Convert legacy Excel spreadsheets (XLS) online for free
The converter easily converts your XLS spreadsheets to various formats - free and online. No Microsoft Excel or other Spreadsheet software needed.
The converter also works in reverse, so you can convert other "Legacy Spreadsheet File" formats to XLS without using software like Microsoft Excel or a similar tool.
The .XLS file extension primarily represents the legacy Microsoft Excel 97-2003 Spreadsheet format. This format uses the proprietary Binary Interchange File Format (BIFF) developed by Microsoft. Users typically open and manage these files using Microsoft Excel, LibreOffice Calc, or Google Sheets.
There are severe disadvantages to maintaining data in the .XLS format today. The binary structure is obsolete and notoriously vulnerable to macro-based malware. It also imposes strict, hardcoded data limits: a maximum of only 65,536 rows and 256 columns per sheet. Modern data exports easily exceed these limits, causing data loss. Additionally, many older web applications generate "fake" .XLS files - which are actually just HTML tables or XML data saved with an .XLS extension. Opening these triggers an annoying "format mismatch" security warning in modern software.
To bypass these restrictions, you should convert the file. For modern editing without row limits, convert to XLSX or ODS. For software development or database imports, convert the data to a plain text CSV or JSON. If you need to freeze the layout for archiving or printing, convert to PDF. Drag and drop your file here to analyze and convert it - free, online, and without installing software.
Use Convert.Guru to open and convert your XLS file.
Users also converted MACROS, XLA, XL, WORKBOOK, XLSX, CSV, MACRO, XSL, XLW, RPT, ECR, SECURE and CLS files.
If you want to convert XLS file to JPG, JSON, XLSM or XLSB, you can use Microsoft Excel or similar software from the "Spreadsheet Data Storage" category. In the File menu, look for Save As… or Export….
To convert NOTES or QPW files to XLS, try Microsoft Excel or another comparable tool in the "Spreadsheet Data Storage" 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 XLS converter.