# XML Formatter & Beautifier — Indent, Minify and Check

> Format messy XML with proper indentation, or minify it back down, with well-formedness checked.

To format XML, paste it in and it is re-indented with each element on its own line — except elements holding only text, which stay on one line because splitting them across three is what makes formatted XML unreadable. The document is parsed by your browser's own XML parser first, so anything not well-formed is reported with its line and column rather than silently mangled.

**URL:** https://convertto.tech/t/xml-formatter
**Category:** Data & Format Tools (https://convertto.tech/c/data-tools)
**Privacy:** Runs entirely in the browser; no upload
**Cost:** Free, no sign-up
**Last updated:** 2026-08-01

## Key facts

- **Privacy:** Runs entirely in your browser — nothing is uploaded
- **Cost:** Free, unlimited, no sign-up

## How to use

1. Enter or paste your xml.
2. Choose the mode.
3. Choose the indentation.
4. Turn "Collapse empty elements to self-closing tags" on or off as needed.
5. The result appears immediately — copy or download it.

## FAQ

### Why does formatting change my document?

It should not change anything meaningful, but XML whitespace is technically significant — a parser is entitled to treat the spaces inside an element as content. For mixed-content documents such as XHTML, re-indenting genuinely alters the text. For data XML, which is nearly all XML, it is safe.

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

Well-formed means the syntax is correct: tags nested and closed, one root element, attributes quoted. Valid means it also matches a schema or DTD that says which elements may appear where. This checks well-formedness; a schema check needs the schema.

### Why does my XML fail on an ampersand?

A bare `&` starts an entity reference, so `Smith & Jones` is a syntax error. Write `&amp;`, or wrap the value in a CDATA section. The same applies to `<` inside text, which must be `&lt;`.

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