A Riemannian manifold is called geometrically formal if the wedge product of any two harmonic forms is again harmonic. We classify geometrically formal compact 4-manifolds with nonnegative sectional curvature. If the sectional curvature is strictly positive, the manifold must be homeomorphic to S^4 or diffeomorphic to CP^2. This conclusion stills holds true if the sectional curvature is strictly positive and we relax the condition of geometric formality to the requirement that the length of harmonic 2-forms is not too nonconstant. In particular, the Hopf conjecture on S^2 x S^2 holds in this class of manifolds.