CSS Formatter

Beautify and minify CSS stylesheets. Organize rules, fix indentation, and optimize file size for production.

Updated Dec 06, 2025

CSS

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Formatted

Frontend hygiene

Polish your CSS before shipping

Readable CSS is easier to debug, collaborate on, and hand off. Minified CSS makes builds lighter. This formatter handles both without forcing you to install IDE extensions or paste styles into questionable third-party sites.

Beautify messy stylesheets

Drop in vendor snippets, legacy resets, or SCSS output you need to review quickly. The formatter normalizes indentation, aligns braces, and groups related declarations so code reviews focus on intent rather than spacing.

Pick from opinionated presets (two spaces vs. tabs, where braces should live, how to order properties) or override any rule manually. Live previews make it obvious how each choice affects your stylesheet, letting you match house style guides instantly.

Selector-aware formatting
Nested selectors, media queries, and keyframes retain hierarchy so it is easy to scan complex layouts.
Comment preservation
Important documentation comments and `@supports` notes stay intact during beautification.

Minify for production

When you are ready to deploy, toggle to minify mode. The tool strips whitespace, shortens color values, rewrites zero units, and collapses shorthand properties to shrink payload size without changing behavior.

Because everything happens locally, you can process proprietary design systems or customer themes inside your browser and keep the results within your VCS.

Diff-friendly output
Generate both beautified and minified versions to attach to pull requests for easy comparison.
Copy-paste shortcuts
Grab formatted code, minified blobs, or download files directly depending on your build process.

Integrate with other workflows

Design tokens

Import tokens from the Color Converter and ensure they are consistently declared across stylesheets.

Regression checks

Use Diff Checker on the beautified output to confirm that only intended selectors changed.

CMS theming

Clean up snippets before handing them to marketing teams editing landing pages in Gutenberg or Webflow.

Performance budgets

Track minified file sizes during releases to stay under Lighthouse thresholds.

Next step

Validate markup next

Send companion HTML snippets through the HTML Viewer to ensure structure and styles remain in sync before merging.

Open HTML Viewer

Popular combinations

Audit with Diff Checker
Compare CSS Formatter output with previous revisions to avoid regressions.
Share via QR Code Generator
Turn sanitized payloads into QR codes for offline reviews.

Frequently asked questions

Why should I format CSS?

Formatting CSS makes stylesheets readable and maintainable. It ensures consistent indentation, spacing, and bracket placement, which is crucial when working in teams or debugging layout issues.

What is CSS Minification?

Minification removes unnecessary characters like whitespace, comments, and newlines from your CSS code. This significantly reduces file size, leading to faster page load times for your users.

Does this tool support SCSS or LESS?

Currently, this tool is optimized for standard CSS. While it can format basic SCSS/LESS structures, complex nesting or variables might not be handled perfectly. We recommend using a dedicated preprocessor for those formats.

Is my code private?

Yes. All processing happens locally in your browser. We never upload your CSS to any server.

How to use CSS Formatter

Follow these four quick steps to prepare and validate structured payloads right inside your browser—no downloads, no accounts, and no data leaving the FreeTools.run sandbox.

Step 1: Load your source data
Paste text, drag a file, or start with our curated sample to understand how the formatter workflow behaves with real inputs.
Step 2: Adjust tool options
Toggle presets, update formatting rules, or choose export preferences. All controls update in real time so you can preview the effect before committing.
Step 3: Review the live preview
Use the split-pane preview, inline validation, or diff output to confirm the transformation looks correct before you copy anything back into your project.
Step 4: Export or chain another tool
Copy the result, download a file, or jump into a related FreeTools.run utility (like Diff Checker or the QR Code Generator) to continue the workflow without leaving the browser.