What is the difference between formatting and minifying XML?

Formatting (beautifying) adds whitespace (spaces, tabs, newlines) to make XML human-readable. Minifying removes all unnecessary whitespace to reduce the file size, which is ideal for sending data over a network (e.g., in an API response).

Is this XML Formatter also an XML Validator?

Yes. While formatting, our tool also performs XML validation. It checks if your XML is 'well-formed'—meaning it follows all basic XML syntax rules, such as tags being properly closed and nested. If there's an error, it will be reported.

XML Formatter, Beautifier & Validator

Format, minify, and validate XML data instantly in your browser.

100% Client-Side & Secure

All XML formatting and validation happens in your browser.
Your XML data is never stored or sent to our servers.
It's safe to use with configuration files or sensitive API responses.

What is an XML Formatter? (And Why You Need One)

XML (Extensible Markup Language) is a core data format used across the web for configuration files, API responses (especially SOAP), and complex data storage. However, XML data is often "minified"—all whitespace is removed to save bandwidth—making it a single, unreadable line of text.

An XML Formatter (also known as an XML Beautifier or "Pretty-Printer") solves this problem. It parses the XML and intelligently adds indentation and line breaks, transforming the chaotic text back into a clean, human-readable tree structure of tags and attributes.

This tool is essential for developers for:

Debugging: Instantly spot structural problems, unclosed tags, or incorrect nesting.
Readability: Easily understand the parent-child relationships within the data.
Validation: Our tool doubles as an XML Validator (or XML Lint), checking your code for "well-formed" syntax errors and alerting you to any issues.

Simply paste your code into our online XML editor, click "Format," and instantly see the clean, structured output.

XML Examples

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XML Best Practices & Key Concepts

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Formatter vs. Minifier

Formatter (Beautifier): Adds whitespace for human readability. Use this during development and debugging.
Minifier: Removes whitespace for file size reduction. Use this when deploying to production or sending data over an API to save bandwidth.

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XML is All About Structure

Unlike JSON, XML is a strict tree. Every XML document MUST have exactly one root element. All other elements must be "children" nested within that root. Understanding this parent-child hierarchy is key to debugging XML. Our formatter makes this structure obvious.

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Common XML Errors (Validation)

Our XML Validator checks for common syntax errors. The most frequent errors are: unclosed tags (e.g., <user> without </user>), mismatched tags (<user></name>), and case-sensitivity (<tag> and <Tag> are different).