How to optimize your JSON API response

JSON stands for JavaScript Object Notation and it is a lightweight format for storing and transporting data often used when data is sent from a server to a web page.

In my developer experience, sometimes, I have found very slow and heavy API responses so, in this story, I will explain some easy tips to improve the performance of any API working on JSON responses:

1. Minimize data size using short and Descriptive keys with camelCase

// Inefficient
{
  "first_name": "John",
  "last_name": "Doe"
}

// Efficient
{
  "firstName": "John",
  "lastName": "Doe"
}

2. Abbreviate when it’s possible without sacrificing clarity

// Inefficient
{
  "applicationVersion": "v102.3"
}
 
// Efficient
{
  "appVer": "v102.3"
}

3. Use Arrays Wisely minimizing nesting and avoiding deeply nested arrays, as they can increase the complexity of parsing and traversing JSON.

// Inefficient
{
  "product": {
    "id": 123,
    "name": "Acme Prod",
    "colors": {
      "color1": "Red",
      "color2": "Blue",
      "color3": "Green"
    }
  }
}

// Efficient
{  
  "productId": 123,
  "productName": "Acme Prod",
  "productColors": ["Red", "Blue", "Green"]
}

3. Optimize Number Representations using integers when possible

// Inefficient
{
  "price": 99.90
}

// Efficient
{
  "price": 9990
}

The price 9990 is 99.90 * 100 and it’s a simple example of how this could be a standard convention for Backend and Frontend communication via API.

4. Remove Redundancy avoiding repetitive data

// Inefficient
{
  "product1": {
    "name": "Product A",
    "price": 100
  },
  "product2": {
    "name": "Product A",
    "price": 200
  }
}

// Efficient
{
  "products": [
    {
      "name": "Product A",
      "price": 100
    },
    {
      "name": "Product B",
      "price": 200
    }
  ]
}

5. Use Compression Algorithms such as Gzip or Brotli

6. Use Server-Side Caching with specific TTLs for any endpoint group