XML Formatter & Beautifier — Format XML Online

Paste minified or messy XML and get it beautifully formatted with proper indentation — validates syntax and shows errors instantly.

Also convert data with our XML to JSON tool or format SQL with the SQL Formatter.

🔒 Your XML is processed locally — nothing is stored or uploaded.

Formatted XML
How to Use

How to Use the XML Formatter

1
Paste your XML — enter any XML, however minified or cluttered, into the input box above.
2
Choose indentation — select 2 spaces, 4 spaces, or tab from the Indent dropdown to match your coding style.
3
Click Format XML — the XML is validated and formatted with proper indentation instantly. Syntax errors are shown if found.
4
Copy the result — click Copy to grab the formatted XML to your clipboard.
About

What is XML Formatting?

XML (Extensible Markup Language) is commonly transmitted in minified form — all whitespace removed, elements on a single line — to reduce file size over the network. This makes it extremely difficult to read or debug manually. An XML formatter tool works as an XML beautifier, XML pretty printer, and XML indenter by adding proper line breaks and indentation that reflects the document's hierarchical structure.

Developers use XML formatters when working with APIs that return XML responses — RSS feeds, SOAP web services, Android layout files, Maven POM files, and configuration formats like Log4j, Spring, and Tomcat server.xml all use XML. When an API returns a minified XML payload in a debug log or network inspector, copying it into a formatter instantly reveals the element hierarchy, which is the starting point for understanding what the response contains and whether it matches the expected schema.

Data engineers use XML formatters when processing data feeds from partners, government data portals, or legacy enterprise systems that still use XML as their data exchange format. Formatting the XML before inspecting it reveals missing elements, unexpected nesting, or attribute values that explain downstream processing errors. The built-in validation also confirms that the XML is well-formed before investing time in debugging the data content itself — a malformed document with unclosed tags or invalid characters would fail at the parse stage rather than silently producing incorrect data.

The formatter uses the browser's native DOMParser API to parse the XML, which means syntax errors are caught by the same parser that browsers use natively. If the XML contains an unclosed tag, duplicate attribute, or invalid character, the error message pinpoints the problem. All formatting runs in your browser — your XML is never sent to any server.

FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

Yes, completely free with no account or signup required. Open the page and start formatting immediately.
Yes. The formatter uses the browser's DOMParser to parse the XML before formatting. If the XML contains syntax errors, the tool displays an error message describing the problem.
No. All formatting runs entirely in your browser — your XML is never sent to any server or stored anywhere.
You can choose between 2 spaces, 4 spaces, or tab indentation before formatting.
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