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I18NEXT converter

An i18next resource is the JSON translation file used by the i18next library: nested objects whose leaf values are the translated strings, addressed in code by dotted keys such as nav.settings.title. Because the file is ordinarily just named en.json, Novus Convert identifies it by the .i18next.json suffix so it is not mistaken for arbitrary JSON.

Private for supported formats — processed in your browser

Convert supported files

Runs on your device

Drop I18NEXT files here

Batch files can each use a different output. Nothing uploads for local conversions.

Working inputs include camera RAW, browser-local audio/video, PDF, CBZ/CBR comics, office documents, ebooks, markup, 3D models, structured text, images, and archives.

Where I18NEXT comes from

i18next appeared in 2011 and became the most widely used internationalisation library in the JavaScript ecosystem, carrying React, Vue, Angular and Node applications. Its resource format is deliberately unopinionated — plain nested JSON with no wrapper and no metadata — which is exactly why it spread: any build tool can emit it and any editor can fix it.

How I18NEXT works

  • Nesting is structural: objects group keys, and lookups use a dotted path with the separator configurable.
  • Namespaces are files rather than a construct inside the document, so a project ships several JSON files per locale.
  • Interpolation uses {{variable}} placeholders, which a translation must carry through unchanged.
  • Plurals are expressed by key suffixes — key_one, key_other and the other CLDR categories — rather than by nested structure.
  • Context variants use a _context suffix on the key, following the same convention as plurals.
  • There is no metadata channel: descriptions for translators live outside the file, if anywhere.

When to use I18NEXT

  • Localising a React, Vue, Angular or Node application
  • Sharing one catalog between a web front end and a Node service
  • Exporting web strings for a translation platform
  • Flattening a nested catalog into a dotted-key format for comparison or migration

Strengths and limitations

Strengths

  • Plain JSON, so every tool in the JavaScript ecosystem already reads it
  • Nesting keeps large catalogs navigable
  • Namespacing by file supports lazy-loading only the strings a route needs

Limitations

  • No metadata at all — translators get keys and strings with no context
  • Plural and context conventions are suffixes, so a typo produces a silently missing translation
  • Nesting depth is a project convention, which makes catalogs hard to compare across projects

Compatibility

Universally readable as JSON, and supported natively by i18next and every major translation platform. Novus Convert flattens nested objects into dotted keys locally — matching how the strings are addressed in code — and converts to and from the other localization formats.

Dotted keys and their translated values are preserved. The format carries no descriptions or notes to lose; plural and context suffixes are treated as ordinary distinct keys, because they are exactly that in the file.

Convert I18NEXT to another format

Convert other formats to I18NEXT