How to Export a pandas DataFrame as a JSON File

In this tutorial, you will learn how to .

TLDR solution

df.to_json("target-path/csv-file-name.json")

Step-by-Step Example

Suppose, you have the following DataFrame:

import pandas as pd

data = {'fish': ['salmon', 'pufferfish', 'shark'],
        'count': [100, 10, 1],
        }

df = pd.DataFrame(data)

print(df)

         fish  count
0      salmon    100
1  pufferfish     10
2       shark      1

Export this DataFrame as JSON file on your desktop using the to_json method:

import os

desktop_path = os.path.expanduser('~/Desktop')

df.to_json(desktop_path + '/fish.json', orient='columns')

After you run this, you should find a fish.json file on your desktop. Open it with a text editor and you should see the following content:

orient='columns' (default)

{
  "fish":{"0":"salmon","1":"pufferfish","2":"shark"},
  "count":{"0":100,"1":10,"2":1}
}

Other Orient Options

Adjust the orient option according to your requirements:

orient='records'

[
  {"fish":"salmon","count":100},
  {"fish":"pufferfish","count":10},{"fish":"shark","count":1}
]

orient='split'

{
  "columns":["fish","count"],
  "index":[0,1,2],
  "data":[["salmon",100],["pufferfish",10],["shark",1]]
}

orient='index'

{
  "0":{"fish":"salmon","count":100},
  "1":{"fish":"pufferfish","count":10},"2":{"fish":"shark","count":1}
}

orient='values'

[["salmon",100],["pufferfish",10],["shark",1]]

orient='table'

{
  "schema":{
    "fields":[
      {"name":"index","type":"integer"},
      {"name":"fish","type":"string"},
      {"name":"count","type":"integer"}
      ],
    "primaryKey":["index"],"pandas_version":"1.4.0"},
    "data":[
      {"index":0,"fish":"salmon","count":100},
      {"index":1,"fish":"pufferfish","count":10},
      {"index":2,"fish":"shark","count":1}
      ]
}

That's it! You just learned to export a DataFrame as a JSON file.