diff --git a/include/qpdf/JSON.hh b/include/qpdf/JSON.hh
index 77c4b108..64f3792c 100644
--- a/include/qpdf/JSON.hh
+++ b/include/qpdf/JSON.hh
@@ -338,7 +338,6 @@ class JSON
     static std::string encode_string(std::string const& utf8);
     static void
     writeClose(Pipeline* p, bool first, size_t depth, char const* delimeter);
-    static void writeIndent(Pipeline* p, size_t depth);
 
     struct JSON_value
     {
diff --git a/libqpdf/JSON.cc b/libqpdf/JSON.cc
index 7bdf01d4..fd76e628 100644
--- a/libqpdf/JSON.cc
+++ b/libqpdf/JSON.cc
@@ -41,24 +41,19 @@ JSON::writeClose(Pipeline* p, bool first, size_t depth, char const* delimiter)
     }
 }
 
-void
-JSON::writeIndent(Pipeline* p, size_t depth)
-{
-    for (size_t i = 0; i < depth; ++i) {
-        *p << "  ";
-    }
-}
-
 void
 JSON::writeNext(Pipeline* p, bool& first, size_t depth)
 {
     if (first) {
         first = false;
+        std::string s{"\n"};
+        s.append(2 * depth, ' ');
+        *p << s;
     } else {
-        *p << ",";
+        std::string s{",\n"};
+        s.append(2 * depth, ' ');
+        *p << s;
     }
-    *p << "\n";
-    writeIndent(p, depth);
 }
 
 void