# Distributed Trace Decoder & Waterfall Visualizer Decode Jaeger, Zipkin, or OpenTelemetry trace JSON and render span timing, dependencies, and error hotspots as an interactive waterfall report > Canonical page: https://elysiatools.com/en/tools/distributed-trace-decoder-waterfall-visualizer - **Category:** Development - **Keywords:** trace, jaeger, zipkin, opentelemetry, otel, waterfall, span, distributed tracing ## Overview Paste trace JSON from Jaeger, Zipkin, or OpenTelemetry export files to inspect span depth, service timing, error spans, and execution order in a browser-friendly waterfall layout. ## Inputs - **Trace JSON** (textarea): { "data": \[ ... \] } - **Trace Format** (select) - **Display Unit** (select) - **Show Only Error Spans** (checkbox) ## When to use - When debugging high latency or performance bottlenecks across distributed microservices. - When analyzing raw trace JSON exports locally without access to the original Jaeger or Zipkin UI. - When isolating error spans and failed requests within complex distributed transactions. ## How it works - Paste your raw trace JSON export into the input field. - Select the trace format (Jaeger, Zipkin, or OpenTelemetry) or leave it on auto-detect. - Choose your preferred time display unit (microseconds, milliseconds, or seconds) and optionally filter to show only error spans. - The tool parses the JSON and renders an interactive waterfall chart displaying span timing, parent-child dependencies, and service summaries. ## Use cases - SREs investigating a sudden spike in API latency by visualizing a Zipkin trace export to find the slowest database query span. - Backend developers debugging a failed microservice checkout flow by filtering a Jaeger JSON export to show only error spans. - DevOps engineers verifying OpenTelemetry instrumentation by inspecting the parent-child span hierarchy and timing units locally. ## Frequently asked questions ### Which trace formats are supported? The tool supports raw JSON exports from Jaeger, Zipkin, and OpenTelemetry (OTel). You can select the specific format or use the auto-detect feature. ### Can I filter the waterfall to only show errors? Yes, you can check the 'Show Only Error Spans' option to hide successful operations and focus entirely on failed spans and error hotspots. ### Does this tool send my trace data to a server? No, all JSON parsing and waterfall rendering happens locally in your browser. Your trace data remains private and secure. ### How do I change the time units on the waterfall? Use the 'Display Unit' dropdown to toggle the span duration metrics between microseconds (us), milliseconds (ms), and seconds (s). ### What information is displayed in the waterfall? The waterfall visualizes execution order, parent-child span dependencies, service names, operation names, total duration, and highlights any spans tagged with errors. ## Related tools - [Snowflake / Discord ID Bit Decoder](https://elysiatools.com/en/tools/snowflake-discord-id-bit-decoder): Decode 64-bit Snowflake-style IDs for Discord, Twitter, Mastodon, Sonyflake, Instagram, or a custom bit profile. Extract timestamp, worker/process/machine, sequence fields, align platform epochs, and infer a Discord shard when a shard count is supplied. - [Terraform Plan Visualizer](https://elysiatools.com/en/tools/terraform-plan-visualizer): Parse Terraform plan JSON or text output, classify resource changes, and surface a dependency-oriented summary before apply - [WebAuthn Passkey Assertion Decoder & Challenge Debugger](https://elysiatools.com/en/tools/webauthn-passkey-assertion-decoder-challenge-debugger): Decode WebAuthn/FIDO2 assertion fields, inspect authenticatorData flags and signCount, check challenge/origin/rpIdHash binding, and optionally verify ES256, RS256, or Ed25519 signatures with a supplied COSE public key. - [JWT Inspector & Verifier](https://elysiatools.com/en/tools/jwt-inspector-verifier): Decode a JWT (header + payload) with syntax highlighting, diagnose standard claims, and verify the signature with HS*/RS*/PS*/ES*/EdDSA keys — plus a tampered-token forgery demo - [BSON Converter](https://elysiatools.com/en/tools/bson-converter): Encode and decode data to/from BSON (Binary JSON) format - [JWT Decoder](https://elysiatools.com/en/tools/jwt-decoder): Decode JWT tokens - [Smile Converter](https://elysiatools.com/en/tools/smile-converter): Encode and decode data to/from Smile (binary JSON) format - [UBJSON Converter](https://elysiatools.com/en/tools/ubjson-converter): Encode and decode data to/from UBJSON (Universal Binary JSON) format ## Samples - [Distributed Tracing Samples](https://elysiatools.com/en/samples/distributed-tracing-samples): Comprehensive distributed tracing examples using Jaeger, OpenTelemetry, and other modern observability tools for microservices architecture - [AWS EventBridge Samples](https://elysiatools.com/en/samples/eventbridge-samples): AWS EventBridge examples including event buses, rules, targets, schema registry, custom events, and cross-account event routing for serverless event-driven architecture - [JWT Samples](https://elysiatools.com/en/samples/jwt-samples): Comprehensive JWT examples from basic token structure to advanced security implementations - [PDF Samples](https://elysiatools.com/en/samples/pdf-samples): Generated PDF samples from tools dated 2026-02-01 to 2026-02-10 ## Related content - [Observability Debugging from Logs, Traces, Webhooks, and JSON Payloads](https://elysiatools.com/en/hubs/observability-debugging): Parse logs, decode traces, inspect webhook/API evidence, explore JSON payloads, and extract recurring patterns before writing an incident-ready debugging note.