api - What is the standard format for returning lists in REST JSON responses?

Question

When returning a list of objects in a JSON response, say a GET request to a /movies endpoint, is it more common to return a JSON array or an object that wraps a JSON array? I've seen both formats in APIs and I was wondering if the standard. If there isn't, which way is preferable?

i.e.

[
  {
    "name": "Harry Potter",
    "year": 2000
  }
]

vs.

{
  "movies": [
    {
      "name": "Harry Potter",
      "year": 2000
    }
  ]
}

question from:https://stackoverflow.com/questions/65903612/what-is-the-standard-format-for-returning-lists-in-rest-json-responses

Answer 1

In general if you have a service that only return a list, the first option is perfect fine:

[
  {
    "name": "Harry Potter",
    "year": 2000
  }
]

But if you are thinking in a general way to do it will be better add more context data, as total items counter, pagination variables or status values. So in spite of the first one is perfectly fine, I always preffer second one, but without the name of the collection/array/table name and with more context info, as for example:

{
  "items": [
    {
      "name": "Harry Potter",
      "year": 2000
    }
  ],
  "total": 1,
  "page": 1,
  "pages": 1
  "status": 1,
  "timestamp: 121344
}

Set the array nested on movies value is a bit redundant. But for my it's only a practical approach that for my experience is more readable and used in all projects which I am related.