What counts as well-formed XML?

Well-formed XML has exactly one root element, every opening tag has a matching closing tag (or is self-closed with />), all attribute values are quoted, elements are properly nested without overlap, and reserved characters like < and & appear only as part of markup, not literally in text (use < and & instead).

Does this tool validate against an XSD or DTD schema?

No — this checks well-formedness (correct syntax) only. Schema validation checks that your XML also matches a specific structure — required elements, allowed attributes, data types — defined in an XSD or DTD file, which needs the schema document itself as a second input.

What is the difference between well-formed and valid XML?

Well-formed XML just follows the basic syntax rules of the XML specification. Valid XML is well-formed AND additionally conforms to a schema that constrains which elements, attributes, and nesting patterns are allowed — you can have XML that is well-formed but still invalid against a specific schema.

Why does my XML fail to parse even though it looks fine?

The most common causes are an unescaped ampersand (& must be & unless it starts a valid entity), a mismatched or missing closing tag, an unquoted attribute value, or more than one root-level element. The error message reports the exact issue the parser hit.

Can XML have comments like HTML?

Yes — XML comments use the same syntax as HTML. This formatter preserves comments at their correct indentation level; it does not strip them the way the minifier removes whitespace.

What is CDATA and does this tool handle it?

A CDATA section ( ) tells the parser to treat its contents as raw text rather than markup, useful for embedding HTML snippets or code inside an XML element without escaping every angle bracket. This tool preserves CDATA blocks as-is during formatting.

Why does an enterprise system still use XML instead of JSON?

XML predates JSON by roughly a decade and has mature tooling for schema validation (XSD), transformation (XSLT), and querying (XPath) that many enterprise, financial, and healthcare systems were built around. Migrating away is often not worth the risk once a system is in production.

Is it safe to format XML containing sensitive data here?

Yes — parsing and formatting happen entirely inside your browser tab using the native DOMParser API. Nothing is uploaded to a server, so it is safe to use with internal configuration files, proprietary schemas, or data exports.

What are XML namespaces and does formatting preserve them?

Namespaces (declared with xmlns or xmlns:prefix attributes) prevent element name collisions when combining XML vocabularies from different sources, such as SOAP envelopes mixing several schemas. This tool preserves namespace declarations and prefixed element names exactly as they appear in the input.

All ToolsFormat XML

Format XML

Beautify or minify XML documents. Validates XML and shows errors with details.

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Format XML

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What is Format XML?

Format XML takes raw, minified, or inconsistently indented XML and rebuilds it with clean, predictable 2-space nesting — or strips it down to a single compact line when you need the opposite. It also acts as a well-formedness validator: if the XML has a syntax problem, the browser's own XML parser reports it immediately instead of silently producing garbage output.

XML has been the backbone of enterprise data exchange since the late 1990s, and despite JSON taking over as the default choice for web APIs, XML remains heavily used in places JSON never displaced it: SOAP web services, Android manifests and layout files, Maven and Ant build configuration, Microsoft Office's underlying file formats (.docx and .xlsx are ZIP archives full of XML), RSS and Atom feeds, sitemap.xml files, and countless legacy enterprise systems in finance, healthcare (HL7), and government that standardized on XML decades ago and have no reason to migrate. If you work anywhere near those systems, you will eventually receive an XML payload crushed onto one line by a server response or a database export, and reading it in that state is close to impossible.

What makes XML formatting slightly trickier than JSON formatting is that XML allows mixed content models, self-closing elements, namespaces, comments, and CDATA sections, none of which JSON has to worry about. A naive regex-based formatter that just inserts a newline after every > will mangle attribute values that happen to contain a > character, or will misindent an element that legitimately mixes text and child elements. This tool avoids that by using the browser's native DOMParser to build a real parse tree first, then walking that tree recursively to emit indentation — the same parser Chrome and Firefox use internally, so if your XML parses here, it will parse the same way in production code that uses DOMParser or a server-side XML library.

Because parsing happens through DOMParser, this tool also functions as a fast well-formedness check. XML parsing is strict by design — unlike HTML, an XML parser will not attempt to guess your intent around an unclosed tag or an unescaped ampersand, it will simply fail with a parser error. That strictness is a feature: catching a malformed tag here, in a second, is much cheaper than discovering it after a build pipeline or API integration chokes on it downstream.

How It Works

The formatter feeds your input into the browser's built-in DOMParser, which builds an actual DOM tree exactly as it would for any XML document loaded by the browser. If a parsererror node appears in the resulting document, the tool extracts and surfaces that message so you know precisely what broke and roughly where. On success, it recursively walks the tree node by node — element nodes, text nodes, comment nodes — re-emitting each one with 2-space indentation per nesting depth, collapsing short text-only elements onto a single line for readability, and preserving comments and attribute values exactly as written. Minification runs the same parser and then uses XMLSerializer to flatten the tree back into a single string with inter-tag whitespace stripped. Everything happens locally in your browser tab — no XML content is ever sent anywhere.

How to Use

1
Paste your XML
Paste raw, minified, or oddly-indented XML into the input editor — API responses, config exports, or sitemap files all work.
2
Format or minify
Click "Format XML" to indent the markup with proper nesting and line breaks, or "Minify" to collapse it to a single compact line for storage or transmission.
3
Read the validation result
The tool runs your input through the browser's DOMParser. If the XML is malformed, the exact parser error is shown instead of a broken output, so you know precisely what to fix.
4
Inspect the structure
With proper indentation applied, scan the nesting to confirm elements, attributes, and namespaces landed where you expect — this is far easier on formatted XML than on a single unreadable line.
5
Copy the result
Copy the formatted or minified XML to your clipboard and paste it into your codebase, config file, or documentation.

Who Uses This Tool

📡

API Response Inspection

Beautify XML returned by SOAP or REST APIs to inspect element names and nested data structures easily.

🗺️

Sitemap Debugging

Format sitemap.xml files to verify that all <loc> and <priority> elements are present and correct.

⚙️

Config File Editing

Indent Maven pom.xml, Android manifest, or Spring XML configuration files before making edits.

📦

Data Export Review

Format XML data exports from databases or enterprise applications to audit content before import.

🔄

Data Exchange Prep

Minify XML payloads for EDI or B2B data exchange to reduce bandwidth and speed up transmission.

🛠️

Build File Formatting

Reformat Ant build.xml or MSBuild project files to restore consistent indentation after merges.

Why Choose This Tool

Browser-Native Parsing

Uses the browser's built-in DOMParser for XML parsing, guaranteeing spec-compliant well-formedness detection.

Detailed Error Reporting

Displays the parser error message with context so you can pinpoint exactly where malformed XML breaks.

Format and Minify

Offers both beautification with 2-space indentation and single-line minification from the same interface.

Attribute Preservation

All element attributes are preserved exactly as written, including namespace declarations and default values.

Comment Support

XML comments are correctly placed and indented in the formatted output so they remain readable.

Privacy Guaranteed

No XML data is ever transmitted to a server, making it safe to use with confidential configuration files.

Also Try

Validate XML JSON Formatter HTML Beautifier JS Beautifier CSS Beautifier Sitemap Generator

Key Benefits

Beautify XML with clean 2-space indentation using a real parser, not regex
Minify XML by removing all unnecessary whitespace between tags
Validate well-formedness and show the parser's exact error message
Preserves comments, attributes, and namespace declarations exactly as written
Copy formatted or minified output with one click
Works entirely in your browser — safe for internal config and proprietary schemas

Frequently Asked Questions

Also Known As

xml formatter online freeformat xml code onlinexml beautifier browser basedpretty print xml onlinexml indenter online toolminify xml online freeonline xml viewer formatterxml formatter no install