How to use the XML Formatter / Beautifier
Format your XML in three steps:
1
Paste your XML
Paste compact, minified, or poorly formatted XML into the input box. You can also upload a .xml file directly.
2
Choose indentation
Select 2 or 4 spaces using the indent toggle in the toolbar. The formatter uses your browser's DOMParser to parse the structure before re-emitting it with the chosen indent.
3
Format and copy
Click Format XML. Review the syntax-highlighted output, then click Copy or Download to save the formatted .xml file.
When to use this tool
Use the XML formatter when you need to read, debug, or share XML content:
- →Formatting minified XML API responses (REST, SOAP, GraphQL) for debugging and logging
- →Beautifying Android layout XML files that were auto-generated or exported from tools
- →Indenting SVG files exported from design tools to make them editable by hand
- →Reformatting RSS and Atom feed XML for inspection and content extraction
- →Prettifying Maven pom.xml, Ant build.xml, or Spring configuration files
- →Formatting SOAP request and response envelopes when debugging web service integrations
- →Cleaning up Microsoft Office XML (OOXML) files extracted from .docx or .xlsx archives
Frequently asked questions
Q:Does the formatter validate my XML?
Yes — the formatter uses the browser's built-in DOMParser to parse your XML before formatting. If the XML is malformed (unclosed tags, unescaped characters, mismatched elements), the parser returns an error and the formatter displays it immediately so you can locate and fix the issue.
Q:Are XML namespaces handled correctly?
Yes — namespace declarations (xmlns, xmlns:prefix) are preserved on the elements where they appear. Namespace prefixes on element and attribute names (prefix:element, prefix:attr) are kept intact and the formatted output correctly represents the namespace structure.
Q:What happens to XML comments and processing instructions?
Both are preserved and formatted correctly. XML comments (<!-- -->) are indented at the appropriate level. Processing instructions (<?target data?>) including the XML declaration (<?xml version='1.0'?>) are placed at the correct position in the output.
Q:Can it handle large XML files like database exports or OOXML?
Yes — the formatter runs in the browser and is limited only by available memory. It handles multi-megabyte XML files like Office Open XML, large RSS feeds, or database XML exports. Very large files (tens of megabytes) may take a few seconds depending on your device.
Q:Does the formatter change the meaning of my XML?
No — indentation whitespace in XML is not semantically significant between elements (though it may be between text nodes). The formatter only adds indentation between elements and does not alter element content, attribute values, CDATA sections, or the document structure. The formatted XML is semantically equivalent to the input.
Q:Can I use this to format SVG files?
Yes — SVG is valid XML and the formatter handles it correctly. SVG files exported from Illustrator, Figma, or Inkscape are often minified; this tool will indent them for manual editing. Note that adding whitespace between SVG text elements may affect text rendering in some edge cases.