What is CSS formatting?
CSS formatting organizes stylesheet code with consistent indentation, line breaks between rules, and aligned properties. This makes stylesheets easier to read, debug, and maintain. This tool processes your CSS entirely in the browser with no server interaction.
How CSS formatting works
A CSS formatter parses your stylesheet and re-prints each rule consistently: one selector block per section, one declaration per line, a single space after each colon, and a semicolon after every declaration. This turns a wall of compressed CSS into something you can read, review, and diff cleanly in version control.
Consistent formatting also makes mistakes obvious — a missing semicolon or a stray brace stands out immediately once every rule follows the same shape.
Format for editing, minify for production
Readable CSS is for you and your team; minified CSS is for the browser. Minifying strips comments, whitespace, and the last semicolon in each block to shrink the file, which reduces download size and improves render times. Use formatting while you work and minify as a build step before deploying.
Formatting and clean diffs
One declaration per line is not only easier to read; it also produces clean diffs in version control, because changing one property touches one line instead of rewriting a whole rule. Consistent formatting is what lets a reviewer see exactly which style changed.
How to format CSS
- 1Paste your CSS. Paste a stylesheet or a single rule into the input.
- 2Click Format. Each rule is re-indented with one declaration per line. Choose Minify to compress instead.
- 3Copy the result. Copy the formatted or minified CSS into your project.
Examples
Format a compressed rule
Input
.btn{color:#fff;padding:8px 12px;border-radius:6px}Output
.btn {
color: #fff;
padding: 8px 12px;
border-radius: 6px;
}Minify for production
Input
.btn {
color: #fff;
padding: 8px;
}Output
.btn{color:#fff;padding:8px}Anatomy of a CSS rule
The parts a formatter aligns.
| Part | Example |
|---|---|
| Selector | .btn, h1, .card > p |
| Property | color, padding, border-radius |
| Value | #fff, 8px 12px, 1px solid #ccc |
| Declaration | color: #fff; |
| Block | { ... } |
Frequently asked questions
Does formatting change how my styles apply?+
No. Only whitespace and layout change; every selector, property, and value stays exactly the same, so the rendered result is identical.
What does minifying CSS remove?+
Comments, unnecessary whitespace and newlines, and the final semicolon in each block. The styling is unchanged — the file is just smaller.
Will it sort or merge my rules?+
No. It preserves the order of your declarations and rules, which matters in CSS because later rules can override earlier ones.
Does it support modern CSS?+
Yes — nested rules, custom properties (variables), and at-rules like @media are formatted with the rest of the stylesheet.
Is my CSS sent to a server?+
No. Everything runs locally in your browser.
Is it free?+
Yes — free and unlimited.
Does it handle Sass or Less?+
It formats standard CSS. Preprocessor syntax such as Sass variables and mixins may be preserved, but is best formatted with a preprocessor-aware tool.