About the XML Formatter
This tool indents XML documents for readability and validates them using the browser's built-in DOMParser, surfacing the exact parser error when a document is malformed. It's useful for inspecting SOAP payloads, RSS feeds, configuration files and other XML formats.
How to use it
- 01Paste your XML into the input panel.
- 02Choose an indent width.
- 03Read any validation errors reported below the panels.
- 04Copy or download the formatted XML.
Features
- Validation via the browser's native XML parser
- Configurable indentation with spaces or tabs
- Handles self-closing tags and inline open/close pairs correctly
- Copy and download as an .xml file
Practical examples
Inspecting an RSS feed
Paste a minified RSS or Atom feed to quickly see its item structure and confirm it is well-formed before publishing.
Limitations
- This is a line-based re-indenter, not a full XML pretty-printer — it does not reformat attributes across multiple lines.
- Validation relies on DOMParser, which is only available in browser environments.
Privacy
All parsing and formatting happens locally in your browser. Nothing is uploaded to a server.
Read the full privacy policy for how the site as a whole handles data.
Frequently asked questions
Does it validate against an XSD or DTD?
No, it only checks that the document is well-formed XML, not that it conforms to a schema.
Does it preserve CDATA sections?
Yes, CDATA content is treated as ordinary text between tags and kept intact.
Why does my mixed-content XML look odd?
The formatter is line-based and works best on element-only documents; heavy mixed text and element content may not indent perfectly.