Convert TSV to XML Online Free
Transform tab-separated data into structured XML documents. Each TSV row becomes an XML record element with column headers as child element names.
To convert TSV to XML, drop your .tsv file onto the ChangeThisFile converter. Column headers become XML element names and each row becomes a record element in a well-formed XML document. This free tool processes everything in your browser and never uploads your data.
Convert TSV to XML
Drop your TSV file here to convert it instantly
Drag & drop your .tsv file here, or click to browse
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TSV vs XML: Format Comparison
Key differences between the two formats
| Feature | TSV | XML |
|---|---|---|
| Structure | Flat rows and columns | Hierarchical with nested elements |
| Syntax | Tab-delimited plain text | Angle-bracket markup tags |
| Data types | All values are text | Text content (types via XSD schema) |
| Nesting | Not supported | Unlimited depth |
| Validation | No schema system | XSD, DTD, RelaxNG schemas |
| File size | Very compact | Larger due to opening/closing tags |
| Ecosystem | Spreadsheets, Unix shell tools | Java, .NET, SOAP, enterprise systems |
When to Convert
Common scenarios where this conversion is useful
Preparing data for enterprise systems
Convert tab-separated exports from spreadsheets or databases into XML for import into enterprise applications that require XML input.
Creating XML import files for CMS platforms
Convert content inventories in TSV format into XML for import into WordPress, Drupal, or other content management systems.
Generating SOAP request data
Convert tabular data into XML structure for use as SOAP web service request payloads or XML-RPC calls.
Building XML sitemaps from URL lists
Convert tab-separated URL lists with metadata into XML sitemap format for search engine submission.
How to Convert TSV to XML
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1
Drop your TSV file
Drag and drop your .tsv file onto the converter, or click to browse. The parser auto-detects tab delimiters.
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2
Instant conversion
Headers become XML element names. Each row becomes a record element wrapped in a root container. Values are properly XML-escaped.
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3
Download your XML
Click Download to save the .xml file. The output includes an XML declaration and is properly indented for readability.
Frequently Asked Questions
Each column header becomes an XML element name. Headers are sanitized to be valid XML element names (spaces replaced with underscores, special characters removed).
The output has a root element containing repeated record elements. Each record has child elements corresponding to TSV columns with text content from each row.
Yes. Characters like <, >, &, and quotes are automatically escaped to their XML entities (<, >, &, etc.) to produce valid XML.
Yes. The output starts with <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> followed by the root element containing your data.
Empty cells produce empty XML elements like <column_name/>. Completely blank rows are skipped.
Element names come from your TSV headers. Rename your headers before conversion to control the XML element names in the output.
Spaces in headers are replaced with underscores to create valid XML element names. For example, 'First Name' becomes 'First_Name'.
Yes. The converter produces well-formed XML with proper escaping, nesting, and an XML declaration. It can be parsed by any XML parser.
The converter handles files with thousands of rows. Note that XML output is significantly larger than the TSV input due to element tags.
Yes. The entire conversion runs in your browser. Your TSV data is never uploaded to any server, making it safe for sensitive information.
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