SummaryField;
        public IList<DateTimeOffset>? DatesAvailable { get; set; }
        public Dictionary<string, HighLowTemps>? TemperatureRanges { get; set; }
        public string[]? SummaryWords { get; set; }
    }

    public class HighLowTemps
    {
        public int High { get; set; }
        public int Low { get; set; }
    }

    public class Program
    {
        public static void Main()
        {
            var weatherForecast = new WeatherForecast
            {
                Date = DateTime.Parse("2019-08-01"),
                TemperatureCelsius = 25,
                Summary = "Hot",
                SummaryField = "Hot",
                DatesAvailable = new List<DateTimeOffset>() 
                    { DateTime.Parse("2019-08-01"), DateTime.Parse("2019-08-02") },
                TemperatureRanges = new Dictionary<string, HighLowTemps>
                    {
                        ["Cold"] = new HighLowTemps { High = 20, Low = -10 },
                        ["Hot"] = new HighLowTemps { High = 60 , Low = 20 }
                    },
                SummaryWords = new[] { "Cool", "Windy", "Humid" }
            };

            var options = new JsonSerializerOptions { WriteIndented = true };
            string jsonString = JsonSerializer.Serialize(weatherForecast, options);

            Console.WriteLine(jsonString);
        }
    }
}
// output:
//{
//  "Date": "2019-08-01T00:00:00-07:00",
//  "TemperatureCelsius": 25,
//  "Summary": "Hot",
//  "DatesAvailable": [
//    "2019-08-01T00:00:00-07:00",
//    "2019-08-02T00:00:00-07:00"
//  ],
//  "TemperatureRanges": {
//    "Cold": {
//      "High": 20,
//      "Low": -10
//    },
//    "Hot": {
//    "High": 60,
//      "Low": 20
//    }
//  },
//  "SummaryWords": [
//    "Cool",
//    "Windy",
//    "Humid"
//  ]
//}

Public Class WeatherForecastWithPOCOs
    Public Property [Date] As DateTimeOffset
    Public Property TemperatureCelsius As Integer
    Public Property Summary As String
    Public SummaryField As String
    Public Property DatesAvailable As IList(Of DateTimeOffset)
    Public Property TemperatureRanges As Dictionary(Of String, HighLowTemps)
    Public Property SummaryWords As String()
End Class

Public Class HighLowTemps
    Public Property High As Integer
    Public Property Low As Integer
End Class

' serialization output formatted (pretty-printed with whitespace and indentation):
' {
'   "Date": "2019-08-01T00:00:00-07:00",
'   "TemperatureCelsius": 25,
'   "Summary": "Hot",
'   "DatesAvailable": [
'     "2019-08-01T00:00:00-07:00",
'     "2019-08-02T00:00:00-07:00"
'   ],
'   "TemperatureRanges": {
'     "Cold": {
'       "High": 20,
'       "Low": -10
'     },
'     "Hot": {
'       "High": 60,
'       "Low": 20
'     }
'   },
'   "SummaryWords": [
'     "Cool",
'     "Windy",
'     "Humid"
'   ]
' }

Serialize to UTF-8

It's 5-10% faster to serialize to a UTF-8 byte array than to use the string-based methods. That's because the bytes (as UTF-8) don't need to be converted to strings (UTF-16).

To serialize to a UTF-8 byte array, call the JsonSerializer.SerializeToUtf8Bytes method:

byte[] jsonUtf8Bytes =JsonSerializer.SerializeToUtf8Bytes(weatherForecast);

Dim jsonUtf8Bytes As Byte()
Dim options As JsonSerializerOptions = New JsonSerializerOptions With {
    .WriteIndented = True
}
jsonUtf8Bytes = JsonSerializer.SerializeToUtf8Bytes(weatherForecast1, options)

A Serialize overload that takes a Utf8JsonWriter is also available.

Serialize to formatted JSON

To pretty-print the JSON output, set JsonSerializerOptions.WriteIndented to true:

using System.Text.Json;

namespace SerializeWriteIndented
{
    public class WeatherForecast
    {
        public DateTimeOffset Date { get; set; }
        public int TemperatureCelsius { get; set; }
        public string? Summary { get; set; }
    }

    public class Program
    {
        public static void Main()
        {
            var weatherForecast = new WeatherForecast
            {
                Date = DateTime.Parse("2019-08-01"),
                TemperatureCelsius = 25,
                Summary = "Hot"
            };

            var options = new JsonSerializerOptions { WriteIndented = true };
            string jsonString = JsonSerializer.Serialize(weatherForecast, options);

            Console.WriteLine(jsonString);
        }
    }
}
// output:
//{
//  "Date": "2019-08-01T00:00:00-07:00",
//  "TemperatureCelsius": 25,
//  "Summary": "Hot"
//}

Dim options As JsonSerializerOptions = New JsonSerializerOptions With {
    .WriteIndented = True
}
jsonString = JsonSerializer.Serialize(weatherForecast, options)

Starting in .NET 9, you can also customize the indent character and size using IndentCharacter and IndentSize.

Tip

If you use JsonSerializerOptions repeatedly with the same options, don't create a new JsonSerializerOptions instance each time you use it. Reuse the same instance for every call. For more information, see Reuse JsonSerializerOptions instances.

Use GitHub Copilot to serialize to JSON

You can use GitHub Copilot in your IDE to generate code that uses System.Text.Json to serialize to JSON.

If you're using Visual Studio 2022 version 17.8 or later, you can try the AI-driven GitHub Copilot in Visual Studio to generate code that uses System.Text.Json to serialize to JSON. Submit your question as a prompt in the Copilot chat window, as in the following example. You can also submit prompts using inline chat in the editor window itself.

Note

GitHub Copilot is powered by AI, so surprises and mistakes are possible. Make sure to verify any generated code or suggestions. For more information about the general use of GitHub Copilot, product impact, human oversight, and privacy, see GitHub Copilot FAQs.

The following text shows an example prompt for Copilot Chat:

Generate code to use System.Text.Json to serialize an object to a JSON string. The object contains the following fields: FirstName (string), Lastname (string), Age (int). Provide example output.

You can customize the prompt to use object fields that suit your requirements.

You can use chat features, such as slash commands, references to files, methods, or classes, and threads, to set intent and get better answers with scoped context. For an existing class in a project that's open in the IDE, you can prompt GitHub Copilot with /generate code to serialize #Classname in #Filename to JSON.

The following output shows an example Copilot Chat response:

Sure! Below is an example of how to use System.Text.Json to serialize an object with the specified fields to a JSON string in C#:

using System;
using System.Text.Json;

public class Person
{
    public string FirstName { get; set; }
    public string LastName { get; set; }
    public int Age { get; set; }
}

public class Program
{
    public static void Main()
    {
        var person = new Person
        {
            FirstName = "John",
            LastName = "Doe",
            Age = 30
        };

        string jsonString = JsonSerializer.Serialize(person);
        Console.WriteLine(jsonString);
    }
}

**Example Output**
{"FirstName":"John","LastName":"Doe","Age":30}

This code defines a `Person` class, creates an instance of it, and then serializes it to a JSON string using `JsonSerializer.Serialize`. The resulting JSON string is then printed to the console.

When Copilot returns a code block, the response includes options to copy the code, insert the code into a new file, or preview the code output.

Note

Your results might be different from what's shown in the example responses. AI models are non-deterministic, which means that they can return different responses when asked the same question. This might be due to additional learning and adaption over time, language variation, changes in context, such as your chat history, and more.

For more information, see:

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