XML Formatter
Format XML documents for readability or strip whitespace for efficient transmission. The native browser XML parser ensures fast, standards-compliant processing with detailed error reporting including line and column information. Handles all XML features including namespaces, CDATA sections, comments, and processing instructions.
What does this tool do?
The XML Formatter provides three operations: Pretty adds consistent indentation and line breaks for human readability; Minify removes unnecessary whitespace to create compact XML for transmission; Validate checks well-formedness without reformatting. The tool uses the browser's native XML parser for speed and compliance. It handles XML-specific constructs: namespace declarations, CDATA sections for unescaped text, processing instructions (<?xml...?>), comments (<!--...-->), entity references, and mixed content. Errors are reported with precise line and column numbers for quick fixing.
How it works
The tool uses the browser's DOMParser API to parse XML. DOMParser validates well-formedness according to XML 1.0 specification. For pretty-printing: the XML is parsed to a DOM, then serialized back with indentation added by the XMLSerializer with formatting options. For minification: whitespace-only text nodes are removed, and unnecessary indentation is stripped. The browser's native implementation ensures correct handling of all XML edge cases including entity expansion, namespace resolution, and character encoding. Error handling catches parsing exceptions and extracts position information for user-friendly error display.
Features
- Three actions: Pretty (2/4/8-space indent), Minify, Validate
- Native browser XML parser — fast, standards-compliant
- Errors with line and column numbers
- Handles namespaces, CDATA, comments, processing instructions
- Live conversion for small documents
- Preserves all XML structure and content
- 100% client-side processing
How to use
- 1
Paste your XML
Enter XML — configuration files, RSS feeds, SOAP envelopes, SVG, or any XML document. Both pretty and minified input accepted.
- 2
Select action
Pretty for human reading and editing. Minify for production deployment and network transmission. Validate to check without changing format.
- 3
Set indent (Pretty mode)
Choose 2 or 4 spaces for indentation. Consistent indentation makes XML structure visually clear.
- 4
Review errors if any
If validation fails, you'll see the error type (mismatched tag, invalid character, etc.) with exact line and column.
- 5
Copy the result
Click Copy to grab the formatted, minified, or validated XML for your application, config file, or API.
Common use cases
Configuration file editing
Pretty-print XML configuration files (Spring, Maven, Ant, etc.) for editing, then minify for deployment packages.
API development
Format SOAP envelopes and XML API payloads for debugging. Validate request/response XML during development.
RSS and feed work
Pretty-print RSS, Atom, and podcast feeds to understand their structure or debug feed generation.
SVG editing
Format SVG graphics for readability when hand-editing, or minify for web deployment to reduce file size.
Tips & best practices
- XML is case-sensitive — <Tag> and <tag> are different elements. This is a common source of errors
- All XML must have a single root element — multiple top-level elements cause parse errors
- Special characters (< > &) must be escaped as < > & unless inside CDATA sections
- Minified XML can typically reduce file size 10-20% by removing indentation whitespace