diff --git a/spa/include/spa/utils/json-builder.h b/spa/include/spa/utils/json-builder.h
index 3fa6b7dc8..473723026 100644
--- a/spa/include/spa/utils/json-builder.h
+++ b/spa/include/spa/utils/json-builder.h
@@ -184,7 +184,7 @@ void spa_json_builder_add_simple(struct spa_json_builder *b, const char *key, in
 		break;
 	}
 
-	fprintf(b->f, "%s%s%*s", b->delim, indent ? b->count == 0 ? "" : "\n" : space ? " " : "",
+	fprintf(b->f, "%s%s%*s", b->delim, b->count == 0 ? "" : indent ? "\n" : space ? " " : "",
 			indent ? b->level : 0, "");
 	if (key) {
 		bool key_raw = force_raw || (simple && spa_json_make_simple_string(&key, &key_len)) ||