HTML Beautifier

Minified HTML is efficient for browsers and miserable for humans: one endless line, no structure, no way to see nesting at a glance. When you inherit a template, debug a page, or review markup someone else generated, the first step is almost always the same — format it so a human can read it. This beautifier does that: paste HTML, choose an indent size, and get back cleanly indented markup with each element on its own line, nesting shown by indentation, and text content kept intact. It protects the contents of pre, textarea, script and style elements, where whitespace is meaningful, and it handles void elements such as img and br without inventing closing tags. The result is markup you can actually edit, review and learn from — the reverse direction of the HTML minifier on this site, which compresses for production.

Quick Answer: Paste minified or messy HTML, choose an indent size, and get cleanly indented markup with nesting you can actually read.

Free Online Tool

Your HTML
</p> <div> <p>Hello</p> <ul> <li>One</li> <li>Two</li> </ul> </div> <p>

Indent

Beautified HTML

How to Use the HTML Beautifier

Paste your HTML fragment or full page into the input box.
Choose an indent size: 2 spaces, 4 spaces or a tab.
Press Beautify HTML and read the formatted result.
Check that nesting matches your expectations, especially around lists and tables.
Copy the formatted HTML into your editor or template.

Key Features

Indentation that reveals element nesting at a glance
Configurable indent: 2 spaces, 4 spaces or tab
Pre, textarea, script and style contents protected byte-for-byte
Void elements handled without invented closing tags
Free, instant and entirely in your browser

Best Practices and Tips

Beautify before debugging: most markup bugs — unclosed divs, misnested lists — become obvious once indented.
Keep the beautified version as your working copy and minify only for production, never the reverse.
If the indentation looks wrong halfway down, an unclosed tag above it is the usual culprit.
For large pages, beautify sections at a time to localise structural problems faster.
Pair this tool with the HTML validator on this site when a page renders strangely.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Editing minified HTML directly, which invites errors that formatting would have prevented.
Expecting beautification to fix invalid markup: it formats structure, it does not repair broken tags.
Assuming whitespace inside pre or textarea is safe to reformat — it is content, and this tool protects it.
Minifying the beautified copy and overwriting the readable original.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does an HTML beautifier do?

It reformats HTML source so humans can read it: one element per line, with indentation showing nesting depth. It changes whitespace only, never the elements, attributes or text content of your markup.

Does beautifying change how the page renders?

In almost all cases, no. Whitespace between block elements does not affect rendering. The exception is whitespace inside pre, textarea, script and style elements, which this tool leaves untouched precisely for that reason.

How is this different from the HTML minifier?

They are opposites. The minifier removes whitespace and comments to shrink HTML for production; the beautifier adds whitespace and structure to make HTML readable for editing. Use the beautifier while working, the minifier when shipping.

What if my HTML is invalid?

The beautifier formats what it can and shows the structure as it understands it. Misnested or unclosed tags will show up as odd indentation — treat that as a clue and fix the source markup.

Is the HTML beautifier free?

Yes — free, unlimited and no sign-up required.