How to clean XML
Start with well-formed XML in XML input, or load a file through Drop an XML file here and browse files. The page parses the source, applies the selected cleanup rules, and refreshes the result after each change. The Changes made section counts normalized text nodes, removed whitespace-only nodes, comments, empty elements, and total changes.
- Enter well-formed XML in XML input, or select Drop an XML file here and choose browse files.
- Keep Normalize text whitespace (collapse & trim, drop whitespace-only nodes) selected, or enable Remove comment nodes ( <!-- ... --> ) and Remove empty elements (no attributes, text, or children).
- Choose an option under Output indentation.
- Check Changes made and the Before and After previews, then choose Copy Cleaned XML or Export XML.
What normalizing XML whitespace changes
Normalize text whitespace (collapse & trim, drop whitespace-only nodes) changes text nodes that contain content. Runs of spaces, tabs, and newlines become one space, and the result is trimmed. Text nodes that contain only whitespace are removed. For example:
<item> Hello
world </item>
<item>Hello world</item>The cleanup traversal skips CDATA sections and processing instructions. The document is reparsed, serialized, and formatted, so Before shows a formatted representation rather than a byte-for-byte copy.
How to remove XML comments and empty elements
Remove comment nodes ( <!-- ... --> ) deletes XML comment nodes. Remove empty elements (no attributes, text, or children) deletes an element only when it has no attributes, element children, comments, non-whitespace text, or CDATA content. Processing instructions do not count as content for this check.
<root><!-- note --><group><empty></empty></group></root>
<root></root>Cleanup visits child elements first. If removing a child leaves its parent empty, the tool checks the parent on another pass, up to 20 passes. The document element itself remains.
Choose XML output indentation
Output indentation has 2 spaces, 4 spaces, Tab, and Compact (no whitespace). The formatter changes whitespace between tags during serialization, even when Normalize text whitespace (collapse & trim, drop whitespace-only nodes) is off. Namespace and attribute nodes are not cleanup targets, but serialization can change their surrounding formatting, and empty-element removal can change structure.
Check the result before exporting
- Before shows the formatted serialization of the parsed input.
- After shows the serialized XML after the selected cleanup and indentation settings.
- Copy Cleaned XML and Export XML use the current After text, including edits made in the editable output preview.
When to use an XML validator or converter
Use XML Clean Tools when the document is already well formed and you need to remove selected content or change its serialized spacing. XML Cleaner reports a parse failure when the source is invalid, but it does not diagnose or repair broken syntax. Use XML Validator & Formatter when the document will not parse. Choose XML to JSON Converter when the required output is JSON.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I clean XML without changing its format?
XML Cleaner keeps the output as XML while applying the selected cleanup rules. It reparses, serializes, and formats the document, so spacing can change. Removing empty elements can also change the structure.
How do I remove comments from XML?
Select Remove comment nodes ( <!-- ... --> ). The preview updates with XML comment nodes removed.
How do I remove empty elements from XML?
Select Remove empty elements (no attributes, text, or children). Elements that become empty can make their parents removable too, while the document element remains.
Does XML Cleaner process files in the browser?
Parsing, cleanup, preview generation, copying, and export run in the browser. The page reads uploaded files as UTF-8 and has no code that sends the XML to a server. A file longer than 200,000 characters is truncated only in the XML input preview; the full loaded content is processed.