Wikidata JSON Dump File Format

Data dumps files:

1. Weekly dumps of the entire Wikidata database can be downloaded from http://dumps.wikimedia.org/other/wikidata/
2. JSON (javascript object notation) is the recommended format
3. JSON dump files are named YYYYMMDD.json

File format:

• The file is encoded as a single list (i.e. a sequence of elements between the characters [ and ])
• The brackets have their own lines in the file
• Every other line holds a packed JSON encoded object.

There are two types of JSON objects:

1. Items (e.g. universe, happiness, Jack Bauer, etc.)
2. Properties (e.g. father, instance of, employer, etc.)

Both types have these common elements:

• id: “Q###” for items, “P###” for properties
• type: “item” or “property”
• labels: name of the item or property in different languages
• descriptions: description in different languages
• aliases: lists of aliases in different languages
• claims: statements, groups by property
• sitelinks: links to pages on different sites describing the item
• lastrevid: The JSON document’s MediaWiki revision ID
• modified: The JSON document’s publication date

To look up an id, browse to http://www.wikidata.org/Q### (or P###)