XML Formatter & Validator

About the XML Formatter

XML (eXtensible Markup Language) is a widely used format for storing and transporting structured data. APIs, configuration files, RSS and Atom feeds, SOAP web services, Android resource files, Maven POM files, and many legacy data interchange formats all rely on XML. When XML is minified or machine-generated it becomes nearly impossible to read — this tool formats it back into a human-friendly structure with consistent indentation and line breaks.

What this tool checks

The validator checks that your XML is well-formed: all tags are properly opened and closed, attribute values are quoted, the document has exactly one root element, and reserved characters are correctly escaped. It does not validate against an XSD schema or DTD — that type of validation requires knowledge of the expected document structure and is typically done server-side. For the JSON equivalent of this tool, see the JSON Formatter & Validator.

Converting between XML and JSON

If you need to move data between XML and JSON formats, the JSON to XML Converter translates JSON objects into equivalent XML structures. Once you have the resulting XML, you can paste it back here to format it further.

How to Use the XML Formatter

1. Paste raw, minified, or badly indented XML into the Input box.
2. Choose your preferred indent size — 2 spaces, 4 spaces, or a tab character.
3. Click Format & Validate. If the XML is well-formed, the Output panel shows the beautified result with a green success message. If there are errors, a red message describes the problem and the line/column where it occurs.
4. Use Copy Output to copy to the clipboard, or Download .xml to save as a file.
5. Click Minify to collapse the output into a single compact line — useful for reducing payload size before sending to an API.

XML vs JSON: Which Should You Use?

Both XML and JSON are human-readable data interchange formats, but they serve different contexts. JSON is lighter, easier to parse in JavaScript, and has largely replaced XML in modern REST APIs. XML remains the dominant format in enterprise systems, SOAP web services, office document formats (DOCX, XLSX), SVG graphics, and RSS/Atom feeds. If you work in any of those areas, a reliable XML formatter is an everyday tool.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is my XML data safe to paste here?

Yes. This tool runs entirely in your browser using the browser's built-in XML parser. Your XML is never uploaded to a server, logged, or transmitted anywhere. You can safely paste internal configuration files or sensitive API responses.

What is "well-formed" XML?

A well-formed XML document follows the basic rules of the XML 1.0 specification: it has exactly one root element, every opening tag has a matching closing tag (or is self-closed with />), attribute values are surrounded by quotes, and reserved characters like < and & inside text content are correctly escaped as < and &. The browser's DOMParser enforces all of these rules.

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

Well-formed means the XML follows the syntax rules of the XML specification. Valid means the document also conforms to a particular schema (XSD) or document type definition (DTD), such as always having a required <title> element inside a <book>. This tool checks well-formedness only. Schema validation requires a tool that knows the expected document structure.

Why does my XML look slightly different after formatting?

The formatter normalizes whitespace inside text nodes, collapsing runs of whitespace (spaces, tabs, newlines) down to a single space and trimming leading and trailing whitespace. This is safe for most XML documents. If whitespace is semantically meaningful in your document — for example, in a <pre>-like element — you should be aware that formatting may alter it.

Can this format SOAP envelopes, RSS feeds, or SVG files?

Yes — any well-formed XML works regardless of the root element name or namespace declarations. SOAP envelopes, RSS feeds, Atom feeds, SVG files, Android resource files, Spring XML configuration, and Maven POM files all format correctly.

What characters need to be escaped in XML?

Five characters have special meaning in XML and must be escaped in text content and attribute values: & for &, < for <, > for >, " for ", and ' for '. The formatter re-encodes these automatically in its output. The HTML Entity Encoder covers the same five characters plus the full HTML5 named-entity set.

What is the difference between XML formatting and minification?

Formatting (beautifying) adds indentation and line breaks to make the document readable by humans. Minification removes all non-essential whitespace to produce the smallest possible file size — useful before embedding XML in an API payload or a config file where byte count matters. Both operations preserve the document's meaning; only the whitespace changes.