{
  "id": 7526289,
  "title": "View and Automatically Decode Captured Data with TraceEagle: JSON Pretty, Hex View, Media Preview",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/15/view-and-automatically-decode-captured-data-with-traceeagle-json",
  "topic": "tech",
  "section": "Tech",
  "published": "2026-09-15T10:07:59.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Dev.to",
    "slug": "dev-to",
    "url": "https://dev.to/datastack/view-and-automatically-decode-captured-data-with-traceeagle-json-pretty-hex-view-media-preview-36oi"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Viewing and decoding captured data is just the beginning; true understanding is crucial. This article demonstrates how to read a request by switching the display mode independently for both the request and response (Structured / Pretty Text / Hex / Auto Detect), automatically decompress compressed data, format JSON/XML/forms/protobuf, and preview images, videos, and audio directly within the details. Generally, no configuration is necessary—just open it, and you'll see the most readable form. If you encounter garbled data, the article explains what to do next.\n\nYou open captured traffic to read each request clearly—examining request headers, bodies, and responses. The response may appear as compressed bytes or garbled data initially, requiring view switching for clarity. If you're inspecting images, videos, audio, PDFs, or dealing with non-HTTP proprietary / binary protocols that standard views can't parse, refer to Custom Protocol Decoding.\n\nTo view and decode successfully, you must have captured at least one piece of traffic (if not, check the Quick Start or Capture Traffic from a Specific Program). Placing HTTPS traffic in plaintext requires decryption; the TLS details should show \"Decrypted.\" No extra setup is needed. Viewing and decoding functions immediately after opening the data.\n\nOpen Details by clicking any item in the request list, splitting the upper half into the request and the lower half into the response. These two halves are independent and do not influence each other.\n\nChoose a viewing mode (View as) for each side at the top: Structured displays line + header table + smart body (default view); Text · Pretty automatically indents and formats based on content (JSON, XML, forms, etc.); Text · Raw shows the complete message as raw text without alteration; Hex presents a hex viewer with offsets, highlights hex and ASCII side by side, and allows binary file saving; Auto Detect hands data to a decoder for deep inspection, revealing compression nested inside compression, frames nested within frames, all drillable layer by layer. Switching the \"View as\" button affects only the presentation. JSON, XML, and forms are not separate buttons; they are formats automatically handled by Text · Pretty. Selecting Text · Pretty automatically recognizes and formats JSON, XML, and forms.\n\nMost cases don't require action: Responses compressed with gzip / brotli(br) / deflate / zstd are automatically decompressed before display; multiple stacked encodings (like gzip, br) are decoded layer by layer. JSON / XML / forms / protobuf / gRPC bodies are automatically recognized and pretty-printed without a .proto file.\n\nSwitch to Hex to view raw bytes or when dealing with binary data. Clicking a byte highlights linked hex and ASCII on the right, and you can save it as a binary file.\n\nFor media (images, videos, audio), the details view previews or plays it inline directly, marking the type and size, eliminating the need to save and open them separately.",
  "summary": "Data Viewing and Decoding Capturing is only the beginning; understanding is what counts. This article shows you how to read a request after opening it: switch the viewing mode independently on both the request and response sides (Structured / Pretty Text / Hex / Auto Detect), automatically decompress compressed data, pretty-print JSON/XML/forms/protobuf, and preview images, videos, and audio…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}