Online Formatters for JSON, SQL & XML
Format, minify, and validate JSON, SQL, XML, and proxy lists with free browser-based developer tools.
Choose a tool
A formatter proves that a document parses. It never proves the document is right.
Four tools sit here, split by input language rather than by what they do to it. The JSON, SQL, and XML formatters each parse a document and print it back with its structure spelled out; Proxy List Formatter does the same for a line-oriented list of addresses. All four run in this browser tab, and in every case the failure output matters as much as the success: a parser that stops tells you where your assumptions and the grammar diverged.
Pick the formatter by the language, then by the question
Reach for JSON Formatter & Validator when a payload was rejected and the log only said malformed. Its real output is the error offset, and the defect usually sits one character before the position the parser names, because a parser can only report where a value was expected.
Reach for XML Formatter & Minifier to read a SOAP envelope or a build configuration deeply enough to find one element. XML differs from JSON in a way that bites here: whitespace inside an element is content, so on an element mixing text with child tags, indentation becomes part of what a consumer reads.
Reach for SQL Formatter & Minifier when someone hands you a one-line statement from an ORM log. Stacking the clauses is what makes a LEFT JOIN followed by a HAVING on the aggregate visible at all. Pick the dialect that will execute it; the wrong one is how a quoted identifier quietly loses its case.
Formatting is not validation, and the gap is where the hours go
Valid JSON parses. Correct JSON also carries the fields and types the receiver expects, which is a JSON Schema question no formatter answers. And if you want one value out of a large document rather than a readable copy of all of it, use the JSONPath Tester instead of scrolling.
The same split is why XML Formatter & Minifier and XML Validator are separate pages. The formatter is for reading and reshaping; the validator is for a verdict on well-formedness plus the position of the first break. Neither checks a document against an XSD, because well-formed and schema-valid are different claims.
Proxy List Formatter is a text tool that happens to be about networks
Proxy addresses have no standard text form. One provider exports host:port:user:pass, the next user:pass@host:port, and SOCKS entries may carry a scheme or not. The formatter parses all of those shapes and emits one, so a list assembled from three vendors needs no hand-editing.
The one consequential choice there is socks5 against socks5h: the first resolves hostnames on your machine, the second on the proxy. Formatting proves nothing about reachability, so dedupe with List Compare and test with the Batch Proxy Checker, and only for proxies you are authorized to use.
Before you rely on a result
- Keep the original input and compare it against the output. Formatting is trustworthy only when you can see that nothing but whitespace moved.
- Re-read long integers after formatting JSON. Values beyond 2^53 - 1 come back as the nearest representable double.
- Confirm the SQL dialect matches the database that will run the statement, then check every quoted identifier.
- Inspect XML elements holding both text and child tags, and prefer CDATA for text no formatter should rewrap.
- Minify last, and keep the readable copy. Minification is for fitting a payload somewhere, not for parsing speed.
Frequently asked questions
Does formatting ever change my data?
Only whitespace between tokens moves, so keys, strings, and booleans round-trip exactly. Two exceptions deserve attention: JSON numbers outside the range a double represents exactly, and XML elements that mix text with child elements, where added indentation becomes part of the text.
Why is my JSON rejected when a browser console accepts it?
Because a JavaScript engine accepts an object literal and JSON is a strictly smaller language. Comments, trailing commas, single-quoted strings, unquoted keys, undefined, and NaN are all legal JavaScript and all invalid JSON. JSON5 and JSONC are separate formats with separate loaders.
Is anything I paste uploaded?
No. All four tools parse and re-print in this browser tab, and nothing is sent to a server or kept between visits. The content is still on your screen and visible to browser extensions, so redact tokens, connection strings, and proxy passwords first.
Browse all developer tools or read the developer tool guides for worked examples.