What does XML minification strip?

Whitespace between tags and inside empty elements. Content inside text nodes is preserved; CDATA and comments are kept by default (configurable).

How does this compare to gzip?

Minification shrinks the file before compression. Useful when you can't gzip (SOAP payloads over some transports, embedded XML inside other formats).

Yes for attribute and element content. If your application's XPath relies on whitespace-only text nodes, those disappear — uncommon but possible.

Yes — run the XML Formatter on the minified output. Minification is lossless for the structural parts.

A worked example, rendered from real sample data. Sign in to run the tool on your own input.

Input

<catalog>
  <book id="1">
    <title>Developer Tools</title>
    <author>John Doe</author>
  </book>
</catalog>

Output

<catalog><book id="1"><title>Developer Tools</title><author>John Doe</author></book></catalog>

Minify XML by removing whitespace. Part of the DevTools Surf developer suite. Browse more tools in the XML collection.

Enterprise SOAP messages can routinely exceed 1 MB, making XML minification critical for network performance.
XML's verbose syntax uses 2-3x more bytes than equivalent JSON, which partly drove JSON's popularity after 2005.
The Android build system processes thousands of XML layout files, where minification measurably speeds up APK builds.

What does XML minification strip?: Whitespace between tags and inside empty elements. Content inside text nodes is preserved; CDATA and comments are kept by default (configurable).
How does this compare to gzip?: Minification shrinks the file before compression. Useful when you can't gzip (SOAP payloads over some transports, embedded XML inside other formats).
Will the minified XML parse the same way?: Yes for attribute and element content. If your application's XPath relies on whitespace-only text nodes, those disappear — uncommon but possible.
Can I re-expand it later?: Yes — run the XML Formatter on the minified output. Minification is lossless for the structural parts.

A worked example, rendered from real sample data. Sign in to run the tool on your own input.

Input

<catalog>
  <book id="1">
    <title>Developer Tools</title>
    <author>John Doe</author>
  </book>
</catalog>

Output

<catalog><book id="1"><title>Developer Tools</title><author>John Doe</author></book></catalog>

Minify XML by removing whitespace. Part of the DevTools Surf developer suite. Browse more tools in the XML collection.

Enterprise SOAP messages can routinely exceed 1 MB, making XML minification critical for network performance.
XML's verbose syntax uses 2-3x more bytes than equivalent JSON, which partly drove JSON's popularity after 2005.
The Android build system processes thousands of XML layout files, where minification measurably speeds up APK builds.

What does XML minification strip?: Whitespace between tags and inside empty elements. Content inside text nodes is preserved; CDATA and comments are kept by default (configurable).
How does this compare to gzip?: Minification shrinks the file before compression. Useful when you can't gzip (SOAP payloads over some transports, embedded XML inside other formats).
Will the minified XML parse the same way?: Yes for attribute and element content. If your application's XPath relies on whitespace-only text nodes, those disappear — uncommon but possible.
Can I re-expand it later?: Yes — run the XML Formatter on the minified output. Minification is lossless for the structural parts.