Extract text from Bookmark files (XBEL)
To convert XBEL Bookmarks to another format, you need XBEL Viewer or other Web software.
To convert other file formats to the "XML Bookmark File" file type, you need software like XBEL Viewer or a similar tool.
The .XBEL file extension stands for XML Bookmark Exchange Language. It is an open, XML-based standard created by the Python XML Special Interest Group to share Internet bookmarks (URIs) across different web browsers and bookmark management tools. Users typically open these files using dedicated, legacy bookmark managers like XBEL Viewer or script-based parsers.
The primary disadvantage of the .XBEL format is its severe lack of native support in modern, mainstream web browsers. Industry giants like Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox rely heavily on the older Netscape-style HTML bookmark format or proprietary internal JSON syncing structures. This means users cannot simply import an .XBEL file directly into a new browser without an intermediary step.
To make these bookmarks usable in modern applications, you must convert the .XBEL file to an HTML bookmark file, or to a CSV file for spreadsheet analysis. Converting to JSON is also popular for developers building custom link dashboards. Because .XBEL relies on a strict Document Type Definition (DTD) with deeply nested <folder> and <bookmark> nodes, generic online converters often fail to parse the structural hierarchy correctly, resulting in broken imports.
Just drag and drop your file to identify the format, view it, and convert it when possible. Even if standard tools struggle with the specific DTD, convert.guru can inspect the underlying text data. Since it is essentially an XML document, we can help extract the raw URLs, titles, and folder names so you do not lose your saved links.
Convert.Guru analyzes your XBEL file, detects the exact format, and lets you read the text inside.
Users also converted HTML, XBRL, XAPK, ABX, QDC and LEF files.
If you want to convert XBEL file to HTML, HTM, CSS, JS, PHP, ASP, ASPX, JSP, JSPX, PY, RB or PL, you can use XBEL Viewer or similar software from the "Bookmark Data Exchange" category. In the File menu, look for Save As… or Export….
To convert RSS, CSS, CGI, SITEMAP, PL, WEBMANIFEST, JSON, JS, XML, HTML, ICO or HTM files to XBEL, try XBEL Viewer or another comparable tool in the "Bookmark Data Exchange" category.
The history of Convert.Guru began over 25 years ago in California with Tom Simondi’s file-format database. A former contributor to Space Shuttle development and a software pioneer of the 1980s, Simondi established a trusted resource for file type analysis that was even referenced by Microsoft Windows XP. Today, we use modern technology to process and convert thousands of file formats while continually improving our XBEL converter.