End tag “br”.

In HTML, certain elements are classified as void elements — they cannot contain any content and must not have a closing (end) tag. The <br> element, which represents a line break, is one of these void elements. Others include <img>, <input>, <hr>, <meta>, and <link>.

When the validator encounters </br>, it interprets it as a closing tag for a <br> element. Since void elements are forbidden from having closing tags by the HTML specification, this produces the error “End tag br.”

Why this matters

• Standards compliance: The WHATWG HTML Living Standard explicitly states that void elements must not have an end tag. Using </br> violates this rule.
• Browser inconsistency: While most browsers will silently recover from </br> — some treat it as a <br>, others may ignore it entirely — relying on error recovery behavior is unpredictable and can lead to inconsistent rendering across browsers.
• Code clarity: Using </br> suggests the element has an opening and closing pair, which is misleading to other developers reading the code. It implies a misunderstanding of how the element works.

How to fix it

Replace every instance of </br> with <br>. That’s it. There’s no need for a closing tag because <br> is self-closing by definition.

Both <br> and <br/> (with a trailing slash) are valid in HTML5. The <br> form is generally preferred in HTML documents, while <br/> is required in XHTML and sometimes used for compatibility with XML-based tools.

Examples

❌ Invalid: using an end tag for <br>

<p>First line</br>Second line</p>

This triggers the “End tag br“ validation error.

❌ Also invalid: pairing an opening and closing <br> tag

<p>First line<br></br>Second line</p>

Even when paired with an opening <br>, the </br> end tag is still invalid.

✅ Valid: using <br> without a closing tag

<p>First line<br>Second line</p>

✅ Also valid: self-closing syntax with a trailing slash

<p>First line<br/>Second line</p>

This form is acceptable in HTML5, though <br> without the slash is more conventional in modern HTML.

✅ Practical example: an address block

<address>
  123 Main Street<br>
  Suite 400<br>
  Springfield, IL 62704
</address>

Other void elements

The same rule applies to all void elements. None of these should have closing tags:

<area>, <base>, <br>, <col>, <embed>, <hr>, <img>, <input>, <link>, <meta>, <source>, <track>, <wbr>

If you see a similar “End tag” error for any of these elements, the fix is the same: remove the closing tag.

Learn more:

Trailing slash on void elements

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