JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) is a format used for storing and transporting data from a server to a web page. It is language independent and is popular in web-based data-interchange actions due to its size and readability.

JSON data is normally a name/value pair that is evaluated as a JavaScript object and follows JavaScript operations. JSON and XML are often compared, as they both carry and exchange data between various web resources. JSON is also ranked higher than XML for its structure, which is simple, readable, self-descriptive, understandable, and easy to process. For web applications using JavaScript, AJAX, or RESTful services, JSON is preferred over XML due to its fast and easy operation. 

JSON and JavaScript objects are interchangeable. JSON is not a markup language and it doesn't contain any tags or attributes. Instead, it is a text-only format that can be sent to/accessed through a server, as well as being managed by any programming language. JSON objects can also be expressed as arrays, dictionary, and lists as seen in the following code:

{"mymembers":[
 { "firstName":"Aasira", "lastName":"Chapagain","cityName":"Kathmandu"},
 { "firstName":"Rakshya", "lastName":"Dhungel","cityName":"New Delhi"},
 { "firstName":"Shiba", "lastName":"Paudel","cityName":"Biratnagar"},
 { "firstName":"Rahul", "lastName":"Reddy","cityName":"New Delhi"},
 { "firstName":"Peter", "lastName":"Lara","cityName":"Trinidad"}
]}

JSON Lines: This is a JSON-like format where each line of a record is a valid JSON value. It is also known as newline-delimited JSON, that is, individual JSON records separated by newline ( ) characters. JSON Lines formatting can be very useful when dealing with a large volume of data. 

Data sources in the JSON or JSON Lines formats are preferred to XML because of the easy data pattern and code readability, which can also be managed with minimum programming effort:

 {"firstName":"Aasira", "lastName":"Chapagain","cityName":"Kathmandu"}
 {"firstName":"Rakshya", "lastName":"Dhungel","cityName":"New Delhi"}
 {"firstName":"Shiba", "lastName":"Paudel","cityName":"Biratnagar"}
 {"firstName":"Rahul", "lastName":"Reddy","cityName":"New Delhi"}
 {"firstName":"Peter", "lastName":"Lara","cityName":"Trinidad"}

From the perspective of data extraction, because of the lightweight and simple structure of the JSON format, web pages use JSON content with their scripting technologies to add dynamic features.