JSON-LD

Semantic & Data Protocol

A W3C-standardized JSON-based format for serializing Linked Data, allowing existing JSON to be interpreted as RDF with minimal changes. JSON-LD provides a meaning layer on top of plain JSON by using a @context to map JSON keys to IRIs (Internationalized Resource Identifiers), enabling machine-readable interoperability across systems without requiring shared implementation. Widely used as the default serialization for W3C Verifiable Credentials, ActivityPub, schema.org embeddings, and other decentralized-data ecosystems .

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Details

License N/A — specification document; many open-source implementations exist (jsonld.js, jsonld.py, ruby-rdf, jsonld-java, titanium-json-ld, and others) under various permissive licenses
Dev Status 🏁 Final
Dev Status Detail Released (JSON-LD 1.1 is a stable W3C Recommendation since July 16, 2020; widely deployed across the W3C Verifiable Credentials, Activity Streams 2.0, schema.org, and Linked Data ecosystems)
Owner W3C JSON-LD Working Group (specification editors include Gregg Kellogg, Pierre-Antoine Champin, and Dave Longley); the underlying ideas originated in the JSON-LD Community Group
Governing Body W3C (Recommendation track — JSON-LD Working Group; originated in the JSON-LD Community Group)
Governing Body - List
  • World Wide Web Consortium
Country International (W3C is a global standards body; editors and contributors distributed across multiple countries and organizations)
Start Year 2010
Stack N/A — specification, not implementation
Funding W3C (open standards body funded by member organizations and grants)
Funding - List
  • World Wide Web Consortium
Last Investigated Jul 1, 2026

Topology view

This tool in the centre and the things it is directly related to. Each line names the kind of relationship.

Topology view: JSON-LDThis tool in the centre and the things it is directly related to. Each line names the kind of relationship.JSON-LDActivityPub (Basis for, Conforming implementations, Protocol spoken by)ActivityPubRDF (Based on, Conforms to, Protocol spoken by, Storage for)RDFSchema.org (Basis for, Conforming implementations, Protocol spoken by)Schema.orgSolid (Basis for, Protocol spoken by)SolidVCs (Basis for, Conforming implementations, Protocol spoken by)VCsRIDs (Reference Identifiers) (Bridged from)RIDs(Reference I…Personhood Credentials (PHCs) (Hosts, Protocol spoken by)PersonhoodCredentials…Verifiable Relationship Credentials (VRCs) (Hosts, Protocol spoken by)VerifiableRelationship…ZCAPs (Hosts, Conforming implementations, Protocol spoken by)ZCAPsDIDs (Composes with, Conforming implementations, Protocol spoken by)DIDsLinkedClaims (Composes with, Conforming implementations)LinkedClaimsCivic Activity (Conforming implementations)CivicActivity

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Use Case Domains

Co-Creation & Knowledge

Affordances

Interoperable formats Provenance tracking

Semantic & Data Protocol Attributes

Origins Semantic Web / Linked Data (designed to bridge plain-JSON developer ergonomics with RDF / Linked Data interoperability; explicit goal: enable JSON developers to participate in the Semantic Web without leaving JSON)
Database N/A — JSON-LD is a data format, not a database
Query Language JSON-LD documents can be queried with SPARQL after being interpreted as RDF; framing (a JSON-LD 1.1 capability) provides a query-by-example mechanism for shaping output documents
Data Formats JSON-LD (the format itself); can be losslessly converted to and from N-Quads, Turtle, RDF/XML, and other RDF serializations; JSON-LD 1.1 specifies expansion, compaction, flattening, and framing transformations
Collaborative Live Editing N/A
Rich Text Editing N/A
Mobile Support N/A — data format; works in any environment that supports JSON
Web Support Yes — JSON-LD is widely consumed in browsers; schema.org JSON-LD embedded in HTML pages is the most common form of structured data on the web
Native Apps N/A — data format works in any runtime; processor libraries exist for all major languages
Terms Free open standard (no licensing fees; W3C standards are royalty-free under the W3C Patent Policy)
Funding - List
  • World Wide Web Consortium
Funds N/A — open standard, no funding round
Based On JSON (RFC 8259 — the underlying serialization syntax); RDF (the data model JSON-LD serializes); IRIs (RFC 3987 — used as global identifiers in @context mappings); W3C Patent Policy (royalty-free licensing framework)
Governing Body - List
  • World Wide Web Consortium
Semantic Web Compatibility Full RDF compliance (JSON-LD is one of the official RDF 1.1 serialization formats; documents can be interpreted as RDF graphs and queried with SPARQL; the JSON-LD 1.1 API specifies the algorithms for this transformation)
Protocol Maturity / Standardization W3C Standard (JSON-LD 1.1 published as W3C Recommendation on 16 July 2020; the family includes JSON-LD 1.1 Syntax, JSON-LD 1.1 Processing Algorithms and API, and JSON-LD 1.1 Framing — all Recommendations)
Vocabulary / Ontology Type General-purpose (JSON-LD is domain-agnostic; the same format is used for credentials, social media, knowledge graphs, structured data on the web, IoT, and many other domains)
Usage Pattern Embedded in other protocols (JSON-LD is rarely a standalone protocol; it serves as the data format beneath higher-level specifications including W3C Verifiable Credentials, ActivityPub, schema.org, Solid, and many others; @context mechanism allows it to carry domain-specific vocabularies)

Relationships

How this tool connects to other tools and organizations, from relationships reviewed by the OpenHaven data steward. They describe how projects connect, not how good they are.

Based on
Conforms to
Funded by
  • World Wide Web Consortium
Hosted at
  • World Wide Web Consortium
Stewarded by
  • World Wide Web Consortium
Composes with
Basis for
Bridged from
Conforming implementations
Hosts
Protocol spoken by
Storage for