How to open an XML file
XML is text with markup: the data sits between tags like <code><name>Smith</name></code>. Any text editor will open it, but nobody can read a thousand records wrapped in tags. What “readable” means depends on what is inside the file, and that decides the tool.
Free for personal use. Your file is not uploaded anywhere — it is parsed in your browser. Windows version — 3.5 MB, no installation: details. Organizations: license.
What kind of XML do you have
- An export or a data dump — many identical records: orders, payments, products, employees, open-data rows. The readable form of such a file is a table with one row per record.
- A single document — an invoice, a statement, a purchase order, a form. These usually have their own viewer or portal that renders them like a paper form, and that is the right tool for them.
- Configuration and service files — sitemaps, build files, settings. Read them in a text editor with syntax highlighting, such as Notepad++ or VS Code.
What to open it with
| Tool | What you see |
|---|---|
| A browser (Chrome, Edge, Firefox) | a tree of tags; a large file hangs the tab |
| Notepad, Notepad++, VS Code | text with tags; good for editing markup and settings |
| Excel | a table, but often with duplicated rows and lost nested data — see XML to Excel |
| This app | a table: the repeating element becomes a row, nested tags and attributes become columns; then filters, search and export to Excel |
How it works here
Drop the file into the window. The most frequent repeating element becomes the table row. If you want another one — say, not the order but the line item inside the order — pick it in File parsing. The encoding is taken from the XML declaration at the top of the file, so a file in a legacy encoding opens without garbled characters.
Large files are read as a stream, without building a tree: an export of tens of megabytes opens in seconds. See Large XML files for how that works.
FAQ
How do I open an XML file on a phone?
Open the app page in your phone’s browser and pick the file. A computer is more comfortable, though: the table is wide.
Can I convert XML to Excel?
Yes: open the file and choose Export → Excel. The details are in XML to Excel.
Does my XML file go to a server?
No. It is parsed in your browser and never leaves your computer, so exports containing personal or financial data can be opened safely.
Free for personal use. Your file is not uploaded to a server. Windows version — 3.5 MB, no installation: details. Organizations: license.