Beautify messy or minified HTML with consistent indentation—read nesting at a glance. Format and minify locally with no server upload.
An HTML formatter adds consistent indentation and line breaks to markup so nested tags are easy to read—without changing how the page renders in the browser.
HTML documents and fragments often arrive minified from build tools, CMS exports, or email builders: one long line with no visible structure. An HTML formatter walks the tag stream and inserts indentation (typically 2 or 4 spaces per nesting level), line breaks after block-level tags, and preserved whitespace inside `<pre>`, `<script>`, and `<style>` blocks.
Unlike templating or sanitization, formatting is cosmetic: attribute values, tag order, and DOM semantics stay the same. Browsers collapse most inter-element whitespace when rendering, so beautified HTML should look identical to minified HTML on screen. Developers use formatters for code review, debugging template bugs, teaching document structure, and normalizing legacy markup before diffs.
This tool also offers minification to strip comments and collapse whitespace for production payloads—the inverse of beautify.
Concise answers for common searches — definitions, steps, and comparisons.
Search engines and assistive technologies consume the DOM after the browser parses HTML—not the raw whitespace between tags. Beautifying does not add or remove meta tags, alt attributes, or heading hierarchy. It can help humans spot missing alt text or duplicate ids during review, but it is not an SEO or a11y tool by itself.
Minify when byte size affects TTFB or CDN costs and you have verified the minified page still renders correctly. Typical savings are smaller than CSS/JS minification but matter on high-traffic static pages. Do not minify pages that depend on whitespace-sensitive inline layouts (some email HTML, legacy tables).
An HTML formatter adjusts indentation and line breaks between tags for human readability. An HTML entity encoder escapes characters like <, >, and & inside text so they display literally and resist XSS. Use the formatter on markup structure; use the entity encoder on untrusted text before inserting it into templates.
A character scanner walks the input, tracking whether it is inside a tag, attribute string, HTML comment, or preserve tag (script/style/pre). Opening tags increase indent; closing tags decrease it; self-closing tags do not. Output is built line-by-line with the selected indent string.
Paste a full document or a fragment from templates, WordPress exports, React SSR output, or email HTML. Minified single-line markup is supported.
Select 2 spaces (common for HTML/CSS projects) or 4 spaces. The formatter re-applies whenever input or indent changes.
Check nesting in the output panel. If the parser cannot tokenize a region, an error appears and the original input is kept as fallback.
Copy beautified HTML, download formatted.html, or click Minify HTML to compress for production before deploy.
Input
<!DOCTYPE html><html><head><title>Demo</title></head><body><div class="hero"><h1>Hello</h1><p>World</p></div></body></html>Output
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>Demo</title>
</head>
<body>
<div class="hero">
<h1>Hello</h1>
<p>World</p>
</div>
</body>
</html>Indentation exposes the head/body split and div nesting that is invisible in a single-line file—useful before opening a pull request or pasting into documentation.
Input
<div><script>const x = { a: 1, b: 2 };</script></div>Output
Script inner whitespace is not reformatted—only tags around the block receive indentation.JavaScript inside script tags must not be re-indented as HTML, or string literals and ASI can break. The formatter detects preserve tags and copies their interiors verbatim.
Common real-world scenarios where this tool saves time.
Re-indent HTML exported from WordPress, Mailchimp, or drag-and-drop builders before editing partials or comparing versions in git.
Beautify minified or inconsistently indented markup so reviewers can see accidental tag omissions, unclosed divs, or wrong nesting.
Format server-rendered HTML snapshots to verify wrapper elements and attribute order match client expectations.
Students paste fragments to see how lists, forms, and semantic elements nest—formatting makes parent/child relationships visible.
Step-by-step chains that connect related tools for common tasks.
Pick the tool that matches whether you are structuring markup, styling, or escaping text.
| Task | Use this tool | Use instead |
|---|---|---|
| Indent HTML tags | HTML Formatter | — |
| Escape < or & in user text | HTML Entity Encoder | Not the formatter |
| Beautify CSS rules | CSS Formatter | HTML Formatter only sees tags |
| Validate JSON in script tags | JSON Formatter | After extracting JSON string |
| Minify JS bundles | Code minifier / build tool | Script bodies are preserved here |
| Related tool | Use this tool when | Use related tool when |
|---|---|---|
| HTML Entity Encoder | You need readable indentation of tags and attributes in a template file. | You need to escape user-supplied text before it is inserted into HTML output. |
| CSS Formatter | Your problem is tag nesting, DOCTYPE, or CMS HTML structure. | Your problem is stylesheet rules, selectors, or @media blocks. |
| Code Minifier & Beautifier | You are focused specifically on HTML markup indentation. | You need multi-language beautify including JS/CSS in one pass. |
Beautifiers indent tag-like patterns; they do not guarantee HTML5 validity. Run W3C Nu Html Checker or fix unclosed tags manually after formatting reveals structure.
Minification can remove whitespace between tags that your template engine relies on. Minify only final compiled HTML, not source files with {{ }} or <% %> logic.
Some email clients depend on inline styles and tight whitespace. Test rendered email after beautify; consider formatting a copy for debugging only.
Indentation does not sanitize user content. Escape untrusted text with an HTML entity encoder before insertion—formatting is not a security step.
Likely cause: Unclosed or mismatched tags in source HTML confuse the indent counter
Fix: Search for missing </div> or stray < characters. Formatting makes nesting visible—fix tags, then re-format.
Likely cause: Whitespace between inline elements (e.g. between </span> and <span>) was removed
Fix: Minify is for production bundles where inline whitespace does not matter. Keep a beautified copy for development; minify only when you have tested the compressed version.
Likely cause: Rare edge case if script tag was not detected—usually a malformed <script> open tag
Fix: Ensure script tags use standard syntax <script> or <script src="...">. Wrap problematic blocks in preserve tags manually or fix the open tag.
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No. Browsers treat most whitespace between block elements as collapsible. Beautified and minified markup with the same tags and attributes render the same way. Always verify in DevTools if your layout uses white-space: pre or preformatted content.
No. Formatting and minification run entirely in JavaScript in your browser. Your templates, emails, and pages never leave your device—no upload and no account required.
It tokenizes tags, comments, and preserve regions to indent markup. It is not a full validator—use the W3C Markup Validation Service for standards compliance and accessibility audits.
Formatting adds indentation and line breaks for readability. Minifying removes HTML comments (except conditional comments), collapses whitespace between tags, and shrinks file size for production. Use format while developing; minify before deploy when size matters.
No. Content inside script, style, pre, textarea, and code elements is copied as-is so JavaScript, CSS, and preformatted text are not broken by HTML indentation rules.
Yes. Paste partial markup—nav bars, form snippets, or component templates. The formatter indents whatever tags are present without requiring a full document.
Yes—completely free with no signup, no usage limits, and no server upload. It runs locally in your browser.
All HTML formatting and minification runs locally in your browser. No markup is uploaded, logged, or stored on any server.
Output preserves tag order and attribute values; only whitespace between tokens changes. Script, style, and pre blocks are left unformatted by design.
Not a substitute for HTML5 validation, accessibility testing, or security sanitization of untrusted markup.
Part of Developer Tools
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Reviewed by EverydayTools Editorial Team on 2026-05-21.
Powered by Prettier HTML parser (loading…) — runs locally; no upload.
Drop .html file · edits format when Live is on