HTML Formatter & Minifier
Paste any HTML markup to instantly beautify it with proper indentation, or minify it to shrink file size for production.
Live HTML Beautifier & Minifier
Format messy, minified, or copy-pasted HTML into clean, readable markup with consistent indentation - or strip whitespace and comments to produce a compact, production-ready file. This free online HTML beautifier and pretty print tool runs entirely in your browser - nothing is uploaded to a server.
Quick answer: to format HTML, paste it below and click Format - the tool re-indents every nested element using your chosen indent size. To shrink it for production, click Minify to strip whitespace and comments while preserving <pre>, <script>, and <style> content untouched.
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Last updated: Jun 11 2026
Reviewed by QuickTooly Team
HTML Formatting Guide
Why Format or Minify HTML?
HTML you copy from a CMS, email export, or build tool is often either inconsistently indented and hard to read, or already minified into a single line that's impossible to debug. This tool solves both problems in one place:
- Beautify for readability: Re-indent nested elements with a consistent indent size so you can review and edit markup easily.
- Minify for production: Strip whitespace and comments to reduce file size before shipping HTML emails or static pages.
- Safe with special tags:
<pre>,<textarea>,<script>, and<style>content is left untouched during minification. - One-click copy: Copy the formatted or minified result straight into your editor.
- Zero install: Works entirely in your browser - no extensions, plugins, or sign-up required.
Formatting vs. Minifying
Formatting and minifying are opposite operations on the same markup - one optimizes for humans, the other for file size.
| Operation | What it does | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Format | Adds consistent indentation and line breaks for nested tags | Reading, editing, and reviewing markup |
| Minify | Removes whitespace, line breaks, and comments | Production builds, HTML emails, faster page loads |
Common Use Cases for HTML Formatting & Minification
Pretty printing and compressing HTML solve different everyday problems. Here's when each one comes in handy:
- Cleaning up CMS or page-builder exports: HTML exported from WordPress, Webflow, or other page builders is often a single unreadable line. Pretty print it to review the structure before reusing it.
- Preparing HTML emails: Format vendor or template HTML for editing, then minify the final version to compress file size and reduce the chance of clipping in clients like Gmail.
- Debugging third-party markup: Minified HTML from a competitor's site, an embedded widget, or an API response is hard to read - beautify it first to inspect the DOM structure.
- Shrinking static pages for performance: Compress the final HTML output of a static site or landing page to cut payload size and improve load times.
What Gets Stripped When Minifying
- Whitespace between tags: line breaks and indentation between elements are removed.
- Redundant spaces in text: multiple consecutive spaces, tabs, and newlines inside text nodes collapse to a single space.
- HTML comments:
<!-- ... -->blocks are removed when "Strip comments" is enabled - except IE conditional comments (<!--[if ...]>), which are preserved. - Leading/trailing whitespace: extra blank lines at the start and end of the document are removed.
How to Use This Tool
- Paste your HTML - or click "Load sample" to try it with example markup.
- Choose an indent size - 2 spaces, 4 spaces, or tabs for the formatted output.
- Click Format or Minify - the result appears in the output box, with character counts for both versions.
- Copy the result - click Copy to place it on your clipboard.
HTML Formatting Best Practices
- Pick one indent size and stick to it: 2 spaces is the de-facto standard for HTML, but whatever you choose, keep it consistent across your project so diffs stay clean.
- Format source, minify output: Keep your source templates and source-controlled files formatted for readability, and only minify the build output you actually ship.
- Keep IE conditional comments when targeting email: If you're shipping HTML emails, leave "Strip comments" considerations aside for conditional comments - they're still used to target Outlook and other clients.
- Re-check after minifying: Always render or preview minified HTML before deploying - while this tool never touches tags, attributes, or content, it's good practice to confirm the page still looks right.
- Don't minify during development: Minified markup is hard to debug in browser dev tools. Format for local development and minify only as a build step.
Frequently Asked Questions
What's the difference between formatting and minifying?
Formatting (beautifying) adds indentation and line breaks to make HTML easy to read and edit. Minifying does the opposite - it removes whitespace, line breaks, and comments to make the file as small as possible for production.
Will minifying break my HTML?
No. This tool only removes whitespace and comments between and inside elements - it never changes tags, attributes, or content. Content inside <pre>, <textarea>, <script>, and <style> blocks is left exactly as-is, since whitespace there can be meaningful.
Which indent size should I choose?
2 spaces is the most common convention for HTML, CSS, and JavaScript and is the default in most editors and style guides. Use 4 spaces or tabs if that matches your project's existing code style.
Are IE conditional comments removed?
No. Comments starting with <!--[if are preserved even with "Strip comments" enabled, since these are often used for email-client targeting and removing them would change behavior.
Is this useful for HTML emails?
Yes. Email template developers often need to format vendor-supplied HTML for review, then minify the final version before sending, since smaller HTML reduces the chance of Gmail clipping the message.
Is my HTML sent to a server?
No. Formatting and minifying happen entirely in your browser using JavaScript. Nothing you paste here is uploaded or transmitted anywhere.
Does this tool format CSS inside <style> or JavaScript inside <script> tags?
No. The contents of <style> and <script> blocks are preserved exactly as-is during both formatting and minification - this tool only re-indents or compresses the surrounding HTML markup, not embedded CSS or JavaScript.
What's the best indent size for HTML emails vs. production websites?
For reviewing and editing HTML emails, 2 spaces keeps deeply nested table layouts readable without excessive line width. For production websites, match whatever convention your team or framework already uses - then minify the final build output regardless of indent size, since whitespace is stripped either way.