XML Formatter

XML (Extensible Markup Language) uses nested elements with opening and closing tags to create hierarchical data structures. Unlike JSON's minimal syntax, XML provides features like attributes on elements, namespaces for avoiding naming conflicts, CDATA sections for escaping complex text content, processing instructions for embedding directives, and mixed content where text and child elements coexist within a parent. Well-formed XML follows strict syntax rules: every opening tag must have a matching closing tag, elements must nest properly without overlap, attribute values must be quoted, and the document must have exactly one root element. These rules make parsing reliable but also make hand-written XML prone to errors that formatting reveals. Proper indentation makes the element hierarchy immediately visible — nested child elements indented under their parents create a visual tree structure that mirrors the data relationships. Without formatting, complex XML documents like SOAP responses, configuration files, or SVG graphics become nearly impossible to read or debug. The AllTools XML Formatter parses and re-indents XML entirely in the browser, handling namespaces, CDATA sections, and processing instructions correctly. Your data — which may include API responses containing sensitive information — never leaves your device.

Despite JSON's dominance in web APIs, XML remains deeply embedded in enterprise development workflows. SOAP web services, still prevalent in banking, healthcare, and government systems, exclusively use XML for request and response envelopes. Configuration files like Maven's pom.xml, Spring's application contexts, .NET's web.config, and Android's AndroidManifest.xml are all XML. SVG graphics are XML documents — formatting SVG source code aids debugging and hand-editing of vector graphics. RSS and Atom feeds deliver syndicated content as XML. Microsoft Office documents (docx, xlsx, pptx) are ZIP archives containing XML files — extracting and formatting these XMLs helps debug document corruption. InDesign's IDML format uses XML for document interchange. XSLT transformation pipelines process XML inputs into XML, HTML, or text outputs. XML Schema (XSD) files define strict validation rules for enterprise data exchange formats like HL7 in healthcare or MISMO in mortgage lending. When XML beats JSON, it is in domains requiring attributes (metadata about elements separate from content), namespaces (combining multiple vocabularies without conflicts), and formal schema validation with rich constraint definitions.