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What is a .xml file?
An .xml file is structured text — data wrapped in tags so both people and programs can read it. It's a container format, so the meaning depends on what produced it.
This extension has been used by more than one format
30 different formats have claimed .xml over the years, so two files with the same extension aren't necessarily the same kind of thing.
- xdomeaVersion 2.3.0 · fmt/1379
- xdomeaVersion 2.2.0 · fmt/1378
- Esri Shapefile Geospatial Metadata FileNo version recorded · fmt/1729
- DROID File Collection File FormatVersion 1.0 · fmt/120
- Microsoft Office File ListNo version recorded · fmt/1677
- IMF Package Packing ListNo version recorded · fmt/1998
- Final Cut Pro XML Interchange FormatNo version recorded · fmt/2088
- TEI P4 XML - Single Text FileVersion P4 · fmt/1474
- xdomeaVersion 3.0.0 · fmt/1813
- INTERLIS Transfer FileVersion 2.2 · fmt/1011
- MusicXMLNo version recorded · fmt/896
- DROID Signature File FormatVersion 1.0 · fmt/121
- TEI P5 - Single Text FileVersion P5 · fmt/1476
- Ogre Mesh XMLNo version recorded · fmt/1189
- xdomeaVersion 3.1.0 · fmt/2080
- Extensible Markup LanguageVersion 1.1 · fmt/1776
- xdomeaVersion 2.0.0 · fmt/1375
- TEI P5 XML - Corpus FileVersion P5 · fmt/1477
- LegalDocML DocumentNo version recorded · fmt/1724
- xdomeaVersion 4.0.0 · fmt/2081
- xdomeaVersion 1.0 · fmt/1374
- ESRI Persistent Auxiliary Metadata FileNo version recorded · fmt/1771
- Draw.io Diagram (XML) FileNo version recorded · fmt/1946
- TEI P4 XML - Corpus FileVersion P4 · fmt/1475
- xdomeaVersion 2.1.0 · fmt/1377
- CityGML FileVersion 1.0 · fmt/2040
- xdomeaVersion 2.0.1 · fmt/1376
- Extensible Markup LanguageVersion 1.0 · fmt/101
- IMF Package Composition PlaylistNo version recorded · fmt/1999
- IMF Package Asset MapNo version recorded · fmt/1997
How to open a .xml file
- WindowsAny web browser
- WindowsNotepad++
- WindowsVS Code
- MacSafari
- MacVS Code
- LinuxAny browser or editor
How to convert a .xml file
- Excel can import XML into a table; online tools convert XML to JSON or CSV.
MIME type
When a .xml file travels over the web, servers label it with one of these MIME types:
text/xmlapplication/tei+xmlapplication/vnd.recordare.musicxml+xmlapplication/xmlThe technical record
For archivists, developers and the merely curious: these are the PRONOM registry entries for .xml.