diff --git a/README.rst b/README.rst
index 6da3c33e..fb467869 100644
--- a/README.rst
+++ b/README.rst
@@ -1566,8 +1566,8 @@ You can further control the applied formatting via the more granular `format opt
 Format options
 --------------
 
-The ``--format-options`` option allows you to control how the output should be formatted when formatting is applied.
-The following options are available:
+The ``--format-options=opt1:value,opt2:value`` option allows you to control how the output should be formatted
+when formatting is applied. The following options are available:
 
 +-------------------------------+---------------+------------------------------+
 | Option                        | Default value | Shortcuts                    |
@@ -1582,7 +1582,7 @@ The following options are available:
 +--------------------+----------+---------------+------------------------------+
 | ``xml.format``                | ``true``      | N/A                          |
 +-------------------------------+---------------+------------------------------+
-| ``xml.indent``                | ``4``         | N/A                          |
+| ``xml.indent``                | ``2``         | N/A                          |
 +--------------------+----------+---------------+------------------------------+
 
 For example, this is how you would disable the default header and JSON key
diff --git a/httpie/cli/constants.py b/httpie/cli/constants.py
index ef6bf2c3..a1b78d33 100644
--- a/httpie/cli/constants.py
+++ b/httpie/cli/constants.py
@@ -91,7 +91,7 @@ DEFAULT_FORMAT_OPTIONS = [
     'json.indent:4',
     'json.sort_keys:true',
     'xml.format:true',
-    'xml.indent:4',
+    'xml.indent:2',
 ]
 SORTED_FORMAT_OPTIONS = [
     'headers.sort:true',