CSS Pretty Print
Free CSS pretty print & CSS beautifier — format CSS online with clean indentation, brace styles, alphabetical property sorting, duplicate removal, and built-in syntax validation. Turn minified or messy stylesheets into readable code you can actually edit. 100% client-side and private — your code never leaves your browser.
Formatted CSS with syntax highlighting will appear here…How to pretty print CSS
- Paste or upload your stylesheet into the input box — minified, messy, or half-formatted CSS all works (or click Load sample to try it).
- Choose a brace style: Expanded for maximum readability, Compact for one-line rules, or Compressed for small-but-scannable output. Pick your indentation — 2 spaces, 4 spaces, or tabs.
- Toggle cleanup options: sort properties A–Z, remove duplicate declarations (keeps the last value, exactly like the browser cascade), and keep or strip comments.
- Click Format CSS — or leave Live format on to watch the syntax-highlighted output update as you type. Review the stats and any validation warnings.
- Copy the result or Download it as
.css.
Brace styles, explained
- Expanded — the classic readable style: each selector on its own line, one declaration per indented line. Best for editing, debugging, and code review.
- Compact — each rule on a single line with spaced declarations. Good for skimming large stylesheets when vertical space matters.
- Compressed — minimal whitespace, one rule per line. Useful when you want smaller CSS that is still human-scannable (it is not a full minifier — comments are stripped and there is no production-grade compression).
Tips for best results
- Read the validation panel: every run checks brace and parenthesis balance and flags unterminated strings or comments with line numbers — fix those in your source before shipping.
- Use sort + dedupe together before a code review: duplicates surface next to each other alphabetically, and the remover keeps the cascade-winning value.
- Need the reverse? When you are done editing, compress the finished stylesheet with our free CSS minifier before deploying to production.
Related tools: CSS Minifier · HTML Minifier · JSON Minifier
CSS Pretty Print FAQ
What is CSS pretty print?
CSS pretty print (also called CSS beautify or format CSS) takes messy, minified, or inconsistently indented CSS and rewrites it with clean, consistent formatting — one declaration per line, proper indentation, and tidy braces. The selectors, properties, and values stay exactly the same, so your site renders identically; only the code becomes readable.
How do I format CSS online with this tool?
Paste your CSS into the input box or upload a .css file, pick a brace style and indentation, then click “Format CSS”. Formatting runs instantly in your browser — no signup, no limits. Copy the result or download it as a .css file. Turn on Live format to watch the pretty-printed output update as you type.
Will formatting change how my CSS renders in the browser?
No. Pretty printing only changes the whitespace and layout of the code — indentation, line breaks, and spacing around braces and colons. Every selector, property, value, and comment keeps its meaning, so the formatted CSS renders pixel-identical to the original. It is the safe reverse of minification.
What brace styles does the CSS formatter support?
Three. Expanded puts the opening brace on its own flow with each declaration on a separate indented line — the most readable. Compact keeps each rule on one line with spaced declarations. Compressed removes nearly all whitespace with one rule per line — handy when you want small CSS that is still scannable.
Can I sort CSS properties alphabetically?
Yes — turn on “Sort properties A–Z” and every declaration block is reordered alphabetically, which makes scanning long rules and spotting duplicates much faster during code review. Sorting never changes rendering: when the same property appears twice, the duplicate remover runs first and keeps the winning (last) value, exactly like the browser cascade.
Does the tool remove duplicate CSS declarations?
Optionally. With “Remove duplicates” enabled, when the same property appears twice in one rule the earlier value is dropped and the last one is kept — exactly how the browser cascade resolves it. Each removal is listed in the validation panel with its line number, so nothing disappears silently.
Is my CSS code uploaded to a server?
No. This CSS pretty printer runs 100% client-side in your browser with plain JavaScript — your stylesheet is never uploaded, stored, or sent to any server. You can disconnect from the internet after the page loads and keep formatting.
What is the difference between this and the CSS minifier?
They are opposites. The CSS minifier compresses CSS into the smallest production file, while this CSS pretty print tool expands CSS into clean, readable code for editing and debugging. Use pretty print when you inherit minified CSS; when you are done editing, compress it again with our free CSS minifier.
Free tool by NRTechStudio