JSON to XML Conversion: When Legacy Systems Force Your Hand

Nobody chooses XML for a new project in 2026. But legacy systems, enterprise integrations, SOAP APIs, and certain government/financial data standards still require XML. When your modern application speaks JSON and the system you are integrating with speaks XML, you need a conversion layer. The conversion is not as straightforward as it appears. JSON and XML have different data models, and some JSON structures have no natural XML equivalent (and vice versa). The fundamental mismatches Arrays. JSON has first-class arrays. XML does not. A JSON array like {"colors": ["red", "green", "blue"]} must be represented in XML as repeated elements: <colors> <item> red </item> <item> green </item> <item> blue </item> </colors> The element name "item" is arbitrary -- XML has no concept of anonymous array elements. Attributes vs elements. XML elements can have attributes: <person name="Alice" age="30"/> . JSON has no equivalent. During conversion, attributes are typically mapped to properties with a p