What's the difference between formatting and minifying?

Formatting adds indentation and line breaks to make CSS readable and maintainable. Minifying removes whitespace and unnecessary characters to reduce file size for production. Use formatting for development, minifying for production deployment.

Will formatting change my CSS functionality?

Formatting should not change CSS functionality—it only adds indentation and line breaks. CSS is whitespace-insensitive (except in some edge cases), so formatting is generally safe. Always test formatted CSS to ensure it works correctly.

Can I customize the indentation style?

You can choose indentation size (2, 4, or 8 spaces), but the formatting style (spaces vs tabs, bracket placement) is fixed. The tool uses standard CSS formatting conventions. For custom formatting rules, use specialized CSS formatters or code editors.

Will minifying break my CSS?

Minifying should not break valid CSS—it only removes whitespace and unnecessary characters. CSS is whitespace-insensitive, so minification is generally safe. Always test minified CSS to ensure it works correctly. Minification is safe for most standard CSS.

Does this tool support CSS3 and modern CSS features?

Yes, the tool supports modern CSS features including CSS3, custom properties (variables), flexbox, grid, and other modern syntax. Most standard CSS features format correctly. Some experimental or very new features may have limited support.

CSS Formatter - Beautify & Minify Free

When to Use This Tool

Use this when:

You have messy or unformatted CSS code and need to clean it up for readability
You want to minify CSS code to reduce file size for production deployment
You're debugging CSS issues and need properly formatted code to identify problems
You're learning CSS and want to see well-formatted code structure
You need to standardize CSS formatting across multiple files or projects
You want to improve code readability by adding proper indentation and line breaks
You're preparing CSS for code review or collaboration and need clean formatting

Don't use this if:

You need to preserve exact whitespace or formatting (formatting changes whitespace)
You're working with CSS that has specific formatting requirements that must be preserved
You need to format very large CSS files (over 1MB may process slowly)
You require specific formatting rules or custom indentation styles (tool uses standard formatting)
You want to format CSS with embedded JavaScript or server-side code (may break syntax)

What is a CSS Formatter?

A CSS formatter (also called a CSS beautifier) takes messy, minified, or inconsistently styled CSS code and reformats it with proper indentation, consistent property ordering, and readable structure. Our tool processes everything in your browser — your stylesheets never leave your device.

CSS formatting is important for code maintainability and collaboration: cleaning up minified CSS from production builds for debugging, standardizing code style across development teams, making vendor-prefixed properties readable, and organizing CSS from various sources into a consistent format.

This tool is essential for front-end developers maintaining and debugging stylesheets, web designers who write CSS alongside HTML, full-stack developers reviewing and refactoring styles, DevOps engineers debugging CSS in production, and students learning CSS who need clearly formatted examples.

Compared to IDE extensions like Prettier (which require installation and configuration), command-line tools (which require Node.js), or online formatters that may log your CSS code, PureXio provides instant CSS formatting with syntax highlighting and configurable options.

The tool supports customizable indentation (2 spaces, 4 spaces, tabs), handles nested CSS (including SCSS-like nesting in modern CSS), properly formats media queries, supports CSS custom properties (variables), and includes a minify mode for compressing CSS. It preserves comments and handles edge cases like data URIs within property values.

Best for: beautifying and formatting CSS code. Configurable indentation, syntax highlighting, media query formatting, minify mode. 100% browser-based.

How to Format CSS

Paste your CSS code into the input field. Code can be minified, unformatted, or already formatted

Choose formatting option: 'Format CSS' to beautify with indentation, or 'Minify CSS' to compress. Set indent size (2, 4, or 8 spaces) for formatting

Review formatted or minified CSS. Copy the result to clipboard. Formatted CSS has proper indentation and line breaks; minified CSS is compressed for smaller file size

Common Use Cases

Format messy CSS from code generators or frameworks for better readability

Minify CSS files for production to reduce file size and improve load times

Clean up CSS code before code review or collaboration with team members

Format CSS templates or stylesheets for easier editing and maintenance

Prepare CSS code for documentation or tutorials with proper formatting

Standardize CSS formatting across multiple files in a project

Debug CSS structure issues by viewing properly formatted code

Features

Format CSS code with proper indentation and line breaks for readability

Minify CSS code to reduce file size by removing whitespace and unnecessary characters

Customizable indentation size (2, 4, or 8 spaces) for formatting

Preserves CSS structure and content while improving formatting

Handles selectors, properties, values, and complex CSS structures

One-click copy formatted or minified CSS to clipboard

100% private—all processing happens in your browser

Limitations & Constraints

Very large CSS files (over 1MB) may process slowly—consider splitting into smaller sections

Formatting may change whitespace—exact whitespace preservation is not guaranteed

Some CSS features or experimental syntax may not format correctly

CSS custom properties (variables) and at-rules are supported but formatting may vary

Some CSS minification may remove comments or whitespace that you want to keep

Troubleshooting

Formatting fails or shows error

Solution: Check that CSS is valid—malformed CSS may cause formatting errors. Ensure all selectors, properties, and values are properly formatted. Try fixing CSS errors first, then format. Some edge cases or unusual CSS structures may not format correctly. Prevention: Validate CSS before formatting if you encounter errors.

Formatted CSS looks wrong or structure is broken

Solution: Formatting preserves CSS structure but may change indentation. If structure looks wrong, check original CSS for errors. Nested selectors and properties should format correctly. If formatting breaks functionality, try different indent size or check for CSS syntax errors. Prevention: Test formatted CSS to ensure it still works correctly.

Minified CSS is too compressed or hard to read

Solution: Minification removes whitespace and compresses code—this is intentional for file size reduction. If you need readable code, use 'Format CSS' instead of 'Minify CSS'. Minification is for production use, formatting is for development. Prevention: Use formatting for development, minification for production.

Processing is slow for large CSS files

Solution: Very large CSS files (over 1MB) may process slowly. Split CSS into smaller sections and format separately, or wait for processing to complete. Close other browser tabs to free up resources. For extremely large files, use desktop CSS formatters. Prevention: Format CSS in smaller sections if files are very large.

CSS variables or custom properties not formatting correctly

Solution: CSS custom properties (variables) should format correctly, but some edge cases may not. Check that variable syntax is correct (--variable-name: value). If formatting breaks variables, check original CSS syntax. Most standard CSS features format correctly. Prevention: Ensure CSS uses standard syntax for best formatting results.