Free CSS Formatter and Beautifier
Paste minified or messy CSS and get readable, consistently indented code, with media queries nested properly and strings kept intact.
CSS Formatter and Beautifier: Paste minified or messy CSS and get readable, consistently indented code, with media queries nested properly and strings kept intact. It is free, needs no sign-up and runs in your browser. How to use it: 1) paste your CSS or load the sample; 2) choose indentation and whether to sort properties; 3) click Format, then copy or download the stylesheet. The formatter parses your stylesheet into rules, at-rules, declarations and comments using a small tokenizer that understands strings, url() values and parentheses. That means a semicolon or brace inside a string or data URI never breaks the output.
How the CSS formatter works
The formatter parses your stylesheet into rules, at-rules, declarations and comments using a small tokenizer that understands strings, url() values and parentheses. That means a semicolon or brace inside a string or data URI never breaks the output. It then prints each rule with consistent indentation, one declaration per line and a blank line between rules.
What it handles
- Nested at-rules such as @media, @supports and @layer, at any depth.
- Statement at-rules such as @import and @charset.
- Comments, including license comments that start with /*!.
- Modern CSS nesting and custom properties.
Options
Choose 2 spaces, 4 spaces or tabs. Put each selector of a list on its own line for easier diffs. Turn on sorting to order properties from A to Z, with custom properties first and vendor prefixes kept next to the standard property. Sorting is off by default.
Limitations
Sorting can change behaviour when a rule sets both a shorthand and a longhand property, such as margin and margin-top, because the later one wins. Check those rules after sorting. Preprocessor syntax such as Sass mixins is formatted as plain CSS and may need manual touch ups. Comments placed in the middle of a declaration are moved to the line before it.
About this tool
The CSS Formatter and Beautifier is built and maintained by the Hayyat Networks team, a digital marketing, SEO and web development agency working with businesses in New York and Lahore since 2016. It is part of our free Website Development Tools collection.
- Last reviewed
- CostFree, no sign-up
- Where it runsRuns in your browser
- Checking resultsThe method and a worked example are shown above, so you can verify every result.
- PrivacyIt runs entirely in your browser: what you type stays on your device and is never sent to us.
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Link to this tool
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<a href="https://hayyatnetworks.com/free-tools/website-tools/css-formatter/">CSS Formatter and Beautifier</a> by Hayyat NetworksCSS Formatter FAQs
Why format minified CSS?
Minified CSS is hard to read and debug. Formatting it lets you find a selector, understand a theme you inherited or compare two versions. Keep the readable version for editing and serve the minified version on your live site for speed.
Will formatting change how my styles work?
No. The formatter only changes whitespace and line breaks. Values, strings and url() paths are kept as written. The one exception is the optional property sort, which can matter when a shorthand and a longhand property appear in the same rule, so it is turned off by default.
Does it support media queries and CSS nesting?
Yes. Any block inside another block is indented one level deeper, so @media, @supports, @container, @layer and native CSS nesting are all handled. Statement at-rules like @import and @charset stay on a single line, and comments keep their position between rules.
Is there a size limit?
There is no fixed limit because everything runs in your browser. Stylesheets of a few megabytes format in about a second on a modern computer. Nothing is uploaded, so you can safely format private theme files and client stylesheets.
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