---
navigation_title: "json"
mapped_pages:
  - https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/logstash/current/plugins-codecs-json.html
---

# Json codec plugin [plugins-codecs-json]


* Plugin version: v3.1.1
* Released on: 2022-10-03
* [Changelog](https://github.com/logstash-plugins/logstash-codec-json/blob/v3.1.1/CHANGELOG.md)

For other versions, see the [Versioned plugin docs](logstash-docs://reference/codec-json-index.md).

## Getting help [_getting_help_188]

For questions about the plugin, open a topic in the [Discuss](http://discuss.elastic.co) forums. For bugs or feature requests, open an issue in [Github](https://github.com/logstash-plugins/logstash-codec-json). For the list of Elastic supported plugins, please consult the [Elastic Support Matrix](https://www.elastic.co/support/matrix#logstash_plugins).


## Description [_description_187]

This codec may be used to decode (via inputs) and encode (via outputs) full JSON messages. If the data being sent is a JSON array at its root multiple events will be created (one per element).

If you are streaming JSON messages delimited by *\n* then see the `json_lines` codec.

Encoding will result in a compact JSON representation (no line terminators or indentation)

If this codec recieves a payload from an input that is not valid JSON, then it will fall back to plain text and add a tag `_jsonparsefailure`. Upon a JSON failure, the payload will be stored in the `message` field.


## Json Codec Configuration Options [plugins-codecs-json-options]

| Setting | Input type | Required |
| --- | --- | --- |
| [`charset`](#plugins-codecs-json-charset) | [string](/reference/configuration-file-structure.md#string), one of `["ASCII-8BIT", "UTF-8", "US-ASCII", "Big5", "Big5-HKSCS", "Big5-UAO", "CP949", "Emacs-Mule", "EUC-JP", "EUC-KR", "EUC-TW", "GB2312", "GB18030", "GBK", "ISO-8859-1", "ISO-8859-2", "ISO-8859-3", "ISO-8859-4", "ISO-8859-5", "ISO-8859-6", "ISO-8859-7", "ISO-8859-8", "ISO-8859-9", "ISO-8859-10", "ISO-8859-11", "ISO-8859-13", "ISO-8859-14", "ISO-8859-15", "ISO-8859-16", "KOI8-R", "KOI8-U", "Shift_JIS", "UTF-16BE", "UTF-16LE", "UTF-32BE", "UTF-32LE", "Windows-31J", "Windows-1250", "Windows-1251", "Windows-1252", "IBM437", "IBM737", "IBM775", "CP850", "IBM852", "CP852", "IBM855", "CP855", "IBM857", "IBM860", "IBM861", "IBM862", "IBM863", "IBM864", "IBM865", "IBM866", "IBM869", "Windows-1258", "GB1988", "macCentEuro", "macCroatian", "macCyrillic", "macGreek", "macIceland", "macRoman", "macRomania", "macThai", "macTurkish", "macUkraine", "CP950", "CP951", "IBM037", "stateless-ISO-2022-JP", "eucJP-ms", "CP51932", "EUC-JIS-2004", "GB12345", "ISO-2022-JP", "ISO-2022-JP-2", "CP50220", "CP50221", "Windows-1256", "Windows-1253", "Windows-1255", "Windows-1254", "TIS-620", "Windows-874", "Windows-1257", "MacJapanese", "UTF-7", "UTF8-MAC", "UTF-16", "UTF-32", "UTF8-DoCoMo", "SJIS-DoCoMo", "UTF8-KDDI", "SJIS-KDDI", "ISO-2022-JP-KDDI", "stateless-ISO-2022-JP-KDDI", "UTF8-SoftBank", "SJIS-SoftBank", "BINARY", "CP437", "CP737", "CP775", "IBM850", "CP857", "CP860", "CP861", "CP862", "CP863", "CP864", "CP865", "CP866", "CP869", "CP1258", "Big5-HKSCS:2008", "ebcdic-cp-us", "eucJP", "euc-jp-ms", "EUC-JISX0213", "eucKR", "eucTW", "EUC-CN", "eucCN", "CP936", "ISO2022-JP", "ISO2022-JP2", "ISO8859-1", "ISO8859-2", "ISO8859-3", "ISO8859-4", "ISO8859-5", "ISO8859-6", "CP1256", "ISO8859-7", "CP1253", "ISO8859-8", "CP1255", "ISO8859-9", "CP1254", "ISO8859-10", "ISO8859-11", "CP874", "ISO8859-13", "CP1257", "ISO8859-14", "ISO8859-15", "ISO8859-16", "CP878", "MacJapan", "ASCII", "ANSI_X3.4-1968", "646", "CP65000", "CP65001", "UTF-8-MAC", "UTF-8-HFS", "UCS-2BE", "UCS-4BE", "UCS-4LE", "CP932", "csWindows31J", "SJIS", "PCK", "CP1250", "CP1251", "CP1252", "external", "locale"]` | No |
| [`ecs_compatibility`](#plugins-codecs-json-ecs_compatibility) | [string](/reference/configuration-file-structure.md#string) | No |
| [`target`](#plugins-codecs-json-target) | [string](/reference/configuration-file-structure.md#string) | No |

 

### `charset` [plugins-codecs-json-charset]

* Value can be any of: `ASCII-8BIT`, `UTF-8`, `US-ASCII`, `Big5`, `Big5-HKSCS`, `Big5-UAO`, `CP949`, `Emacs-Mule`, `EUC-JP`, `EUC-KR`, `EUC-TW`, `GB2312`, `GB18030`, `GBK`, `ISO-8859-1`, `ISO-8859-2`, `ISO-8859-3`, `ISO-8859-4`, `ISO-8859-5`, `ISO-8859-6`, `ISO-8859-7`, `ISO-8859-8`, `ISO-8859-9`, `ISO-8859-10`, `ISO-8859-11`, `ISO-8859-13`, `ISO-8859-14`, `ISO-8859-15`, `ISO-8859-16`, `KOI8-R`, `KOI8-U`, `Shift_JIS`, `UTF-16BE`, `UTF-16LE`, `UTF-32BE`, `UTF-32LE`, `Windows-31J`, `Windows-1250`, `Windows-1251`, `Windows-1252`, `IBM437`, `IBM737`, `IBM775`, `CP850`, `IBM852`, `CP852`, `IBM855`, `CP855`, `IBM857`, `IBM860`, `IBM861`, `IBM862`, `IBM863`, `IBM864`, `IBM865`, `IBM866`, `IBM869`, `Windows-1258`, `GB1988`, `macCentEuro`, `macCroatian`, `macCyrillic`, `macGreek`, `macIceland`, `macRoman`, `macRomania`, `macThai`, `macTurkish`, `macUkraine`, `CP950`, `CP951`, `IBM037`, `stateless-ISO-2022-JP`, `eucJP-ms`, `CP51932`, `EUC-JIS-2004`, `GB12345`, `ISO-2022-JP`, `ISO-2022-JP-2`, `CP50220`, `CP50221`, `Windows-1256`, `Windows-1253`, `Windows-1255`, `Windows-1254`, `TIS-620`, `Windows-874`, `Windows-1257`, `MacJapanese`, `UTF-7`, `UTF8-MAC`, `UTF-16`, `UTF-32`, `UTF8-DoCoMo`, `SJIS-DoCoMo`, `UTF8-KDDI`, `SJIS-KDDI`, `ISO-2022-JP-KDDI`, `stateless-ISO-2022-JP-KDDI`, `UTF8-SoftBank`, `SJIS-SoftBank`, `BINARY`, `CP437`, `CP737`, `CP775`, `IBM850`, `CP857`, `CP860`, `CP861`, `CP862`, `CP863`, `CP864`, `CP865`, `CP866`, `CP869`, `CP1258`, `Big5-HKSCS:2008`, `ebcdic-cp-us`, `eucJP`, `euc-jp-ms`, `EUC-JISX0213`, `eucKR`, `eucTW`, `EUC-CN`, `eucCN`, `CP936`, `ISO2022-JP`, `ISO2022-JP2`, `ISO8859-1`, `ISO8859-2`, `ISO8859-3`, `ISO8859-4`, `ISO8859-5`, `ISO8859-6`, `CP1256`, `ISO8859-7`, `CP1253`, `ISO8859-8`, `CP1255`, `ISO8859-9`, `CP1254`, `ISO8859-10`, `ISO8859-11`, `CP874`, `ISO8859-13`, `CP1257`, `ISO8859-14`, `ISO8859-15`, `ISO8859-16`, `CP878`, `MacJapan`, `ASCII`, `ANSI_X3.4-1968`, `646`, `CP65000`, `CP65001`, `UTF-8-MAC`, `UTF-8-HFS`, `UCS-2BE`, `UCS-4BE`, `UCS-4LE`, `CP932`, `csWindows31J`, `SJIS`, `PCK`, `CP1250`, `CP1251`, `CP1252`, `external`, `locale`
* Default value is `"UTF-8"`

The character encoding used in this codec. Examples include "UTF-8" and "CP1252".

JSON requires valid UTF-8 strings, but in some cases, software that emits JSON does so in another encoding (nxlog, for example). In weird cases like this, you can set the `charset` setting to the actual encoding of the text and Logstash will convert it for you.

For nxlog users, you may to set this to "CP1252".


### `ecs_compatibility` [plugins-codecs-json-ecs_compatibility]

* Value type is [string](/reference/configuration-file-structure.md#string)
* Supported values are:

    * `disabled`: JSON document data added at root level
    * `v1`,`v8`: Elastic Common Schema compliant behavior (warns when `target` isn’t set)

* Default value depends on which version of Logstash is running:

    * When Logstash provides a `pipeline.ecs_compatibility` setting, its value is used as the default
    * Otherwise, the default value is `disabled`


Controls this plugin’s compatibility with the [Elastic Common Schema (ECS)][Elastic Common Schema (ECS)](ecs://reference/index.md)).


### `target` [plugins-codecs-json-target]

* Value type is [string](/reference/configuration-file-structure.md#string)
* There is no default value for this setting.

Define the target field for placing the parsed data. If this setting is not set, the JSON data will be stored at the root (top level) of the event.

For example, if you want data to be put under the `document` field:

```ruby
    input {
      http {
        codec => json {
          target => "[document]"
        }
      }
    }
```