You are looking at the HTML representation of the XML format.
HTML is good for debugging, but is unsuitable for application use.
Specify the format parameter to change the output format.
To see the non HTML representation of the XML format, set format=xml.
See the complete documentation, or API help for more information. 
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<api>
  <compare fromrevid="1" torevid="2" xml:space="preserve">&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; class=&quot;diff-lineno&quot;&gt;Line 1:&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; class=&quot;diff-lineno&quot;&gt;Line 1:&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;−&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class='diff-deletedline'&gt;&lt;div&gt;'''&lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;MediaWiki has been successfully installed.&lt;/del&gt;'''&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;+&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class='diff-addedline'&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;Welcome to &lt;/ins&gt;'''&lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;Wires and Bits&lt;/ins&gt;'''&lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;, your one-stop resource for all things relating to wires and bits.&lt;/ins&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class='diff-context'&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class='diff-context'&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class='diff-context'&gt;&lt;div&gt;Consult the [//meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Help:Contents User's Guide] for information on using the wiki software.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class='diff-context'&gt;&lt;div&gt;Consult the [//meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Help:Contents User's Guide] for information on using the wiki software.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
</compare>
</api>