HTML Formatter
Prettify or minify HTML with smart raw-block preservation
Output will appear here...
About this tool
The HTML Formatter prettifies raw or minified HTML with consistent indentation and line breaks, making it easy to read and debug. The minifier strips all unnecessary whitespace to reduce page size. Works entirely in the browser — paste and format instantly.
When to use it
- →Cleaning up auto-generated HTML from frameworks or templating engines
- →Making scraped or API-returned HTML readable for inspection
- →Minifying HTML before production deployment to reduce page weight
- →Formatting email templates before sending to HTML email editors
Tips
- ◆HTML minification saves bandwidth but can break whitespace-sensitive elements like <pre> and inline <span>s — review output carefully.
- ◆Self-closing void elements (img, br, input) don't need a closing slash in HTML5, but the formatter preserves your style.
- ◆After formatting, validate with an HTML validator to catch unclosed tags and structural issues.
Frequently asked questions
Does HTML formatting affect how the page renders in a browser?
Rarely. Browsers collapse consecutive whitespace (spaces, tabs, newlines) to a single space in most contexts, so indentation and extra line breaks have no visual effect. The exceptions are elements inside <pre> tags and elements with white-space: pre in CSS — these render whitespace literally. The formatter preserves content inside <pre> blocks to avoid breaking preformatted text.
What are void elements and why don't they have closing tags?
Void elements are HTML elements that cannot have children — <img>, <br>, <input>, <hr>, <meta>, <link>, <area>, <base>, <col>, <embed>, <param>, <source>, <track>, <wbr>. Because they never contain content, a separate closing tag is meaningless. HTML5 dropped the requirement for the self-closing slash (/>), though it's still valid.
How much size does HTML minification actually save?
Whitespace removal typically saves 5-20% of raw HTML size. On a typical HTML page the savings are modest — the bigger gains come from gzip/Brotli compression (60-80% reduction) which already handles repetitive whitespace efficiently. Minification is more valuable when gzip is not applied, such as in email HTML or HTML embedded in JavaScript strings.
Can I use this to format JSX or template syntax like Handlebars?
The formatter parses standard HTML — JSX attributes ({expressions}), Angular directives, and template tags ({{ }}, {% %}) are treated as attribute values or text content and generally pass through intact. However, JSX-specific syntax like self-closing non-void elements (<MyComponent />) may not be preserved correctly since the parser treats them as standard HTML. Use a JSX-aware formatter for React code.