Production CSS is often minified for performance, but minified CSS is impossible to read or debug. Beautifying restores structure so you can trace cascade conflicts, find specific rules, audit unused selectors, review framework-generated stylesheets (Tailwind, Bootstrap), prepare CSS snippets for documentation, or modify generated CSS by hand.

Does it preserve all CSS features?

Yes. Beautifying preserves all selectors (including complex combinators, pseudo-classes, pseudo-elements), all properties, all values, vendor prefixes, @rules (@media, @keyframes, @supports, @font-face, @import), and CSS variables (custom properties). Only whitespace and indentation are changed; the parsed CSS rules remain identical.

Can I customize the indentation?

Yes. Choose 2-space, 4-space, or tab indentation. 2 spaces matches Prettier defaults; 4 spaces is common in older codebases and design systems; tab indentation lets each developer configure display width. Your preference is saved automatically for future sessions.

Does it work with SCSS, Sass, or LESS?

This tool is a CSS-specific beautifier — it works on standard CSS, including modern features like CSS custom properties, nesting (CSS Nesting Module), and @container queries. For preprocessor-specific syntax (Sass mixins, LESS guards, nested selectors with parent references), use a preprocessor-aware beautifier or your build tool's formatting step.

Will it preserve CSS comments?

Yes. Both block comments (/* ... */) and (since CSS doesn't have line comments) any comment-like content are preserved. Comments are repositioned with appropriate spacing — typically on their own line above the rule they document, or aligned with the opening brace of the block they describe.

Can I beautify partial CSS or fragments?

Yes. The beautifier doesn't require a full stylesheet — you can paste a single rule, a few selectors, an @media query, or even just a single declaration. The output preserves the same structure with proper indentation. Useful for cleaning up CSS pasted from blog posts, Stack Overflow, or design tool exports.

Is my CSS sent to a server?

No. All processing happens in your browser. Your CSS never leaves your device — safe for confidential design system rules, internal app styles, brand-specific overrides, or any CSS containing private information. The tool also works offline once loaded.

CSS Beautifier

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Beautified CSS

About CSS Beautifier

This CSS Beautifier formats your CSS code with proper indentation, line breaks, and spacing. It makes minified or messy CSS readable and maintainable. Perfect for web developers, designers, and anyone working with stylesheets.

How to Use CSS Beautifier

Paste your CSS

Paste minified or messy CSS into the input editor on the left, or click Upload to pick a .css file from disk. Full stylesheets, fragments, and individual rules are all supported.

Choose indentation

Select 2-space, 4-space, or tab indentation from the controls bar. Most modern style guides use 2 spaces; older codebases often prefer 4 spaces or tabs.

View beautified output

The properly formatted CSS appears instantly in the output panel with one rule per line, properties indented under their selector, and consistent spacing around colons and semicolons.

Copy or download

Click Copy to put the beautified CSS on your clipboard, or Download to save it as a .css file. Use it in your design system, code reviews, documentation, or anywhere readable CSS is needed.

When to Use CSS Beautifier

Debugging production CSS

When inspecting a deployed website's stylesheet (View Source, DevTools → Sources tab), you typically see compressed CSS on a single line. Paste it here for instant beautification, then trace selector specificity, find rules causing layout bugs, or extract specific blocks for analysis.

Reviewing framework-generated CSS

Tailwind, Bootstrap, and similar frameworks ship pre-built CSS files that are minified by default. Beautifying them lets you audit utility classes, understand framework conventions, customize specific rules, or learn how popular systems structure responsive design and component variants.

Cleaning up exported design tool CSS

Tools like Figma, Sketch, and InVision export CSS for design systems. The output often has inconsistent spacing or unusual formatting. Beautifying produces clean, consistent CSS ready for direct use in your stylesheets, design tokens, or component libraries.

Preparing CSS for documentation

Code blocks in technical articles, design system docs, or Stack Overflow answers are far more useful with proper indentation. Beautify before pasting so readers can scan rules at a glance. 2-space indent works in narrow doc layouts; 4-space for spacious presentations or print.

CSS Beautifier Examples

Minified CSS to readable

Input

.btn{padding:0.5rem 1rem;background:#3b82f6;color:white;border-radius:0.375rem}.btn:hover{background:#2563eb}

Output

.btn {
  padding: 0.5rem 1rem;
  background: #3b82f6;
  color: white;
  border-radius: 0.375rem;
}

.btn:hover {
  background: #2563eb;
}

A minified two-rule fragment becomes 10 readable lines. Each property goes on its own line, indented under its selector. A blank line separates rules, making it easy to identify rule boundaries. Spaces are added after colons (color: white) and before opening braces — matching standard style guides.

@media query formatting

Input

@media(min-width:768px){.container{max-width:768px;margin:0 auto}.grid{grid-template-columns:repeat(2,1fr)}}

Output

@media (min-width: 768px) {
  .container {
    max-width: 768px;
    margin: 0 auto;
  }

  .grid {
    grid-template-columns: repeat(2, 1fr);
  }
}

Nested rules inside an @media query are indented one extra level. The structure makes the responsive breakpoint immediately visible, and each rule inside is properly formatted. Same applies to @supports, @keyframes, and @container — the beautifier handles all CSS at-rules consistently.

Preserving CSS variables and complex values

Input

:root{--primary:#3b82f6;--shadow:0 4px 6px -1px rgba(0,0,0,0.1)}.card{box-shadow:var(--shadow);background-color:var(--primary)}

Output

:root {
  --primary: #3b82f6;
  --shadow: 0 4px 6px -1px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1);
}

.card {
  box-shadow: var(--shadow);
  background-color: var(--primary);
}

Custom properties (CSS variables) declared in :root are preserved exactly. Complex multi-value properties like box-shadow with rgba colors keep their internal commas and structure. CSS variables referenced via var() retain their original syntax. The beautifier doesn't normalize or transform values — only whitespace.

Tips & Best Practices for CSS Beautifier

1.Use 2-space indent for production CSS files and design systems (matches Prettier defaults and most popular style guides). Use 4-space when CSS appears in documentation or wide-screen presentations where readability matters more than density.
2.Beautify before code review. Reviewing minified CSS hides bugs and makes the diff impossible to read; beautified CSS makes structural mistakes (typos in property names, incorrect units, missing semicolons) visible to reviewers.
3.When debugging cascade issues, beautify all involved stylesheets (yours plus any third-party CSS) into one place — then you can see all conflicting rules side by side and trace which one wins. Use specificity calculators on the resulting rules to verify.
4.If your CSS comes from a CSS-in-JS library (styled-components, Emotion), beautify only the rendered output (from DevTools), not the JavaScript source. The beautifier expects standard CSS syntax.
5.Watch for Sass/SCSS-specific syntax. Nested selectors with & references, @include directives, and $variables won't beautify correctly here — use a Sass-aware tool or pre-compile to plain CSS first.
6.For very large stylesheets (>500 KB), expect several seconds of processing. CSS parsing and reformatting is more complex than HTML or JSON, especially with deeply nested @media queries and many selectors.

Frequently Asked Questions

A CSS Beautifier (also called a CSS formatter or pretty-printer) takes minified, compressed, or messy CSS and reformats it with proper indentation, consistent spacing, and one rule per line. The result is human-readable CSS that's easy to inspect, debug, and modify. It preserves all selectors, properties, values, and behavior — only whitespace changes.

CSS Beautifier

About CSS Beautifier

How to Use CSS Beautifier

Paste your CSS

Choose indentation

View beautified output

Copy or download

When to Use CSS Beautifier

Debugging production CSS

Reviewing framework-generated CSS

Cleaning up exported design tool CSS

Preparing CSS for documentation

CSS Beautifier Examples

Minified CSS to readable

@media query formatting

Preserving CSS variables and complex values

Tips & Best Practices for CSS Beautifier

Frequently Asked Questions

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