Does wget need the # Netscape HTTP Cookie File header?

It is tolerant, but curl and yt-dlp are happier with it. This serializer always writes the header and a trailing newline.

Can I pass JSON to wget?

No. Convert to Netscape first. wget has no JSON cookie reader.

Why did session cookies vanish after wget saved the file?

Missing --keep-session-cookies. Reload the original JSON, convert again, and add the flag.

wget --load-cookies File from JSON

Build a wget --load-cookies file from JSON

wget --load-cookies reads the same Netscape cookies.txt as curl; convert Chrome JSON to that file here, then pass --keep-session-cookies if you also save the jar — otherwise expiry 0 rows disappear.

wget2 uses the same Netscape shape for --load-cookies. This page does not talk to GNU wget; it only rewrites the file.

wget --load-cookieswget cookies.txtwget --save-cookieswget session cookies

1
Export JSON from Chrome
CookieMan → Export → JSON Array for the current site. Session cookies must be included; they become expiry 0 in Netscape.
2
Convert to cookies.txt
Paste into the converter (output Netscape). Download the file. Tabs and the magic header are written for you.
3
Run wget
Use --load-cookies cookies.txt --save-cookies cookies.txt --keep-session-cookies when you need the jar to still contain session tokens after the run.

Paste JSON cookie array

Output format

Output

Cookies are credentials. Conversion stays in this page — delete the file when you are done.

The --keep-session-cookies trap

wget’s --save-cookies writes Netscape. Without --keep-session-cookies, rows with expiry 0 are omitted on write. Your next --load-cookies then has no session. curl does not have this default; wget does.

            wget --load-cookies cookies.txt --save-cookies cookies.txt \
     --keep-session-cookies \
     https://example.com/dashboard

# wget2
wget2 --load-cookies cookies.txt --save-cookies cookies.txt \
      --keep-session-cookies https://example.com/dashboard

If wget reports zero cookies loaded, the file probably has spaces instead of tabs. Paste it here and re-export — Skipped invalid Netscape line.

wget versus curl on the same file

Behaviour	curl	wget
Read Netscape	`-b`	`--load-cookies`
Write Netscape	`-c`	`--save-cookies`
Keep expiry 0 on write	Default keep	Requires `--keep-session-cookies`
HttpOnly prefix	Writes and reads `#HttpOnly_`	Reads the same prefix

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