XML Formatter

This tool re-indents XML at two spaces per level so the element tree is readable, and minifies it back down to a single line when you need the file compact.

What is the XML Formatter?

Beautify walks the input tag by tag, giving each element its own line and adding two spaces of indentation for every level of nesting. It rebuilds the output from the tags it finds, so element names and their attributes come through intact while the text between tags does not: what you get is a map of the document's structure. Minify is the direction that keeps your content, stripping the whitespace between tags and collapsing every run of spaces into one.

Key Features

• Beautify gives each tag its own line, two spaces per nesting level
• Minify removes whitespace between tags and tightens self-closing tags
• Character counts for the original and the result sit under the buttons
• Download writes the current output to a file named formatted.xml
• Reformats as you type, in the page, with no upload and no waiting

Common Use Cases

• Making a minified RSS feed or sitemap legible enough to scan by eye
• Seeing how deep a SOAP envelope nests before writing an XPath expression
• Squeezing a config file back onto one line for an environment variable
• Checking which attributes an unfamiliar feed hangs on each item element

How to Use the XML Formatter

1. Paste your markup over the two-person sample in the left-hand pane.
2. Read the indented element tree that appears in the right-hand pane.
3. Press Minify instead when you want everything squeezed onto one line.
4. Compare the two character counts under the buttons to see the size change.
5. Click Copy for the clipboard, or Download to save the result as formatted.xml.

Tips for Best Results

• Beautify shows structure rather than content: text between tags is not carried through.
• Use Minify whenever the text matters and only the spacing should change.
• Comments and CDATA sections confuse the tag splitter, so check those parts by hand.
• Attributes stay on the same line as their element, however many there are.

Why Use WiserWork's XML Formatter?

XML has two separate standards of correctness and a formatter only touches the first. Well-formed means every tag nests and closes properly; valid means the document also obeys a DTD or an XSD schema, which is a question no browser-side beautifier can answer. This page is for reading structure quickly, not for certifying a document, and it stays silent when markup is broken rather than reporting an error.

Who Uses the XML Formatter?

Anyone who still lives with XML: developers debugging a SOAP response or an Android layout, publishers checking an RSS feed, analysts opening a vendor data export. The format has been declared obsolete for two decades and still quietly holds sitemaps, office documents and most enterprise integrations together.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Beautify preserve the text inside my elements?

No. It reconstructs the output from the tags it finds, so element names and attributes survive but the text between them is dropped. Use Beautify to study structure, and Minify when the content has to stay.

Does it tell me whether my XML is valid?

No, and the word is worth being careful with. It checks nothing against a DTD or an XSD schema, and it does not report well-formedness errors either: unbalanced tags simply come out with odd indentation.

Can I switch to a four-space or tab indent?

No. The indent is fixed at two spaces per level with no option to change it. If your project standard is four spaces, run the output through your editor's re-indent command afterwards.

When should a value be an attribute rather than a child element?

An attribute lives inside the opening tag and holds one unstructured value; a child element can repeat, nest and carry attributes of its own. The usual rule of thumb is metadata in attributes and data in elements, and if a value might ever need to repeat, make it an element from the start.

How is the XML declaration handled?

The processing instruction at the top is printed on its own line at the left margin and does not add a level of indentation, so your root element still starts at column zero.

What happens to comments and CDATA sections?

They are split at angle brackets like any other tag, which mangles them. A CDATA block containing markup will be broken across several lines, so review those sections yourself before using the output.

What exactly does Minify strip?

It collapses every run of whitespace to a single space, removes whitespace sitting between a closing tag and the next opening tag, and tightens the gap before a self-closing slash. Spacing inside text nodes and inside attribute values is collapsed too, so check anything whitespace-sensitive.

Where does the Download button put the file?

It builds the current output as an XML blob inside the browser and hands it to your normal download folder as formatted.xml. No server is involved in producing it.

Is XML still worth knowing in 2026?

It remains the wire format for RSS and Atom feeds, XML sitemaps, SVG, SOAP services, Office and OpenDocument files, Android layouts and a great deal of banking and healthcare messaging. JSON took the new work; XML kept the installed base.

Does my file leave my computer?

No. Formatting, minifying and even the download are produced by JavaScript in the page, so a vendor export or an internal configuration file never goes anywhere.

XML is verbose by design, and reading it flattened onto a single line is what makes it feel unbearable. One tag per line and two spaces per level turn the same document back into something you can follow.