Format, validate and minify XML without uploading it
Unformatted XML is miserable to read and hard to diff in review. This tool indents your document, flags mismatched or unclosed tags at the exact line, and can strip the whitespace and comments for a smaller payload.
- Output
- Indented or minified
- Comments
- Optional removal
- Encoding
- UTF-8
How to use it
- Paste the XML Works with SOAP envelopes, RSS feeds, SVG documents, Maven POMs and generic config XML alike.
- Format or minify Formatting produces a predictable two-space indentation with attributes kept on a single line. Minifying removes the whitespace between elements and, optionally, every comment.
- Resolve reported errors A mismatched closing tag is reported with the line it appears on and the tag it was expected to close, so the fix is a single edit rather than a hunt.
Where this earns its keep
Comparing two API responses
Two semantically identical XML responses are impossible to diff when every element sits on one line. Formatting both sides with the same indentation makes a missing attribute pop out immediately.
Shrinking a template payload
Removing indentation and comments can cut an XML document by a third, which is meaningful when it is embedded in a SOAP request that crosses a network on every call.
Reading a generated file
Maven POM files and exported RSS feeds are painful to read unformatted. One pass through the formatter makes them navigable.
Questions people ask
Does it validate against an XSD or DTD?
No. It validates well-formedness, which is the structural layer: balanced tags, valid attributes, a single root. Schema validation is a separate, heavier operation and is not what this tool does.
What happens to comments and CDATA when I minify?
Minifying leaves comments alone unless you tick the option to strip them. CDATA sections are always preserved, because removing them would change the character content of their parent element.
How do I escape an ampersand?
Write & in the source. A bare & is one of the most common XML parse errors and the formatter reports the line where it appears.
Can it handle very large XML files?
Files of a few megabytes are comfortable. Beyond that, the browser tab becomes the limiting factor rather than the tool.
Does it preserve the XML declaration?
Yes. The declaration, including its encoding attribute, is copied through unchanged when it sits on the first line.
Can I format an SVG file?
Yes, and it is one of the more common uses here. An SVG exported from a design tool is a single long line; formatting it makes the path structure readable, and minifying it reduces the bytes in your page.
Details that catch people out
The formatter checks the rules a browser or an XML parser enforces: matching tag names, properly nested elements, a single root element, quoted attribute values and no unescaped ampersands. It does not validate against a schema — that is a different problem with a different tool.
Last reviewed 2026-09-30. Every tool on DevSnap runs entirely in your browser, so whatever you paste here never reaches a server.