XML Formatter

How to Use the XML Formatter

1. Paste your XML — Type or paste your XML document into the input textarea on the left. This can be a minified API response, a configuration file, a sitemap, SVG markup, or any well-formed XML content.
2. Choose your indentation — Select 2 spaces, 4 spaces, or tab indentation from the toolbar to match your project's coding style. The default is 2 spaces.
3. Click Format — Press the Format button to parse and beautify your XML. The tool validates the XML structure using the browser's DOMParser and displays the formatted result with syntax highlighting on the right.
4. Review stats and errors — Check the stats bar for element count, attribute count, max depth, and byte sizes. If your XML is malformed, a red error card will appear with details about what went wrong.
5. Copy or minify — Click Copy Output to copy the formatted XML to your clipboard, or click Minify to produce a compact version with all whitespace removed for network transmission.

Features

• Format XML with proper indentation and line breaks using browser-native DOMParser
• Minify XML by removing all unnecessary whitespace for reduced file size
• Syntax highlighting: tag names in blue, attributes in amber, attribute values in green
• Handles XML declarations, comments, CDATA sections, and processing instructions
• Supports XML namespaces and namespace-prefixed element names
• Configurable indentation: 2 spaces, 4 spaces, or tab characters
• Real-time stats: element count, attribute count, max nesting depth, and byte sizes
• Clear error display for malformed XML with parser error details
• Side-by-side layout on desktop, stacked layout on mobile for comfortable editing
• 100% client-side processing — your XML data never leaves your browser

Understanding XML Formatting

Common Use Cases

XML Formatter Tips

• When working with APIs that return XML responses, you can copy the raw response and format it here for readability. If the API also supports JSON, use our JSON Formatter to beautify JSON responses with syntax highlighting and key counting.
• If you need to verify that your XML is structurally sound before formatting, paste it into our JSON Validator first to check the general structure — or simply click Format and let our built-in DOMParser catch any well-formedness errors instantly.
• When preparing XML content for web pages, remember that special characters within XML text content (like &, <, >) are already handled by XML parsing. But if you need to embed XML inside HTML attributes, use our HTML Entity Encoder to properly escape the angle brackets.
• Use the Minify button to reduce XML file size before transmitting it over the network. Minified XML removes all unnecessary whitespace between tags, which can reduce file size by 20-40% for deeply nested documents, improving API response times and bandwidth usage.
• The element and attribute counts in the stats bar help you quickly assess document complexity. A high element-to-attribute ratio suggests a data-heavy structure, while many attributes per element indicate a metadata-rich format common in configuration files and SOAP APIs.
• XML sitemaps for SEO must be valid XML. Use the Format button to check that your sitemap is well-formed, verify the namespace declarations are intact, and ensure all URL entries are properly nested within <urlset> and <url> tags.
• The depth stat shows the maximum nesting level of your XML document. Deeply nested XML (depth > 10) can be harder to maintain and process. Consider flattening your structure if the depth becomes excessive.
• When switching between 2-space, 4-space, and tab indentation, click Format again to re-render the output with the new indent style. This is useful for matching your project's coding style guidelines or team conventions.