diff --git a/src/server/internalServer.cpp b/src/server/internalServer.cpp
index ee923df1..3346747e 100644
--- a/src/server/internalServer.cpp
+++ b/src/server/internalServer.cpp
@@ -777,7 +777,7 @@ std::unique_ptr<Response> InternalServer::handle_search(const RequestContext& re
     renderer.setProtocolPrefix(m_root + "/");
     renderer.setSearchProtocolPrefix(m_root + "/search");
     renderer.setPageLength(pageLength);
-    if (request.get_optional_param<std::string>("format", "") == "xml") {
+    if (request.get_requested_format() == "xml") {
       return ContentResponse::build(*this, renderer.getXml(), "application/rss+xml; charset=utf-8",
       /*isHomePage =*/false,
       /*raw =*/true);
diff --git a/src/server/request_context.cpp b/src/server/request_context.cpp
index 53a5cde2..0b9a1a53 100644
--- a/src/server/request_context.cpp
+++ b/src/server/request_context.cpp
@@ -202,4 +202,9 @@ std::string RequestContext::get_user_language() const
   return "en";
 }
 
+std::string RequestContext::get_requested_format() const
+{
+  return get_optional_param<std::string>("format", "html");
+}
+
 }
diff --git a/src/server/request_context.h b/src/server/request_context.h
index f0b79b58..f63f8981 100644
--- a/src/server/request_context.h
+++ b/src/server/request_context.h
@@ -118,6 +118,7 @@ class RequestContext {
     bool can_compress() const { return acceptEncodingGzip; }
 
     std::string get_user_language() const;
+    std::string get_requested_format() const;
 
   private: // data
     std::string full_url;