Data · .xml
What Is an XML File?
A .xml file is a text format for structured data using tags.
- Extension
- .xml
- Full name
- Extensible Markup Language
- Type
- Data
- MIME type
- application/xml
- Developed by
- W3C (1998)
Free XML Tools
These run in your browser. Your XML files are never uploaded.
About XML Files
XML describes data with tags in angle brackets, similar to HTML, but you define the tag names yourself. It was the main data-exchange format on the web before JSON and is still everywhere: RSS feeds, sitemaps, Office files, SVG images, Android layouts, invoices, banking messages and many configuration files are XML. It supports schemas, namespaces and comments, which makes it popular for documents and enterprise systems.
How to Open an XML File
- Any device
- Open it in a text editor, or drag it into a browser to see the tree.
- Windows & Mac
- VS Code, Notepad++ and XML Notepad display and validate XML. Excel can import XML tables.
XML File Questions
Can I open XML in Excel?
Yes. Use File, Open or Data, Get Data, From File, From XML. It works best when the XML is a list of similar records.
What's the difference between XML and HTML?
HTML has fixed tags for displaying web pages. XML lets you define your own tags to describe data.