[GrumpySloth]

For inter-machine communication TLV binary formats are far superior. Simplicity of parsing, efficiency. Can't compete.

[Ennea]

JSON still wins because everything already has a JSON parser.

[the8472]

Only when various performance metrics are not important enough to consider alternatives.

[twic]

If performance matters, TLV doesn't cut it either, you need fixed-offset fields. Self-describing binary formats like CBOR, BSON, bencode, DER, UBJSON, etc fall between two stools, being less hackable than JSON and slower than schema-driven binary formats, which is why they are all moribund today.

[Ygg2]

Everything has JSON because everything has a web browser with JS these days. Calculation can change if browsers stop shipping or stop shipping with JS.