How to Use

To compare two XML files with Twin Fish Tech's free online tool, just follow these steps:

1. Use Copy & Paste or click “Load File” to load the XML documents you want to compare.
2. If the XML data is hard to read (e.g., no line breaks), click the “Prettify” buttons to format it.
3. Click Compare.
4. You will now see a side-by-side comparison of the XML elements and attributes. Differences are highlighted for easy viewing.

Tags or attributes only present in the left document are highlighted in red, while data unique to the right document is highlighted in green.

Identical areas may be excluded to help you focus on the actual changes.

How it Works

The tool parses XML elements and attributes into a structured format independent of textual representation. This allows it to ignore irrelevant changes like whitespace between attributes.

Additional rules filter out non-semantic changes such as reordering attributes within the same element or switching values to CDATA sections.

The remaining differences are then highlighted in your original input, preserving formatting. Prettify options are available if you prefer to format the XML before comparing.

Note: Whitespace handling may differ. Our tool trims leading/trailing whitespace by default but respects the xml:space="preserve" attribute.

Offline Usage

Twin Fish Tech’s online XML compare tool requires an internet connection, as computations are performed on our servers. For offline semantic XML comparison, you can use the SemanticDiff Visual Studio Code extension, which performs all computations locally, ensuring your data never leaves your machine.