# Introduction

Zend_Json provides convenience methods for serializing native PHP to JSON and decoding JSON to native PHP. For more information on JSON, visit the JSON project site.

JSON, JavaScript Object Notation, can be used for data interchange between JavaScript and other languages. Since JSON can be directly evaluated by JavaScript, it is a more efficient and lightweight format than XML for exchanging data with JavaScript clients.

In addition, Zend_Json provides a useful way to convert any arbitrary XML formatted string into a JSON formatted string. This built-in feature will enable PHP developers to transform the enterprise data encoded in XML format into JSON format before sending it to browser-based Ajax client applications. It provides an easy way to do dynamic data conversion on the server-side code thereby avoiding unnecessary XML parsing in the browser-side applications. It offers a nice utility function that results in easier application-specific data processing techniques.