Protobuf Text ↔ JSON
Converts Protocol Buffers text format (.textproto), not the binary wire format — binary encoding requires a compiled .proto schema, which this tool doesn't take as input.
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Convert Protocol Buffers text format (.textproto) to and from JSON. This is the human-readable, self-describing format — field names, not numbers — which is what makes conversion possible with no .proto schema. It does not encode or decode the binary wire format, which needs a compiled schema to interpret.
Frequently asked questions
- Can this decode a binary .pb / wire-format protobuf file?
- No — text format only (.textproto, the human-readable field: value syntax). Binary wire format needs a compiled .proto schema to know each field's number and wire type, since the binary bytes alone don't carry field names — a browser tool with no schema input can't reconstruct that.
- Why does text format work without a .proto schema at all?
- Because text format is self-describing: field names appear directly in the text (field: "value"), not just field numbers. That's what lets this convert to/from JSON with no schema input, unlike the binary wire format.
- What happens to a repeated field?
- A field name that appears more than once at the same level becomes a JSON array of those values, in the order they appeared.
- Is my data uploaded anywhere?
- No. Conversion happens locally in your browser tab — nothing is sent to a server.
Read the full guide for this tool →
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