Excel to XML Converter

Some systems — legacy integrations, config-driven apps, an API that only speaks XML — don't accept a spreadsheet directly. This converter turns an uploaded .xlsx workbook into well-formed XML without any signup, install, or file upload to a server: parsing and XML generation both happen entirely in your browser.

Drop in a spreadsheet and it's parsed on the spot. If the file has more than one worksheet, a dropdown lets you pick which one to convert — it's populated straight from the sheet names actually stored inside your file, so you always see them by their real names.

How to use it

1. Drop or browse to your .xlsx file (see below if you have an older .xls file).
2. Pick the worksheet to convert from the Sheet dropdown (the first sheet is selected by default).
3. Toggle First row contains headers to control where each row's element names come from: on, the header row's values become the element name for that column in every row; off, columns are named generically (field1, field2, …).
4. Set the root element name and row element name — these wrap the whole document and each record respectively (default <rows> / <row>).
5. Pick an indent — 2 spaces, 4 spaces, tab, or minified — and copy or download the result as <filename>-<sheet>.xml.

Changing any option re-renders the XML instantly from the already-parsed workbook, so you can try a few combinations without re-uploading.

What Excel formats are supported?

Modern .xlsx (and .xlsm) files — the Office Open XML format used by Excel 2007 and later — parse reliably. The legacy binary .xls format (Excel 97–2003) isn't supported by the in-browser parser this tool uses; if your file won't load, open it in Excel and use Save As → Excel Workbook (.xlsx), then upload the converted file.

Does it handle formulas and dates?

Yes. Formula cells convert using their last-calculated result rather than the formula text itself, and date cells are written out as YYYY-MM-DD.

Is the XML actually safe to use?

Yes — every cell value is escaped for XML (&, <, >, " and '), so a cell containing something like Tom & Jerry <sample> becomes Tom & Jerry <sample> in the output rather than producing broken or maliciously-shaped markup.

What happens to column names that aren't valid XML?

Header values become element names, so they're sanitized into valid XML names first: spaces and punctuation turn into underscores, and a name that would otherwise start with a digit (or end up empty) gets a leading underscore instead. "2nd Score" becomes <_2nd_Score>, "First Name" becomes <First_Name>. The same sanitizing applies to your root and row element names.

Is my file uploaded anywhere?

No. The workbook is read and converted entirely in your browser's memory — it's never sent to a server, so this is safe to use with sensitive spreadsheets.

What's the inverse of this tool?

Use the XML to Excel Converter to go the other direction. If you need CSV instead of XML, try the Excel/XLSX to CSV Converter.