> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.gridstatus.io/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.gridstatus.io/developers/concepts/response-format.md).
# Response Format
## JSON vs CSV Response
The API supports JSON and CSV return formats. The default return format is JSON. JSON is generally easier to work with in code, while CSV is more suitable for downloading the data to a spreadsheet or other data analysis tools.
You can specify the return format by adding the `return_format` query parameter to your request. For example, to get the data in CSV format, you would add `?return_format=csv` to the end of your request.
#### JSON
There are two JSON return formats: `array_of_objects` and `array_of_arrays`. The `array_of_objects` format is the default format. The `array_of_arrays` format is useful for minimizing the size of the response.
#### CSV
The CSV return format is useful for downloading the data to a spreadsheet.
## Response Compression
The API compresses responses with **brotli** or **gzip** whenever your client sends an `Accept-Encoding` request header — independent of the return format above. On large dataset queries this reduces the transfer by up to \~20x (for example, a 60 MB JSON response drops to roughly 3 MB), so downloads are faster and use far less bandwidth.
Most HTTP clients — including the Grid Status Python client, `requests`, `httpx`, and web browsers — request and decompress responses automatically. If your integration does not, add the header explicitly (`Accept-Encoding: br, gzip`, or pass `--compressed` to curl). See [Best Practices](/developers/concepts/best-practices.md) for examples.
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