# JSON format

Use the *JSON* parser format to create custom parsers compatible with JSON data. This format transforms JSON logs by converting them to internal binary representations.

For available configuration parameters, see [Configuring custom parsers](/manual/data-pipeline/parsers/configuring-parser.md).

For example, the default parsers configuration file includes a parser for parsing Docker logs (when the Tail input plugin is used):

{% tabs %}
{% tab title="parsers.yaml" %}

```yaml
parsers:
  - name: docker
    format: json
    time_key: time
    time_format: '%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S %z'
```

{% endtab %}

{% tab title="parsers.conf" %}

```
[PARSER]
  Name        docker
  Format      json
  Time_Key    time
  Time_Format %Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S %z
```

{% endtab %}
{% endtabs %}

The following log entry is valid content for the previously defined parser:

```
{"key1": 12345, "key2": "abc", "time": "2006-07-28T13:22:04Z"}
```

After processing, its internal representation will be:

```
[1154103724, {"key1"=>12345, "key2"=>"abc"}]
```

The time was converted to a UTC timestamp and the map was reduced to each component of the original message.


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