DevToolbox

CSS Formatter

CSS pulled from a bundled build, a browser's "view source," or a colleague's snippet is often collapsed onto very few lines. This formatter expands CSS rules into a readable, consistently indented structure with one declaration per line, making it much easier to scan selectors and properties. It can also minify CSS for production use.

Your data stays in your browser — this tool runs entirely on the client side and nothing is uploaded to a server.

How to Use the CSS Formatter

  1. Paste your CSS into the input box.
  2. Click "Format" to beautify it, or "Minify" to compress it onto fewer lines.
  3. Copy the result or download it as a .css file.

Why format CSS?

Readable CSS with consistent indentation and one property per line is far easier to scan, diff in version control, and debug than a dense single-line stylesheet. It also makes it much easier to spot duplicate or conflicting rules.

When to minify instead

Minified CSS removes whitespace and comments to reduce file size for production delivery. Most modern build tools handle this automatically as part of a build step, but a quick manual minifier is useful for one-off snippets or when you don't have a build pipeline set up.

Example

Minified input
.card{padding:16px;border-radius:8px;background:#1a1a1a}
.card {
  padding: 16px;
  border-radius: 8px;
  background: #1a1a1a;
}

Tips

  • Formatting does not check for browser compatibility or invalid property values.
  • Keep a formatted source stylesheet and minify only the shipped production build.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does this remove unused CSS?

No, this tool only reformats or minifies existing rules — it does not analyze usage or remove dead code.

Is my CSS uploaded anywhere?

No, everything runs locally in your browser.

Related Tools

HTML Formatter Beautify and indent messy or minified HTML. CSS Gradient Generator Visually build CSS linear and radial gradients. CSS Box Shadow Generator Visually build CSS box-shadow effects.