What is a JSON File? How to Use Your Instagram JSON Data Export (Plain English Guide)
What is a JSON File? How to Use Your Instagram JSON Data Export (Plain English Guide)
When you download your Instagram data and finally open the ZIP file, you'll find a bunch of files with the extension ".json." If you've never worked with code or data before, your first reaction is probably confusion. What is this? Why doesn't it look like a spreadsheet? Can I even open it?
This guide answers all of that in plain English. No programming experience needed.
The Short Answer
A JSON file is a text file that stores information in a structured, organized way that computers can easily read. It's not meant to look pretty — it's meant to be precise. Think of it less like a document you'd read and more like a very organized list that a machine can process instantly.
JSON stands for JavaScript Object Notation, but you don't need to know anything about JavaScript to use it. The name is just a historical artifact of where the format came from. Today, JSON is used everywhere — by apps, by APIs, by databases — because it's lightweight and universal.
What Does a JSON File Actually Look Like?
If you opened your Instagram "followers_1.json" file in a text editor, you'd see something like this:
[
{
"string_list_data": [
{
"href": "https://www.instagram.com/username_here",
"value": "username_here",
"timestamp": 1711534444
}
]
}
]
At first glance this looks like gibberish. But once you understand the structure, it's actually very readable. Let's break it down.
The square brackets [ and ] mean "this is a list." Inside the list, each set of curly brackets { and } represents one item — in this case, one follower.
The word "value" is the Instagram username. The word "href" is the link to their profile. And "timestamp" is a Unix timestamp — a number that represents the exact date and time that person followed you, measured in seconds since January 1, 1970.
That timestamp is actually powerful. It means Instagram has been recording exactly when every single follow relationship started, down to the second.
Why Instagram Uses JSON Instead of a Spreadsheet
You might wonder why Instagram doesn't just give you a nice Excel file. The reason is that JSON is format-agnostic. It can be read by any programming language, on any operating system, by any tool. A spreadsheet is proprietary — it requires specific software to open properly. JSON just requires a text editor, or more commonly, an app built to process it.
When Instagram says "choose JSON format" during the data export, they're giving you the rawest, most complete version of your data. The HTML version looks nicer in a browser, but it strips out a lot of the detail. JSON preserves everything.
What's Inside Your Instagram JSON Export
When you select "Followers and following" during your Instagram data export, you get a folder containing several JSON files. The main ones are:
followers_1.json — A list of every account that currently follows you, with timestamps showing when they started following.
following.json — A list of every account you currently follow, with timestamps.
Some larger accounts may have followers_1.json, followers_2.json, followers_3.json, and so on — Instagram splits large lists into multiple files. FollowCheck handles this automatically.
How FollowCheck Reads Your JSON Files
Here's where it gets interesting. When you upload your ZIP file to FollowCheck, the tool runs entirely in your browser. It uses JavaScript — the same language that powers every interactive website — to open the ZIP, read the JSON files inside, and perform a comparison.
The logic is simple:
- Everyone in following.json but not in followers_1.json = someone you follow who doesn't follow you back
- Everyone in followers_1.json but not in following.json = someone who follows you that you haven't followed back
- Everyone in both = mutual followers
If you've uploaded a previous export, FollowCheck can also compare the two snapshots to show you who was in your followers list before but isn't anymore — those are your unfollowers.
Why Does None of This Require Your Password?
This is the most important thing to understand. The JSON export is a static file. It's a snapshot of your data at the moment you requested it. It doesn't have any "live" connection to Instagram. When FollowCheck reads it, FollowCheck is just reading a file — the same way Word reads a .docx file.
There's no Instagram account login happening. No API calls being made. No data being sent anywhere. FollowCheck is purely a local file reader and analyzer. Your credentials, your session, your account — completely untouched.
This is why the JSON export method is the only truly safe way to check your unfollowers. Every other method requires either giving an app access to your account (risky) or scraping data from Instagram's servers (against their terms of service).
Can You Open a JSON File Without FollowCheck?
Yes, but it's tedious. You can open any JSON file with a basic text editor like Notepad (Windows) or TextEdit (Mac). You'll see the raw data as plain text. If you have thousands of followers, the file will be thousands of lines long with no easy way to compare lists or find patterns.
Some people also use browser extensions that "prettify" JSON — they format it into a readable tree structure with color coding. These are useful for developers but don't do the comparison work that FollowCheck does.
For the actual analysis — finding who unfollowed you, who doesn't follow back, who your mutual followers are — you need a tool designed for that specific purpose. FollowCheck was built precisely for this.
A Note About Privacy
Because FollowCheck runs locally, the JSON files you upload never leave your device. The tool has no server component that stores or logs your follower data. The moment you close your browser tab, the analysis is gone. No record is kept. No one sees your followers list. No one knows whose account you just analyzed.
This is fundamentally different from cloud-based tools that store your data on their servers, where it can be breached, sold, or misused.
Getting Started
If you haven't already downloaded your Instagram data export, follow Instagram's export process (Settings → Accounts Center → Your Information and Permissions → Download Your Information) and make sure you:
- Select "Some of your information"
- Choose "Followers and following" only
- Set the format to JSON (not HTML)
Once you have the ZIP file, head to FollowCheck and upload it directly. The tool reads the JSON, does the comparison, and shows you your results in seconds. No account login. No password. No risk.
JSON files aren't scary once you understand what they are. They're just organized lists — and FollowCheck is the fastest way to turn those lists into insights you can actually use.