Have you considered using Maven? for instance, if you wanted a JAR to pars JSON you could just include...

http://mvnrepository.com/artifact/org.codehaus.jackson/jackson-core-asl/1.9.6

<dependency>
    <groupId>org.codehaus.jackson</groupId>
    <artifactId>jackson-core-asl</artifactId>
    <version>1.9.6</version>
</dependency>

in a pom.xml, this will give you the jar for JSON.

Or better yet, use the org.json one...

http://mvnrepository.com/artifact/org.json/json

<dependency>
    <groupId>org.json</groupId>
    <artifactId>json</artifactId>
    <version>20090211</version>
</dependency>
Answer from David on Stack Overflow
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Maven Repository
mvnrepository.com › artifact › org.json › json › 20140107
Maven Repository: org.json » json » 20140107
January 7, 2014 - JSON is a light-weight, language independent, data interchange format. See http://www.JSON.org/ The files in this package implement JSON encoders/decoders in Java. It also includes the capability to convert between JSON and XML, HTTP headers, Cookies, and CDL.
Published   Jan 07, 2014
Version   20140107
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GitHub
github.com › stleary › JSON-java
GitHub - stleary/JSON-java: A reference implementation of a JSON package in Java. · GitHub
javac -cp .;json-java.jar Test.java (Windows) javac -cp .:json-java.jar Test.java (Unix Systems) Test file contents · import org.json.JSONObject; public class Test { public static void main(String args[]){ JSONObject jo = new JSONObject("{ \"abc\" : \"def\" }"); System.out.println(jo); } } Execute the Test file ·
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Languages   Java
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Maven Repository
mvnrepository.com › artifact › org.json › json
Maven Repository: org.json » json
December 24, 2025 - JSON is a light-weight, language independent, data interchange format. See http://www.JSON.org/ The files in this package implement JSON encoders/decoders in Java. It also includes the capability to convert between JSON and XML, HTTP headers, Cookies, and CDL.
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Google Groups
groups.google.com › g › comp.lang.java.help › c › 8rKxFs5CFAI
where to download org.json package...
oh my gosh, I do feel like a jerk, but I did search and search before posting my question.. there's no 'search' feature in json.org, either way, I downloaded it, thank you very much.. but: it's not built!! I already had found one that contains only src code, I was hoping for a .jar archive, like for so many other packages you download from jakarta website and others..
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Maven Central
central.sonatype.com › artifact › org.json › json
org.json:json - Maven Central
This is a reference implementation. There are a large number of JSON packages in Java. Perhaps someday the Java community will standardize on one. Until then, choose carefully. ... <dependency> <groupId>org.json</groupId> <artifactId>json</artifactId> <version>20251224</version> </dependency>
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Maven Central
repo1.maven.org › maven2 › org › json › json › 20230227
Central Repository: org/json/json/20230227
org/json/json/20230227 · / json-20230227-javadoc.jar 2023-02-27 13:38 185665 json-20230227-javadoc.jar.asc 2023-02-27 13:38 659 json-20230227-javadoc.jar.md5 2023-02-27 13:38 32 json-20230227-javadoc.jar.sha1 2023-02-27 13:38 40 json-20230227-sources.jar 2023-02-27 13:38 70293 json-202302...
Top answer
1 of 3
26

As far as I can tell (in December 2013) ...

  • Douglas Crockford's master source repository for "json.org" is now on GitHub - https://github.com/douglascrockford/JSON-java. (The GIT history starts in 2010, and the latest change in "master" is a couple of weeks ago.)

  • Paul Merlin (aka "eskatos") has Mavenized the code: https://github.com/eskatos/org.json-java

  • Binary "org.json" JAR files are "regularly" built from Paul Merlin's tree and pushed to Maven Central. You can find them via the "here" link in Paul's README.md file; see the line above.

  • There are other older (pre-2010) binary releases of the "org.json" JAR file in Maven Central under various guises; review the search results for this link" http://mvnrepository.com/search.html?query=org.json.

The copyright dates in the "org.json" source code don't mean much. They clearly aren't updated when the code is updated. However, Douglas Crockford does update the @version javadoc tags, at least in some commits.

UPDATE (December 2016)

As of some time in 2015, Douglas Crockford has passed ownership of the Github repository to Sean Leary. The old Github URL for the project now redirects to https://github.com/stleary/JSON-java. The project continues to be relatively active.

See also: Where has json.org java library gone?

2 of 3
10

I would recommend using json-simple or one of the other JSON libraries for Java that have developed. This has features the JSON.org API lacks (and I think it will stay that way).

For instance, the json-simple version of JSONObject implements Map and JSONArray implements List. It also has other features, like a SAX-style API.

Find elsewhere
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Jar-Download
jar-download.com › home › org.json
Download org.json JAR files with all dependencies
Download org.json JAR files ✓ With dependencies ✓ Documentation ✓ Source code
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TutorialsPoint
tutorialspoint.com › org_json › org_json_quick_guide.htm
Org.Json - Quick Guide
JSONObject class is a unordered collection of key-value pairs. It provides methods to access values by key and to put values. Following types are supported − ... package com.tutorialspoint; import org.json.JSONObject; public class JsonDemo ...
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Javadoc.io
javadoc.io › doc › org.json › json › latest › org › json › JSONObject.html
JSONObject (JSON in Java 20251224 API)
Latest version of org.json:json · https://javadoc.io/doc/org.json/json · Current version 20251224 · https://javadoc.io/doc/org.json/json/20251224 · package-list path (used for javadoc generation -link option) https://javadoc.io/doc/org.json/json/20251224/package-list ·
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SourceForge
sourceforge.net › projects › json-java.mirror › files › 20240205 › org.json-1.6-20240205.jar
Download org.json-1.6-20240205.jar (JSON-java)
org.json-1.6-20240205.jar(js=n-java) org.json · llm for java developers · java projects · jackson-databind · jackson · Related Business Categories · JavaScript Libraries · × · Thanks for helping keep SourceForge clean. X · This download has been scanned for malware.
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GitHub
github.com › stleary › JSON-java › blob › master › src › main › java › org › json › JSONObject.java
JSON-java/src/main/java/org/json/JSONObject.java at master · stleary/JSON-java
throw jsonTokener.syntaxError(String.format("Strict mode error: key '%s' cannot be number", obj.toString())); ... private JSONObject(Map<?, ?> m, int recursionDepth, JSONParserConfiguration jsonParserConfiguration) {
Author   stleary
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Google Code
code.google.com › archive › p › json-simple › downloads
Google Code Archive - Long-term storage for Google Code Project Hosting.
Archive · Skip to content · The Google Code Archive requires JavaScript to be enabled in your browser · Google · About Google · Privacy · Terms
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GeeksforGeeks
geeksforgeeks.org › java › what-is-json-java-org-json
What is JSON-Java (org.json)? - GeeksforGeeks
July 17, 2022 - // Importing JSON simple library import org.json.simple.JSONObject; // Creating a public class public class JsonEncodeExample { // Calling the main method public static void main(String[] args) { // Creating an object of JSON class JSONObject geekWriterObject = new JSONObject(); // Entering the values using the created object geekWriterObject.put("geekWriterId", new Integer(100)); geekWriterObject.put("geekWritterName", "GeekAuthor1"); geekWriterObject.put("status", new Boolean(true)); geekWriterObject.put("publishedArticlesIn", "Java,Python"); // Printing the values through the created object System.out.print(geekWriterObject); } }
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Stleary
stleary.github.io › JSON-java › index.html
Generated Documentation (Untitled)
JavaScript is disabled on your browser · Frame Alert · This document is designed to be viewed using the frames feature. If you see this message, you are using a non-frame-capable web client. Link to Non-frame version
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Baeldung
baeldung.com › home › json › introduction to json-java (org.json)
Introduction to JSON-Java (org.json)
June 20, 2025 - However, we should not confuse it with Google’s org.json.simple library. Furthermore, this library can also convert between JSON, XML, HTTP Headers, Cookies, Comma Delimited List, or Text, etc. In this tutorial, we’ll have a look at the following classes: JSONObject – similar to Java’s native Map-like object, which stores unordered key-value pairs