CSS Formatter & Compressor
Format or compress CSS code with custom indentation and comment preservation
CSS Minifier & Beautifier Documentation
What is this tool?
This tool allows you to minify (compress) or beautify CSS code. Minification removes unnecessary whitespace, comments, and redundant characters to reduce file size for production deployment. Beautification formats CSS with proper indentation and line breaks to improve readability during development.
Key Features
- Minify CSS - Remove whitespace, line breaks, and comments to reduce file size
- Beautify CSS - Format CSS with proper indentation and line breaks for improved readability
- Customizable indent size (2 spaces, 4 spaces, or tab)
- Option to preserve comments during minification
- File size comparison showing compression ratio
Common Use Cases
- Optimize CSS files for production deployment to reduce page load time
- Format minified CSS for easier debugging and code review
- Clean up inconsistently formatted CSS code
- Reduce bandwidth usage by serving minified CSS to users
Best Practices
Keep Original Files
Always keep uncompressed source CSS files in your code repository. Use build tools (Webpack, Gulp, Rollup) to automatically generate minified versions during deployment.
Use Source Maps
Generate CSS source maps for debugging production issues. Source maps allow browser dev tools to map minified CSS back to original source code.
Merge Before Minifying
Combine multiple CSS files into one before minifying to reduce HTTP requests. However, with HTTP/2 multiplexing, this may become less important.
Test After Minifying
Always test your website after minification. Some aggressive minifiers may break CSS constructs like calc() expressions or media queries.
Consider Gzip Compression
In addition to CSS minification, enable server-side Gzip/Brotli compression. Text-based CSS compresses excellently, typically achieving 70-90% reduction.
Preserve License Comments
Use /*! */ syntax to mark license comments that must be preserved. Most minifiers follow this convention and retain such comments in output.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
What is CSS Minification?
Minification is the process of removing unnecessary characters (spaces, line breaks, comments) from source code without changing its functionality. This reduces file size and has a positive impact on page load speed.
Does minifying CSS improve SEO ranking?
Yes. Google considers page load speed as a ranking factor. Smaller CSS files download faster, helping improve Core Web Vitals and overall user experience.
What's the difference between Minify and Beautify?
"Minify" strips all formatting to make the file as small as possible, suitable for computer parsing. "Beautify" adds consistent indentation and line breaks to make code easy for humans to read.
Is it safe to process my code here?
Absolutely safe. This tool runs entirely in your browser using JavaScript. Your CSS code is never sent to our servers.
Will this break my layout?
Usually not. However, be cautious with CSS properties that require spaces (like `calc(100% - 20px)`). Our tool preserves necessary spaces, but always test to be sure.