An XML formatter (beautifier) takes compact, minified or poorly-indented XML and re-formats it with consistent indentation, making the structure and hierarchy immediately readable. It also validates that the XML is well-formed in the process.

Common XML Use Cases

Formatting API responses from SOAP or REST endpoints that return XML
Reading and editing configuration files (.xml, .config, .plist)
Working with RSS and Atom feeds, SVG files, and Android layouts
Debugging malformed XML before processing it in code

Frequently Asked Questions

Well-formed XML follows the basic syntax rules: every tag is closed, attributes are quoted, and there is a single root element. Valid XML additionally conforms to a specific schema (DTD or XSD). This tool checks well-formedness — the browser's DOMParser validates structure without a schema.

Common issues include unclosed tags, mismatched tag names (case matters), unquoted attribute values, or special characters like & and < inside text content that aren't escaped as & and <.

Yes. The formatter preserves all namespace declarations and prefixes (xmlns:, xsi:, etc.) exactly as written.