Code Beautifier
Code Beautifier is a free online tool that formats and beautifies your source code for improved readability and consistent style. Paste in messy, minified, or poorly formatted code and get back perfectly indented, cleanly structured output in seconds. Supports a wide range of programming languages including JavaScript, TypeScript, HTML, CSS, JSON, XML, SQL, Python, PHP, and more. The beautifier applies consistent indentation, proper line breaks, spacing around operators, and other formatting conventions to transform unreadable code into well-organized, professional-looking source. Perfect for cleaning up minified production code, standardizing team code style, or preparing code snippets for documentation and tutorials.
What Is
Code beautification (also called code formatting or pretty printing) is the process of transforming source code from any format into a consistently styled, human-readable representation. A code beautifier analyzes the syntactic structure of your code and applies formatting rules to produce clean, standardized output. How code beautification works: 1. Lexical analysis: The beautifier tokenizes your source code into tokens (keywords, operators, identifiers, literals, etc.) 2. Parsing: It builds an Abstract Syntax Tree (AST) representing the code's structure 3. Formatting: The AST is traversed and output is generated with consistent indentation, spacing, and line breaks 4. Output: The formatted code is returned with all original functionality preserved Supported languages and their formatting features: - JavaScript/TypeScript: ES6+ syntax, arrow functions, template literals, async/await formatting - HTML: Proper tag nesting, attribute formatting, inline vs. block element handling - CSS/SCSS: Property indentation, selector formatting, @rule handling - JSON: Key sorting options, indentation level, trailing comma handling - XML: Tag formatting, attribute wrapping, namespace handling - SQL: Keyword capitalization, JOIN formatting, subquery indentation - Python: PEP 8 compliance, indentation (spaces vs tabs), line length management - PHP: PSR-12 compliance, brace placement, array formatting Why use a code beautifier: - Readability: Well-formatted code is easier to understand and debug - Code reviews: Consistent formatting makes diffs cleaner and reviews faster - Onboarding: New team members can read and understand code faster - Documentation: Clean code snippets look professional in docs and tutorials - Minified code recovery: Beautify minified JavaScript/CSS to debug production issues The tool preserves all code functionality—only whitespace and formatting change, never the logic or behavior.
How to Use
- Select your programming language from the dropdown menu. Choose from JavaScript, TypeScript, HTML, CSS, JSON, XML, SQL, Python, PHP, and more. The beautifier uses language-specific formatting rules for optimal results.
- Paste your code into the input editor. You can paste minified single-line code, poorly formatted code from emails or forums, or any code that needs cleaning up. The editor supports syntax highlighting for easier identification.
- Adjust formatting options if desired: set indentation size (2 or 4 spaces), choose between tabs and spaces, configure maximum line length, and toggle options like trailing commas or semicolon insertion.
- Click the 'Beautify' or 'Format' button to process your code. The formatted output appears instantly in the right panel. For large files (over 10,000 lines), processing may take a few seconds.
- Review the formatted code in the output panel. The beautified code preserves all original functionality with improved indentation, consistent spacing, and proper line breaks applied throughout.
- Copy the formatted code to your clipboard with the 'Copy' button, or download it as a file with the appropriate extension. Use the 'Compare' toggle to see a side-by-side diff of the original and formatted code.
Examples
Input: function test(){var x=1;var y=2;return x+y;}
Process: Parse JS → Apply formatting → Indent + line breaks
Result: function test() { var x = 1; var y = 2; return x + y; }
Input: {"name":"John","age":30}
Process: Parse JSON → 2-space indent
Result: { "name": "John", "age": 30 }
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Frequently Asked Questions
Does the beautifier change my code's functionality?
No. The beautifier only modifies whitespace characters (spaces, tabs, line breaks) and formatting. It never changes variable names, logic, function calls, or any executable code. The formatted code behaves identically to the original. The beautifier parses your code into an AST (Abstract Syntax Tree) and regenerates it with consistent formatting, so the output is semantically identical to the input.
Can I beautify minified JavaScript or CSS?
Yes! This is one of the most common use cases. Paste minified code (single-line, no whitespace) and the beautifier will expand it into readable, properly indented code. This is extremely useful for debugging production JavaScript that has been minified by tools like Terser, UglifyJS, or webpack. For CSS minified by cssnano or clean-css, the beautifier restores readable formatting.
What formatting style does the tool use?
The tool follows the most popular community style guides for each language: JavaScript follows StandardJS/Prettier conventions, Python follows PEP 8, PHP follows PSR-12, CSS follows common property-sorted formatting. You can customize indentation size, brace placement, and other preferences. The default settings match what most developers expect from modern code formatters.
Is there a limit on code size?
The tool handles code of any practical length client-side. For files up to about 50,000 characters, formatting is near-instant. For larger files (up to ~500KB), processing may take a few seconds depending on your browser's performance. Very large files (over 1MB) may cause browser slowdown—consider splitting them into smaller chunks. All processing happens locally in your browser, so there's no server upload limit.
Can I use this as a replacement for Prettier or ESLint formatting?
For quick, one-off formatting tasks, this tool works great. However, for team projects, dedicated tools like Prettier, ESLint, or Black (Python) offer more configuration options, editor integration, and CI/CD automation. This beautifier is best for quick formatting needs, cleaning up code from external sources, or situations where you can't install local tools. It uses similar formatting rules to Prettier for most languages.