What is "Large" JSON?
1MB+ causes browser slowdowns. 10MB+ serious performance issues. 100MB+ requires special handling.
Performance Problems
Parsing blocks UI thread. Memory consumption spikes. Browser may freeze or crash. Poor user experience.
Web Workers
Offload parsing to background thread. Keep UI responsive. Our JSON Editor uses workers automatically for large files.
Streaming Parsers
Parse incrementally. Process chunks as they arrive. Libraries: stream-json, oboe.js, clarinet.
Virtual Scrolling
Render only visible items. Handle millions of rows. React-window, react-virtualized.
Pagination
Load data in pages. Limit initial load. Fetch more on demand. Backend pagination ideal.
Lazy Loading
Load nested objects on expand. Tree view optimization. Reduce initial parse time.
Compression
Gzip before transfer. 70-80% size reduction. Server-side compression. Browser auto-decompresses.
Partial Loading
Load only needed fields. Use JSONPath to extract. GraphQL for fine-grained queries.
File Size Thresholds
Our editor uses: 50KB for virtual scroll, 100KB for workers, 1MB for warnings, 10MB hard limit.
Memory Management
Clear references after use. Avoid keeping copies. Use WeakMap for caching. Monitor memory usage.
Alternative Formats
NDJSON for large datasets. Binary formats (MessagePack, BSON). Database for huge data.
Best Practices
Test with realistic data, set size limits, warn users, provide progress indicators, implement timeouts.