How to open a .xml file
Quick, free ways to open XML on any system.
A .xml file is a Extensible Markup Language. If double-clicking does nothing, your computer simply does not have an app that reads XML yet. Here is how to fix that on each operating system, using free software wherever possible.
Open a .xml file step by step
- Confirm the file really is a .xml. Drop it into the WhatFileType file identifier, which reads its signature without uploading anything.
- On Windows, open it with Notepad++ or VS Code.
- On Mac, use VS Code or any browser.
- On Linux, try VS Code or any browser.
- Still stuck? Convert the .xml to JSON, which opens more widely.
Best apps to open .xml files
Windows
- Notepad++
- VS Code
- any browser
macOS
- VS Code
- any browser
Linux
- VS Code
- any browser
Web
- Browsers display XML as a tree
!
Before you open it: Generally safe, but XML parsers can be tricked by malicious entity definitions. Modern libraries disable those by default.
Frequently asked questions
Why can't I open my .xml file?
Almost always because no installed app understands XML. Install one of the apps above, or convert the file to a format your existing software already reads.
Is XML the same as HTML?
They look similar and share ancestry, but HTML describes web pages with a fixed set of tags, while XML lets you define your own tags for any kind of data.