XML Formatter
Paste minified or messy XML below to instantly re-indent it into clean, readable markup, with a quick well-formedness check to catch unclosed or mismatched tags.
How to Use the XML Formatter
- Paste your XML document, however minified or inconsistently indented, into the box above.
- Click "Format XML" to re-indent it with clear nesting based on element depth.
- The tool also runs a well-formedness check and shows a parser error if a tag is unclosed or mismatched.
- Click "Copy" to copy the formatted XML to your clipboard.
Why Use This Tool?
Is my XML data uploaded anywhere?
No. Formatting and validation both happen locally in your browser — the indenting logic is plain JavaScript and the well-formedness check uses the browser's native DOMParser. Nothing is ever transmitted to a server, which matters since XML is commonly used for SOAP requests, config files, and system exports that can contain sensitive internal data.
How does the indentation logic work?
The formatter walks through each tag, increasing indentation on opening tags and decreasing it on closing tags, while leaving self-closing tags, comments and processing instructions like <?xml ... ?> at their current depth. The result is a nested, easy-to-scan structure similar to what an IDE's "reformat" command produces.
Does it fix broken XML?
It re-indents whitespace but does not repair structural problems. If your XML is not well-formed (an unclosed tag, mismatched nesting, or invalid characters), the well-formedness check will surface the parser's error message so you know exactly what to fix before using the file elsewhere.
Who uses an XML formatter?
Developers debugging SOAP/REST API responses, integrators working with RSS or sitemap feeds, and anyone maintaining legacy XML-based config files benefit from quickly turning a single minified line into readable, indented markup.