XML Formatter

How to use

1. 1.Paste or type your XML into the input box.
2. 2.Pick an indentation style — 2 spaces, 4 spaces, or Tab.
3. 3.Click Format to pretty-print, or Minify to compress to one line.
4. 4.Review the result; if the XML is malformed, read the error and fix it.
5. 5.Click Copy to copy the formatted or minified output to your clipboard.

About XML Formatter

XML Formatter is a fast, private tool that cleans up XML documents right inside your browser. Paste raw, minified, or badly-indented XML and click Format to pretty-print it with a clear, consistent structure, or click Minify to strip out the whitespace between tags and collapse everything onto a single compact line. You choose the indentation that fits your project: two spaces, four spaces, or a tab per nesting level.

Working with XML by hand is painful when the whole document arrives as one giant unbroken string, or when someone hand-edited it and the indentation no longer reflects the real nesting. This formatter rebuilds the visual hierarchy so every element sits at the depth it actually occupies, making it easy to scan configuration files, SOAP and REST payloads, RSS and Atom feeds, SVG source, Android and .NET layout files, sitemaps, pom.xml build files, and any other angle-bracket data. The minify direction is just as useful: shrinking XML before sending it over the wire or embedding it in another file reduces payload size without changing meaning.

The tool understands the parts of XML that trip up naive find-and-replace approaches. Attribute values that contain a greater-than character are parsed correctly instead of cutting the tag short. Self-closing elements are preserved exactly as written. Comments are kept in place and indented with the rest of the document. CDATA sections are passed through untouched, so the literal characters inside them — including reserved symbols and markup-looking text — survive both formatting and minifying. The XML declaration and processing instructions stay on their own line at the top, and DOCTYPE declarations are preserved verbatim. When an element mixes text with inline child elements — the kind of markup you see in SVG text, XHTML, or documentation formats — that whole run is kept on a single line exactly as written, so no meaningful whitespace inside it is rewritten; formatting only re-indents the space that sits between tags.

How is this different from a JSON formatter? JSON and XML are different data languages with different rules. JSON has no comments, no attributes, no CDATA, no namespaces, and no processing instructions, so a JSON tool cannot handle an XML document at all. This formatter is built around XML's tag-and-attribute model and its special constructs, giving you correct results where a JSON formatter would simply reject the input. If you also work with JSON, pair this with our companion JSON formatter and JSON validator.

Does it validate? While reformatting, the tool parses your document and will flag structural problems it encounters — unclosed tags, mismatched or stray closing tags, and unterminated comments, CDATA sections, or processing instructions — with a friendly message and, where possible, a line and column. That catches the most common real-world mistakes, but it is not a full schema or DTD validator: it does not check your document against an XSD, verify data types, or enforce namespace rules. Think of it as a formatter that refuses to silently emit broken output, not as a compliance checker.

Your privacy is the default, not an upsell. Everything happens locally in your browser using plain JavaScript text processing. Your XML is never uploaded, never sent to a server, never logged, and never stored anywhere. That makes it safe to format sensitive configuration, internal API responses, or proprietary data files, and it means the tool keeps working even with your network disconnected. There is nothing to install, no account to create, and no size quota beyond what your own device can handle — paste, click, and copy the clean result.

Frequently asked questions

Does it validate my XML?

It parses your XML while formatting and will flag structural problems such as unclosed tags, mismatched closing tags, and unterminated comments or CDATA — usually with a line and column. It is not a full schema or DTD validator, so it does not check your document against an XSD or verify data types.

Is my XML uploaded anywhere?

No. All formatting and minifying happens locally in your browser using JavaScript. Your XML is never sent to a server, never logged, and never stored, so it is safe for sensitive or proprietary data and even works offline.

How are comments and CDATA handled?

Comments are preserved and indented along with the rest of the document. CDATA sections are passed through untouched, so the literal text inside them — including reserved characters like > and < — survives both formatting and minifying.

What does Minify do to my content?

Minify removes the insignificant whitespace and line breaks between tags to produce a single compact line. Meaningful text inside elements is kept exactly as-is, so the data itself is not altered — only the layout is.

Can formatting change my whitespace?

Format only re-indents the layout between tags. Text that sits next to inline child elements (mixed content, like SVG text or XHTML) is emitted verbatim on one line, so no meaningful whitespace inside it is rewritten. The one thing it normalizes is the leading and trailing whitespace of an element whose content is plain text only, and it does not give xml:space="preserve" special treatment. If you need every byte preserved, use Minify, which keeps all meaningful text exactly as-is.

How is this different from a JSON formatter?

XML and JSON are different languages. XML has attributes, comments, CDATA, namespaces, and processing instructions that JSON lacks, so a JSON formatter cannot process XML. This tool is built specifically for XML's structure and special constructs.

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