SPARQL 1.2 Query Results JSON Format W3C Working Draft 13 August 2026 More details about this document This version: https://www.w3.org/TR/2026/WD-sparql12-results-json-20260813/ Latest published version: https://www.w3.org/TR/sparql12-results-json/ Latest editor's draft: https://w3c.github.io/sparql-results-json/spec/ History: https://www.w3.org/standards/history/sparql12-results-json/ Commit history Test suite: https://w3c.github.io/rdf-tests/ Latest Recommendation: https://www.w3.org/TR/2013/REC-sparql11-results-json-20130321 Editors: Andy Seaborne Ruben Taelman Gregory Williams Thomas Pellissier Tanon Former editors: Andy Seaborne Kendall Grant Clark Lee Feigenbaum Elias Torres Feedback: GitHub w3c/sparql-results-json ( pull requests , new issue , open issues ) [email protected] with subject line [sparql12-results-json] … message topic … ( archives ) Copyright © 2012-2026 World Wide Web Consortium . W3C ® liability , trademark and permissive document license rules apply. Abstract SPARQL is a set of standards for the query and update of RDF data, along with ways to access such data over the web. This document describes the representation of SELECT and ASK query results using JSON . Status of This Document This section describes the status of this document at the time of its publication. A list of current W3C publications and the latest revision of this technical report can be found in the W3C standards and drafts index . This specification is published by the RDF Star Working Group as part of the update of specifications for format and errata. This document was published by the RDF & SPARQL Working Group as a Working Draft using the Recommendation track . Publication as a Working Draft does not imply endorsement by W3C and its Members. This is a draft document and may be updated, replaced, or obsoleted by other documents at any time. It is inappropriate to cite this document as other than a work in progress. Future updates to this upcoming Recommendation may incorporate new features . This document was produced by a group operating under the W3C Patent Policy . W3C maintains a public list of any patent disclosures made in connection with the deliverables of the group; that page also includes instructions for disclosing a patent. An individual who has actual knowledge of a patent that the individual believes contains Essential Claim(s) must disclose the information in accordance with section 6 of the W3C Patent Policy . This document is governed by the 18 August 2025 W3C Process Document . Set of Documents This document is one of twelve SPARQL 1.2 documents produced by the RDF & SPARQL Working Group . List of documents SPARQL 1.2 Documents: What’s New in SPARQL 1.2 SPARQL 1.2 Concepts SPARQL 1.2 Query Language SPARQL 1.2 Update SPARQL 1.2 Service Description SPARQL 1.2 Federated Query SPARQL 1.2 Query Results JSON Format (this document) SPARQL 1.2 Query Results CSV and TSV Formats SPARQL 1.2 Query Results XML Format SPARQL 1.2 Entailment Regimes SPARQL 1.2 Protocol SPARQL 1.2 Graph Store Protocol Table of Contents Abstract Status of This Document Set of Documents 1. Introduction 1.1 Version Announcement 2. JSON Results Object 3. Variable Binding Results 3.1 "head" 3.1.1 "vars" 3.1.2 "link" 3.1.3 "version" 3.2 "results" 3.2.1 "bindings" 3.2.2 Encoding RDF terms 4. Boolean Results 4.1 "head" 4.1.1 "link" 4.2 "boolean" 5. Examples 5.1 Variable Binding Results Examples 5.2 Variable Binding Results Examples with Triple Terms 6. Internet Media Type and File Extension A. Changes between SPARQL 1.1 Query Results JSON Format and SPARQL 1.2 Query Results JSON Format B. Privacy Considerations C. Security Considerations D. Internationalization Considerations E. Index E.1 Terms defined by this specification E.2 Terms defined by reference F. References F.1 Informative references 1. Introduction This document describes how to serialize SPARQL results (SELECT and ASK query forms) in a JSON format. The format is designed to be a complete representation of the information in the query results. The results of a SELECT query are serilialized as an array, where each array element is one "row" of the query results; the results of an ASK query give the boolean value of the query result. An Internet Media Type is provided for application/sparql-results+json . There is also a SPARQL 1.2 Query Results XML Format which follows a similar design pattern but uses XML as the serialization. Unless otherwise noted in the section heading, all sections and appendices in this document are normative. 1.1 Version Announcement An optional version can be given to SPARQL results. The version Media Type parameter MAY be set to 1.2 to indicate possible use of RDF 1.2 features in the SPARQL results. Alternatively, the "version" member MAY be used to specify this version. Possible values for the version string are discussed in RDF 1.2 Concepts and Abstract Data Model . When providing content over HTTP, servers can announce the version using the optional version Media Type parameter : GET /sparql/?query=PREFIX%20dc%3A%20%3Chttp%3A%2F%2Fpurl.org%2Fdc%2Felements%2F1.1%2F%3E%20%0ASELECT%20%3Fbook%20%3Fwho%20%0AWHERE%20%7B%20%3Fbook%20dc%3Acreator%20%3Fwho%20%7D%0A HTTP/1.1 Host : www.example Accept : application/sparql-results+json; version=1.2 Note When using RDF 1.2-specific features, such as initial text direction , the specific RDF version can be announced using either the version Media Type parameter or the "version" member early in the document. This allows parsers that do not support these features to detect the presense of such features early, and potentially inform the user, giving them an opportunity to stop the job or otherwise act on the fact that some amount of the input data will not be processed as desired. 2. JSON Results Object The results of a SPARQL Query are serialized in JSON as a single top-level JSON object. This object has a "head" member and either a "results" member or a "boolean" member, depending on the query form. This example shows the results of a SELECT query. The query solutions are represented in an array which is the value of the "bindings" key, in turn part of an object that is the value of the "results" key: { "head" : { "vars" : [ "book" , "title" ] } , "results" : { "bindings" : [ { "book" : { "type" : "uri" , "value" : "http://example.org/book/book6" } , "title" : { "type" : "literal" , "value" : "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" } } , { "book" : { "type" : "uri" , "value" : "http://example.org/book/book7" } , "title" : { "type" : "literal" , "value" : "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" } } , { "book" : { "type" : "uri" , "value" : "http://example.org/book/book5" } , "title" : { "type" : "literal" , "value" : "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" } } , { "book" : { "type" : "uri" , "value" : "http://example.org/book/book4" } , "title" : { "type" : "literal" , "value" : "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" } } , { "book" : { "type" : "uri" , "value" : "http://example.org/book/book2" } , "title" : { "type" : "literal" , "value" : "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" } } , { "book" : { "type" : "uri" , "value" : "http://example.org/book/book3" } , "title" : { "type" : "literal" , "value" : "Harry Potter and the Prisoner Of Azkaban" } } , { "book" : { "type" : "uri" , "value" : "http://example.org/book/book1" } , "title" : { "type" : "literal" , "value" : "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" } } ] } } This example shows the result from an ASK query: { "head" : { } , "boolean" : true } Other keys, with different names, may be present in the JSON Results Object but are not defined by this specification. 3. Variable Binding Results The results of a SPARQL SELECT query are serialized as an array of bindings of variables. The value of the "head" key is an array of all variables projected in the query's SELECT clause. 3.1 "head" The "head" member gives the variables mentioned in the results, may contain a "link" member, and may contain a "version" member. { "head" { "vars" : [ ... ] , "link" : [ ... ] , "version" : "..." } 3.1.1 "vars" The "vars" member is an array giving the names of the variables used in the results. These are the projected variables from the query. A variable is not necessarily given a value in every query solution of the results. "vars" : [ "book" , "title" ] The order of variable names should correspond to the variables in the SELECT clause of the query, unless the query is of the form SELECT * in which case order is not significant. 3.1.2 "link" The optional "link" member gives an array of URIs, as strings, to refer for further information. The format and content of these link references is not defined by this document. "link" : [ "http://example/dataset/metadata.ttl" ] 3.1.3 "version" The optional "version" string member, along with an optional version Media Type parameter , MAY be used to announce that RDF 1.2 functionalities are used in the results. "version" : "1.2" 3.2 "results" The value of the "results" member is an object with a single key, "bindings" . 3.2.1 "bindings" The value of the "bindings" member is an array with zero or more elements, one element per query solution. Each query solution is a JSON object. Each key of this object is a variable name from the query solution. The value for a given variable name is a JSON object that encodes the variable's bound value, an RDF term. There are zero elements in the array if the query returned an empty solution sequence. Variables names do not include the initial "?" or "$" character. Each variable name that appears as a key within the "bindings" array will have appeared in the "vars" array in the results header. A variable does not appear in an array element if it is not bound in that particular query solution. The order of elements in the bindings array reflects the order, if any, of the query solution sequence. "bindings" : [ { "a" : { ... } , "b" : { ... } } , { "a" : { ... } , "b" : { ... } } ] If the query returns no solutions, an empty array is used. "bindings" : [ ] 3.2.2 Encoding RDF terms An RDF term (IRI, literal, blank node, or triple term) is encoded as a JSON object. All aspects of the RDF term are represented. The JSON object has a "type" member and other members depending on the specific kind of RDF term. RDF Term JSON form IRI I {"type": "uri", "value": " I "} Literal S {"type": "literal","value": " S "} Literal S with language tag L without base direction { "type": "literal", "value": " S ", "xml:lang": " L "} Literal S with language tag L with base direction L { "type": "literal", "value": " S ", "xml:lang": " L ", "its:dir": " B "} Literal S with datatype IRI D { "type": "literal", "value": " S ", "datatype": " D "} Blank node, label B {"type": "bnode", "value": " B "} Triple term, with subject S , predicate P , and object O {"type": "triple", "value": {"subject": " S ", "predicate": " P ", "object": " O "}} The blank node label is scoped to the results object. That is, two blank nodes with the same label in a single SPARQL Results JSON object are the same blank node. This is not an indication of any internal system identifier the SPARQL processor may use. Use of the same label in another SPARQL Results JSON object does not imply it is the same blank node. The subject, predicate, and object of a triple term are encoded using the same format, recursively. Note The xml:lang and its:dir keys resemble terms in XML namespaces due to alignment with the SPARQL 1.2 Query Results XML Format specification, but such namespaces do not exist in JSON, which means that these keys are to be used "as is". 4. Boolean Results The results of a SPARQL ASK query are serialized as a boolean value, giving the result of the query evaluation. 4.1 "head" 4.1.1 "link" The "link" member has the same format as the SELECT "link" member. 4.2 "boolean" The result of an ASK query form are encoded by the "boolean" member, which takes either the JSON value true or the JSON value false . "boolean" : true 5. Examples This section is not normative. 5.1 Variable Binding Results Examples The following JSON is a serialization of the XML document output.srx : { "head" : { "link" : [ "http://www.w3.org/TR/rdf-sparql-XMLres/example.rq" ] , "vars" : [ "x" , "hpage" , "name" , "mbox" , "age" , "blurb" , "friend" ] } , "results" : { "bindings" : [ { "x" : { "type" : "bnode" , "value" : "r1" } , "hpage" : { "type" : "uri" , "value" : "http://work.example.org/alice/" } , "name" : { "type" : "literal" , "value" : "Alice" } , "mbox" : { "type" : "literal" , "value" : "" } , "blurb" : { "datatype" : "http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#XMLLiteral" , "type" : "literal" , "value" : "<p xmlns=\"http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml\">My name is <b>alice</b></p>" } , "friend" : { "type" : "bnode" , "value" : "r2" } } , { "x" : { "type" : "bnode" , "value" : "r2" } , "hpage" : { "type" : "uri" , "value" : "http://work.example.org/bob/" } , "name" : { "type" : "literal" , "value" : "Bob" , "xml:lang" : "en" } , "mbox" : { "type" : "uri" , "value" : "mailto:[email protected]" } , "friend" : { "type" : "bnode" , "value" : "r1" } } ] } } 5.2 Variable Binding Results Examples with Triple Terms The following JSON is a serialization of the XML document output-triple-terms.srx that contains triple terms: { "head" : { "link" : [ "http://www.w3.org/TR/rdf-sparql-XMLres/example-triple-terms.rq" ] , "vars" : [ "x" , "name" , "triple" ] } , "results" : { "bindings" : [ { "x" : { "type" : "bnode" , "value" : "r1" } , "name" : { "type" : "literal" , "value" : "Alice" } , "triple" : { "type" : "triple" , "value" : { "subject" : { "type" : "uri" , "value" : "http://example.org/alice" } , "predicate" : { "type" : "uri" , "value" : "http://example.org/name" } , "object" : { "type" : "literal" , "value" : "Alice" , "datatype" : "http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string" } } } } , { "x" : { "type" : "bnode" , "value" : "r2" } , "name" : { "type" : "literal" , "value" : "Bob" , "xml:lang" : "en" } , "triple" : { "type" : "triple" , "value" : { "subject" : { "type" : "uri" , "value" : "http://example.org/bob" } , "predicate" : { "type" : "uri" , "value" : "http://example.org/name" } , "object" : { "type" : "literal" , "value" : "Bob" , "datatype" : "http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string" } } } } ] } } 6. Internet Media Type and File Extension The Internet Media Type (formerly known as MIME Type) for the SPARQL Query Results JSON Format is "application/sparql-results+json". It is recommended that SPARQL Query Results JSON Format files have the extension ".srj" (all lowercase) on all platforms. This information that follows is intended to be submitted to the IESG for review, approval, and registration with IANA. Type name: application Subtype name: sparql-results+json Required parameters: None Optional parameters: None Encoding considerations: The encoding considerations of the SPARQL Query Results JSON Format is identical to those of the "application/json" as specified in [ RFC4627 ]. Security considerations: SPARQL query results uses URIs. See Section 7 of [ RFC3986 ]. SPARQL query results uses IRIs. See Section 8 of [ RFC3987 ]. The security considerations of the SPARQL Query Results JSON Format is identical to those of the "application/json" as specified in [ RFC4627 ]. Interoperability considerations: There are no known interoperability issues. Published specification: http://www.w3.org/TR/sparql11-results-json/ Applications which use this media type: No known applications currently use this media type. Additional information: Magic number(s): n/a File extension(s): ".srj" Person & email address to contact for further information: RDF and SPARQL Working Group <[email protected]> Intended usage: COMMON Restrictions on usage: None Author/Change controller: The SPARQL specification is a work product of the World Wide Web Consortium's SPARQL Working Group. The W3C has change control over these specifications. A. Changes between SPARQL 1.1 Query Results JSON Format and SPARQL 1.2 Query Results JSON Format This section is non-normative. Fix link to incorrect srx file in 5. Examples Add JSON Schema file for SPARQL Query Results JSON Use Media Type instead of MIME Type in 6. Internet Media Type and File Extension Allow triple terms to be expressed in 3.2.2 Encoding RDF terms Support directional language-tagged strings in 3.2.2 Encoding RDF terms Add version announcement in 1.1 Version Announcement and 3.1.3 "version" B. Privacy Considerations TODO C. Security Considerations TODO D. Internationalization Considerations TODO E. Index E.1 Terms defined by this specification E.2 Terms defined by reference [ RDF12-CONCEPTS ] defines the following: initial text direction RDF 1.2 Concepts and Abstract Data Model [ RFC4627 ] defines the following: JSON [ SPARQL12-CONCEPTS ] defines the following: SPARQL F. References F.1 Informative references [RDF12-CONCEPTS] RDF 1.2 Concepts and Abstract Data Model . Andy Seaborne; Gregg Kellogg; Olaf Hartig; Pierre-Antoine Champin. W3C. 7 April 2026. W3C Candidate Recommendation. URL: https://www.w3.org/TR/rdf12-concepts/ [RFC3986] Uniform Resource Identifier (URI): Generic Syntax . T. Berners-Lee; R. Fielding; L. Masinter. IETF. January 2005. Internet Standard. URL: https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc3986/ [RFC3987] Internationalized Resource Identifiers (IRIs) . M. Duerst; M. Suignard. IETF. January 2005. Proposed Standard. URL: https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc3987/ [RFC4627] The application/json Media Type for JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) . D. Crockford. IETF. July 2006. Informational. URL: https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc4627/ [SPARQL12-CONCEPTS] SPARQL 1.2 Concepts . The W3C RDF & SPARQL Working Group. W3C. W3C Editor's Draft. URL: https://w3c.github.io/sparql-concepts/spec/ [SPARQL12-ENTAILMENT] SPARQL 1.2 Entailment Regimes . Peter Patel-Schneider. W3C. 9 April 2026. W3C Working Draft. URL: https://www.w3.org/TR/sparql12-entailment/ [SPARQL12-FEDERATED-QUERY] SPARQL 1.2 Federated Query . Ruben Taelman; Gregory Williams. W3C. 23 April 2026. W3C Working Draft. URL: https://www.w3.org/TR/sparql12-federated-query/ [SPARQL12-GRAPH-STORE-PROTOCOL] SPARQL 1.2 Graph Store Protocol . Andy Seaborne; Thomas Pellissier Tanon. W3C. 19 December 2024. W3C Working Draft. URL: https://www.w3.org/TR/sparql12-graph-store-protocol/ [SPARQL12-NEW] What’s New in SPARQL 1.2 . The W3C RDF & SPARQL Working Group. W3C. W3C Editor's Draft. URL: https://w3c.github.io/sparql-new/spec/ [SPARQL12-PROTOCOL] SPARQL 1.2 Protocol . Andy Seaborne; Ruben Taelman; Gregory Williams; Thomas Pellissier Tanon. W3C. 23 July 2026. W3C Working Draft. URL: https://www.w3.org/TR/sparql12-protocol/ [SPARQL12-QUERY] SPARQL 1.2 Query Language . Olaf Hartig; Andy Seaborne; Ruben Taelman; Gregory Williams; Thomas Pellissier Tanon. W3C. 25 June 2026. W3C Working Draft. URL: https://www.w3.org/TR/sparql12-query/ [SPARQL12-RESULTS-CSV-TSV] SPARQL 1.2 Query Results CSV and TSV Formats . Ruben Taelman; Gregory Williams; Thomas Pellissier Tanon. W3C. 23 July 2026. W3C Working Draft. URL: https://www.w3.org/TR/sparql12-results-csv-tsv/ [SPARQL12-RESULTS-XML] SPARQL 1.2 Query Results XML Format . Ruben Taelman; Dominik Tomaszuk; Thomas Pellissier Tanon. W3C. 27 December 2024. W3C Working Draft. URL: https://www.w3.org/TR/sparql12-results-xml/ [SPARQL12-SERVICE-DESCRIPTION] SPARQL 1.2 Service Description . Ruben Taelman; Gregory Williams. W3C. 23 April 2026. W3C Working Draft. URL: https://www.w3.org/TR/sparql12-service-description/ [SPARQL12-UPDATE] SPARQL 1.2 Update . Ruben Taelman; Andy Seaborne; Thomas Pellissier Tanon. W3C. 12 June 2026. W3C Working Draft. URL: https://www.w3.org/TR/sparql12-update/ ↑ Permalink Referenced in: § 1.1 Version Announcement Permalink Referenced in: § 1.1 Version Announcement Permalink Referenced in: § Abstract § 1. Introduction Permalink Referenced in: § Abstract