XML to YAML Converter
Paste XML and get clean, indented YAML output instantly.
or drop a file here
Converted to 15 lines of YAML.
How XML to YAML conversion works
XML elements become YAML mapping keys. Multiple sibling elements with the same tag name are converted to a YAML sequence (list). Conversion is lossless: attributes are preserved as @name keys, and an element that has both attributes and text keeps its text under #text. Text content is coerced by default: "true"/"false" → booleans, numeric strings → numbers, everything else → strings — tick Keep values as strings when leading zeros or version numbers matter. This converter runs entirely in your browser — XML is never uploaded. Related: XML to JSON converter and YAML to JSON converter.
Built and maintained by Meet Shah · Last updated
What this tool is used for
- Turning a legacy XML config into YAML for a modern pipeline.
- Making a verbose XML document readable for review.
- Producing a YAML fixture from an XML source.
- Comparing two XML files by converting both to YAML and diffing.
- Migrating configuration during a toolchain change.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What does not survive an XML to YAML conversion?
- Attributes lose their distinction from child elements, namespaces are usually dropped, comments disappear, and mixed content has no representation at all. XML carries structure YAML has no way to express, so the conversion is lossy by construction.
- How are attributes usually handled?
- By a naming convention — commonly an `@` prefix, so `id="1"` becomes a key `@id`. It is a convention rather than a standard, so two converters produce incompatible output for the same document, and the receiving code has to know which one was used.
- How do repeated elements become a list?
- Only when there is more than one. A single `<item>` looks like a plain key and two look like a sequence, so the same schema converts to different YAML shapes depending on the data — which is the subtlety that breaks a consumer expecting a list.
- Are types inferred?
- They have to be, since XML has none without a schema. That means YAML's implicit typing takes over, and the Norway problem arrives with it: an element containing `no` becomes the boolean false rather than a two-letter country code.
- When is this conversion appropriate?
- Data-oriented XML — configuration, records, exports. Document-oriented XML with inline markup does not convert usefully, and the further the source is from a flat set of records the more has to be reconstructed by hand afterwards.
Common errors and gotchas
- Losing the attribute-versus-element distinction, which YAML has no direct way to express.
- Producing a value YAML reinterprets, such as an unquoted `yes` or a version like `1.10`.
- Flattening repeated elements into a list inconsistently, where a single child is not a list.
- Dropping comments and processing instructions, which YAML cannot carry from XML.
- Assuming the result validates against the same schema, since YAML has no equivalent.
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