XML Formatter

What is XML Formatter?

XML Formatter beautifies, indents, and minifies XML documents with support for attributes, namespaces, CDATA sections, processing instructions, and XML declarations. It detects well-formedness errors including unclosed tags, mismatched nesting, and invalid characters. The formatter preserves CDATA sections and respects xml:space attributes for elements requiring whitespace preservation.

Enterprise developers working with SOAP services, Java developers editing Maven and Spring configs, and integration engineers handling B2B XML data feeds. The tool runs entirely in your browser — your data never leaves your device.

How to Use XML Formatter

1. Paste your XML content into the input editor
2. Select beautify for readable formatting or minify for compact output
3. Choose indentation width and whether to place attributes on separate lines
4. Review the formatted output with error indicators for any well-formedness issues
5. Copy the formatted XML or download it as a file

Common Use Cases

• Formatting SOAP API response XML for readability during web service debugging
• Beautifying Maven pom.xml or Spring configuration files after automated modifications
• Cleaning up SVG markup for manual editing after export from design tools
• Formatting XML configuration for web servers, application servers, and middleware
• Minifying XML data feeds to reduce transmission size in B2B integrations

Pro Tips

• XML is whitespace-significant in mixed content — the formatter only adds indentation whitespace between elements, never inside text content, to preserve data integrity
• If your XML contains CDATA sections, they are preserved exactly as-is — CDATA content is never reformatted because it may contain intentional whitespace or special characters
• Use the attribute-per-line option for elements with many attributes — it makes XML diffs cleaner and attributes easier to scan in version control

Why Use This Tool?

• Privacy-first: All processing happens locally in your browser. No data is transmitted to any server.
• No installation required: Works in any modern browser on desktop or mobile.
• Completely free: No account, no credit card, no usage caps.
• Fast and reliable: Powered by modern Web APIs for near-instant results.

Related Concepts

Learn more about related topics: XML Schema, XSLT, XPath, SAX parser.

Frequently Asked Questions