What format is api_data.json? Swagger? OpenAPI? ...

Before anyone says "json" ... yes, it IS json, but the question relates to Postman's refusal to accept any of the files as valid with the error message "unrecognized format".

Using a number of online validators and those available from within Visual Studio Code, NONE can parse the supplied files without error.    None can convert to another format or export to openapi: 3.0.0 (or any other format).