BYTETOOLS

XML Formatter

Format and beautify XML online with proper indentation, or minify it to a single line. Parse errors are reported clearly — free, fast and fully private.

What is the XML Formatter?

The ByteTools XML Formatter turns cramped or minified XML into a cleanly indented tree. It parses your markup with the browser's own XML engine, then re-serializes it with your chosen indentation — 2 spaces, 4 spaces or tabs — preserving text content, comments, CDATA sections and processing instructions, and collapsing empty elements to self-closing tags.

  • Pretty-print XML with selectable indentation
  • Minify button removes inter-element whitespace
  • Preserves comments, CDATA sections and processing instructions
  • Empty elements collapsed to self-closing tags
  • Clear parser errors for malformed markup
  • 100% client-side — XML never leaves your browser

How to use the XML Formatter

  1. 1

    Paste your XML into the input box.

  2. 2

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

  3. 3

    Click Format to beautify, or Minify to compress it onto one line.

  4. 4

    If the XML is malformed, read the parser error and fix the input.

  5. 5

    Copy the result or download it as an .xml file.

About the XML Formatter

The ByteTools XML Formatter turns cramped or minified XML into a cleanly indented tree. It parses your markup with the browser's own XML engine, then re-serializes it with your chosen indentation — 2 spaces, 4 spaces or tabs — preserving text content, comments, CDATA sections and processing instructions, and collapsing empty elements to self-closing tags.

It is ideal for developers working with SOAP responses, RSS and Atom feeds, sitemaps, SVG files, Maven or Android configuration and any other XML document that has lost its formatting. A Minify button strips the inter-element whitespace again when you need a compact payload.

Formatting happens 100% locally in your browser. Your XML is never uploaded to a server, so enterprise payloads and private feeds stay on your machine.

Frequently asked questions

How do I format XML online?

Paste the XML, pick an indentation width and click Format. The tool parses the document with the browser's native XML parser and re-prints each element on its own line with consistent nesting, making even large SOAP or RSS documents readable.

Does formatting XML change its meaning?

For element-centric XML, no — parsers ignore whitespace between elements. Be aware that the formatter trims whitespace inside mixed text content, so documents where leading or trailing spaces are significant (rare in practice) could be affected.

Why does my XML fail to parse?

Common causes are unclosed tags, mismatched opening and closing tag names, unescaped & or < characters in text, attribute values missing quotes, and multiple root elements. The error message from the parser usually names the element or line involved.

What is a self-closing tag in XML?

An element with no content can be written as <item/> instead of <item></item>. Both forms are exactly equivalent in XML, and this formatter automatically uses the shorter self-closing form for empty elements.

Does the tool keep my XML declaration and CDATA sections?

Yes. The <?xml ... ?> declaration at the top of your document is preserved, and CDATA sections, comments and processing instructions are re-printed intact at the correct indentation level.

Guides for XML Formatter

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