How to Use the XML Formatter

Paste your minified or poorly indented XML into the input field.

The tool parses the document and re-outputs it with consistent indentation and line breaks.

Copy the formatted XML for review, debugging, or documentation.

What Is XML Formatting?

XML formatting — also called XML pretty-printing or XML beautifying — parses a valid XML document and re-serializes it with structured indentation and line breaks that make the element hierarchy visually clear. Minified or machine-generated XML is syntactically valid but nearly unreadable. Formatted XML preserves the document exactly while presenting it in a way that lets you scan the structure, spot errors, and understand nesting at a glance. Formatting does not alter the document's data or semantics in any way.

When to Use This Tool

Debugging API responses — XML responses from SOAP services or legacy APIs are often returned as a single unbroken string. Format them to inspect the structure.

Reading config files — XML config files generated by build tools or IDEs are often minified or inconsistently indented.

Code review and documentation — Format XML before including it in documentation, tickets, or pull request descriptions.

Comparing XML documents — Consistently formatted XML is much easier to diff than raw or inconsistently indented markup.

Related Tools

• XML minifier
• XML validator
• XML to JSON
• JSON formatter & validator
• HTML formatter