XML Formatter/Beautifier

XML formatting (also called beautifying or pretty-printing) takes minified or messy XML and transforms it into a human-readable structure with proper indentation and line breaks. For example, this minified XML:

<tool><name>xml-formatter</name><category>utility</category><active>true</active></tool>

becomes:

<tool>
    <name>xml-formatter</name>
    <category>utility</category>
    <active>true</active>
</tool>

The indentation selector lets you choose how many spaces to use for each level of nesting. You can select 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, or 8 spaces. For example, with 2 spaces:

<converter>
  <from>JSON</from>
  <to>XML</to>
</converter>

And with 4 spaces:

<converter>
    <from>JSON</from>
    <to>XML</to>
</converter>

Tip: Changing the indentation after formatting will automatically re-format the output without needing to click the Format button again.

If your XML has syntax errors, the formatter will display an error message with details about the issue. Common XML errors include:

• Missing or mismatched closing tags
• Unescaped special characters (&, <, >, ", ')
• Invalid attribute syntax (missing quotes)
• Multiple root elements

No. Formatting only changes whitespace and indentation. Your actual data: elements, attributes, text content, CDATA sections, and comments remain exactly the same.

Yes! XML naturally supports deeply nested structures. The formatter handles any level of nesting and formats each level with proper indentation.

<toolset>
    <name>ConvertChief</name>
    <categories>
        <category>
            <name>Converters</name>
            <tools>
                <tool format="xml">JSON to XML</tool>
                <tool format="yaml">JSON to YAML</tool>
            </tools>
        </category>
        <category>
            <name>Formatters</name>
            <tools>
                <tool format="json">JSON Formatter</tool>
                <tool format="xml">XML Formatter</tool>
            </tools>
        </category>
    </categories>
</toolset>

Yes! The formatter preserves XML declarations (<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>), comments (<!-- comment -->), CDATA sections, and processing instructions exactly as they appear in your input.

This tool is designed for formatting (beautifying) XML. If you need to minify XML (remove all whitespace), use our XML Minifier tool.