BYTETOOLS

HTML Formatter

Format HTML online with clean, consistent indentation. This HTML formatter handles void elements and preserves pre, script and style exactly. Free and private.

What is the HTML Formatter?

The ByteTools HTML Formatter re-indents messy or minified HTML so the document structure is easy to follow.

  • Consistent indentation based on real tag nesting
  • Correctly handles void elements (br, img, meta, input…)
  • Preserves pre, script, style and textarea content verbatim
  • Keeps comments and doctype declarations
  • Choice of 2-space, 4-space or tab indentation
  • 100% client-side — markup never leaves your browser

How to use the HTML Formatter

  1. 1

    Paste your HTML markup into the input box.

  2. 2

    Choose an indentation style: 2 spaces, 4 spaces or tab.

  3. 3

    Click Format HTML.

  4. 4

    Copy the beautified markup or download it as an .html file.

About the HTML Formatter

The ByteTools HTML Formatter re-indents messy or minified HTML so the document structure is easy to follow. It tokenizes your markup, tracks nesting depth, and prints each tag and text run at the right indentation — with correct handling of void elements like <br>, <img> and <meta> that never take closing tags.

Content inside <pre>, <script>, <style> and <textarea> is preserved exactly as written, so code samples, embedded JavaScript and inline CSS are not mangled. Because it is tokenizer-based rather than a full HTML parser, it is fast and forgiving with real-world markup, including snippets copied from CMS editors and email templates.

Formatting runs 100% in your browser — your HTML is never uploaded, so it is safe for unpublished pages, proprietary templates and client work.

Frequently asked questions

How do I format HTML online?

Paste the markup into this online HTML formatter, choose your indentation and click Format HTML. The tool splits the source into tags and text, tracks how deeply each element is nested, and re-prints everything with one tag per line and consistent indentation.

Can I format an HTML file or a whole page?

Yes. Paste the contents of any .html file — a full page including the doctype and head, or a single copied snippet — and the formatter re-indents the entire document. You can then copy the cleaned markup or download it back as an .html file.

Will formatting break my page layout?

Almost never. Browsers collapse whitespace between block elements, so re-indenting has no visual effect there. The one caveat is whitespace-sensitive inline content — the formatter protects <pre> and <textarea> exactly for this reason, but tightly-spaced inline elements could gain a space.

What are void elements in HTML?

Void elements like <br>, <img>, <input>, <meta> and <link> cannot have children and never take a closing tag. The formatter knows the full list, so it does not indent following content as if those tags were still open.

Does the formatter change my JavaScript or CSS inside the page?

No. Anything between <script> and </script> or <style> and </style> is passed through byte-for-byte. If you also want that code formatted, run it through the dedicated JavaScript or CSS formatter first.

Can it fix invalid HTML?

It re-indents what you give it but does not rewrite or repair markup — unclosed tags stay unclosed. Because it tolerates imperfect HTML instead of rejecting it, you can still use it to make broken markup readable enough to fix by hand.

Guides for HTML Formatter

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