HTML to XML Converter — Free Online Tool | JsonFormatter
Convert HTML markup to well-formed XML (XHTML) instantly. Paste your HTML and get properly structured, self-closing, namespace-aware XML output.
HTML Input
XML Output
What Is an HTML to XML Converter?
HTML is forgiving by design — browsers happily render unclosed tags, attributes without quotes, and all sorts of loose markup. XML is the exact opposite: every tag must be closed, attributes must be quoted, and the document must be well-formed. This converter takes your HTML and transforms it into valid, well-formed XML output. It uses the browser's native DOMParser to interpret the HTML exactly as a browser would, then serializes the result with XMLSerializer to produce clean XML.
The output follows the W3C XML specification — self-closing tags like <img> become <img />, attributes are properly quoted, and the structure is indented for readability. This is essentially the same idea behind XHTML, which reformulates HTML as an XML application. If you need to process HTML with XML-based tools like XSLT (try Saxon for that), this converter gives you a solid starting point.
How to Use This Tool
Paste or Upload HTML
Drop a page or a fragment of markup into the HTML pane on the left. Upload reads an .html file straight off your disk, and Sample fills the pane with a small demo page if you just want to watch it work.
See the XML Output
The right panel shows well-formed XML as you type. Self-closing tags, quoted attributes, and proper nesting are all handled automatically.
Copy or Download
Copy puts the converted markup on your clipboard; Download writes it out as an .xml file you can hand to an XSLT job. If you want different indentation, run it through the XML Formatter.
Conversion Example
Here's a typical HTML snippet. Paste it in to see how it looks as well-formed XML:
HTML input
When You'd Actually Use This
The most common scenario is feeding HTML content into XML-based toolchains — XSLT transformations, XML databases, or data interchange formats that demand well-formed markup. It's also useful when migrating legacy HTML pages to XHTML, or when an API expects XML payloads built from HTML content. The DOMParser API handles the heavy lifting, so browser quirks and implicit tags are resolved before the XML is generated.
If you want to validate the XML output, try the XML Validator tool.
Frequently Asked Questions
What happens to void elements like <img>, <br>, and <hr>?
Void elements are converted to self-closing XML tags: <img />, <br />, <hr />. This is required by the XML spec — every element must either have a closing tag or be self-closing.
Does it handle HTML entities?
Yes. Named HTML entities like © and — are resolved by the DOM parser. In the XML output, characters that need escaping (like & and <) are properly escaped.
Is the output valid XHTML?
The output is well-formed XML that closely resembles XHTML. For strict XHTML 1.0 compliance, you may need to add the XHTML namespace and doctype declaration manually.
Is any data sent to a server?
No. Your markup is parsed and re-serialised on this page by two APIs every modern browser ships, DOMParser and XMLSerializer. The HTML you paste is never posted to a server.
Can I use the XML output with XSLT?
Absolutely. The output is well-formed XML, so you can feed it directly into XSLT processors like Saxon or the browser's built-in XSLTProcessor. Just make sure to add the appropriate root namespace if your stylesheet expects one.
What about malformed HTML input?
The browser's DOM parser is very forgiving — it fixes unclosed tags, reorders misnested elements, and fills in implied structure. The XML output reflects the browser's corrected interpretation of the HTML.
Related Tools
Conversion uses the browser's DOMParser and XMLSerializer APIs. The output follows the W3C XML specification. For XHTML details, see the W3C XHTML 1.0 spec. For server-side XSLT processing, Saxon is a widely used processor.