Converting a Plist to JSON

Plist files, those configuration files you see in Xcode and floating around your Mac, are typically represented as XML, but did you know that any plist can be easily converted to JSON?

Using plutil

Any plist file can be converted to JSON using Apple's own plutil command line utility. To use plutil, make sure you have downloaded the Xcode Command Line Tools.

To use the tool, locate the plist file you'd like to convert and then open a Terminal window and type:
plutil -convert json myplist.plist

That's all there is to it. You should now have a JSON file in place of the XML plist.

Not a fan of the command line? Penguin makes it easy to convert plists to JSON, Swift, Objective-C and more all through a beautiful graphical interface.

Home Knowledge Base Support Download