XML formatter

Beautify puts each element on its own line and indents child elements, so the structure of a long one-line XML file becomes readable. At the same time, the browser's own XML parser checks the document. You get either a confirmation that the XML is well-formed or the parser's error message pointing to the problem.

Minify removes the whitespace between tags, and optionally the comments, to make the file smaller for transfer or storage. Text inside elements is left intact.

Because the tool runs in your browser, you can safely format invoices, configuration files and API payloads that contain private data.

A minimal well-formed XML document looks like this:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<invoice>
  <seller name="Acme Corp."/>
  <items>
    <item qty="2">PDF tool</item>
  </items>
</invoice>

• The optional declaration on the first line states the XML version and encoding.
• There is exactly one root element (invoice).
• Elements either have a closing tag (</item>) or close themselves (<seller/>).
• Attribute values are always quoted.
• Five characters have predefined entities: < for <, > for >, & for &, " for " and ' for '.
• Tag names are case-sensitive: <Item> and <item> are different elements.

These two words mean different things in XML:

• Well-formed means the document follows XML syntax: exactly one root element, every tag closed, tags properly nested, attribute values in quotes, special characters escaped. This tool checks that.
• Valid means the document also follows a specific schema (XSD or DTD) that defines which elements and attributes are allowed. That requires the schema file and is not checked here.

Common well-formedness errors:

XML is the base of many everyday formats, and all of them work here:

• SVG vector graphics from design tools
• RSS and Atom feeds
• XML sitemaps (sitemap.xml) for search engines
• GPX tracks from GPS devices and fitness apps, and KML files from Google Earth
• XSD and XSL schemas and stylesheets
• configuration files such as Maven pom.xml, Android layouts and .NET web.config
• SOAP messages and many government or banking data exchange formats

• Use 2-space indentation for deeply nested files; 4 spaces or tabs suit shallow documents.
• Keep comments when you minify configuration files that others will edit later. Drop them for files that only machines read.
• Minifying an SVG this way is safe but basic; it does not remove editor metadata or simplify paths.
• For HTML, which is more forgiving than XML, use the HTML formatter. For JSON, use the JSON formatter.