Dev Tool

XML Formatter & Validator

Beautify, minify and validate XML. Detect syntax errors and convert XML to JSON. All processing in your browser.

📋 Input XML

⚙️ Output

Frequently Asked Questions

What does the XML formatter do?

The XML formatter parses raw or minified XML and outputs it with consistent indentation and line breaks, making it readable. It also validates your XML and reports any syntax errors such as unclosed tags, missing declarations, or invalid characters.

Is my XML data sent to a server?

No. All formatting and validation is performed locally in your browser using JavaScript. Your XML content is never transmitted to any server, making the tool safe for formatting configuration files, API responses, or any sensitive XML data.

What is XML used for?

XML (eXtensible Markup Language) is used for data storage and transport. Common uses include RSS feeds, SOAP web services, Android layout files, configuration files (Maven, Spring), and Microsoft Office document formats.

What is the difference between XML and JSON?

XML uses opening and closing tags like HTML and supports attributes and namespaces. JSON uses key-value pairs and arrays. JSON is lighter and more common in REST APIs; XML is still widely used in enterprise systems and legacy APIs.

How do I validate XML?

Click Validate to check your XML for syntax errors. The tool uses the browser's built-in DOMParser which follows the XML 1.0 standard. It will report the exact line and character position of any errors.

Formatting and validating XML

XML is still everywhere: RSS feeds, XML sitemaps, SOAP APIs, Office documents, Android layouts and many configuration formats. This tool indents XML so the nesting is easy to follow, minifies it for transfer, checks that it is well-formed and can convert it to JSON.

Well-formed is not the same as valid

Well-formed XML follows the basic syntax rules. Valid XML also matches a schema, an XSD or DTD that defines which elements are allowed. Browsers, feed readers and most parsers reject anything that is not well-formed, so fix those errors first.

The errors it finds most often

Unclosed or mismatched tags. Every opening tag needs a closing tag in the right order, or must be self-closing, like <br/>.
Unescaped characters. A bare & or < in text must be written as & or <, or placed inside a CDATA section.
More than one root element. A document must have exactly one top-level element.
Case mismatches. XML is case-sensitive, so <Item> cannot be closed with </item>.
Anything before the declaration. Even a blank line before <?xml ... ?> breaks some parsers.

Converting XML to JSON

XML attributes and repeated elements have no direct JSON equivalent, so converters represent them in different ways. Check the structure of the result before you use it in code, and validate it with the JSON formatter.