JWT & Authentication· Updated 2026-08-30· 3 min read

How to Read and Interpret Standard JWT Claims

The JWT payload contains statements about an entity (typically the user) and additional metadata. RFC 7519 establishes seven registered claim names to promote interoperability.

Table: RFC 7519 IANA Registered Claims.
Claim	Full Name	Description & Usage
iss	Issuer	Identifies the principal that issued the JWT (e.g. "https://auth.example.com")
sub	Subject	Identifies the principal subject of the token (e.g. user UUID)
aud	Audience	Identifies the recipients the JWT is intended for (e.g. "api.example.com")
exp	Expiration	Unix epoch timestamp (seconds) on or after which the token is invalid
nbf	Not Before	Unix epoch timestamp (seconds) before which the token is invalid
iat	Issued At	Unix epoch timestamp (seconds) when the token was created
jti	JWT ID	Unique identifier for the JWT, used to prevent token replay attacks

Interactive Tool

JWT Decoder

Read Claims in JWT Decoder

Inspect registered and custom payload claims in JWT Decoder.

Preset Payload

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