JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) is a lightweight text-based file format that simplifies data exchange, invented by Douglas Crockford in the early 2000s. JSON supports various data types such as strings, numbers, booleans, objects, and arrays, with MySQL implementing rudimentary support for the JSON data type since version 5.7.8 in mid-2015. While JSON provides flexibility, it also comes with caveats, including increased storage capacity and potential performance impact due to indexing limitations. However, MySQL's robust set of JSON functions enables operations such as creating, updating, reading, and validating JSON documents, making it a viable option for storing log output, API responses, configuration data, or complex relations in relational databases.