CSV to XML converter

CSV to XML wraps parsed rows under a rows root and writes one repeated row element per record, so CSV headers become XML element names.

Converted with Table engine · nothing stored
Free: 5 conversions a day · 5 MB each
Higher limits →

From real runs

What you get — and what changes

Element	Result	What happens
Root wrapper	Changed	The XML writer created a rows document around the converted records rather than preserving any CSV filename context.
Row elements	Changed	Each CSV data row became a repeated row element by default, with children named from the header cells.
Blank values	Changed	Empty and padded cells were emitted as self-closing elements such as <empty/> and <zip/>.
Escaped text	Changed	The text He said "Hi" became He said "Hi" in XML output.
Dates and numbers	Changed	Dates were expanded to UTC timestamp strings, and leading-zero numeric text was not preserved.
Multiline content	Kept	The newline inside the note column was written inside one note element instead of splitting the XML row.

Root wrapper Changed
The XML writer created a rows document around the converted records rather than preserving any CSV filename context.
Row elements Changed
Each CSV data row became a repeated row element by default, with children named from the header cells.
Blank values Changed
Empty and padded cells were emitted as self-closing elements such as <empty/> and <zip/>.
Escaped text Changed
The text He said "Hi" became He said "Hi" in XML output.
Dates and numbers Changed
Dates were expanded to UTC timestamp strings, and leading-zero numeric text was not preserved.
Multiline content Kept
The newline inside the note column was written inside one note element instead of splitting the XML row.

Sample conversions

Default XML shape

Input: CSV headers were id,name,note,zip,active,amount,date,empty.
Output: XML began <rows><row><id>1</id><name>Ada, Inc.</name> and ended missing values as self-closing child elements.

Escaped quote text

Input: CSV note for Bob was He said "Hi".
Output: XML wrote <note>He said "Hi"</note>, so the quote was data rather than syntax.

A real CSV → XML run

We converted our CSV sample (226 B) with Table engine on 2026-09-11. It took 1 ms and produced a 750 B XML file, 3.3× larger than the input. The engine raised no warnings.

Input · sample.csv · 226 B

4 data rows × 5 columns; header: company,stage,arr,owner,close_date

Rows: 4
Columns: 5
Header: company,stage,arr,owner,close_date

Output · sample.xml · 750 B

25 elements, root <rows>

Elements: 25
Root element: rows
XML declaration: no

First lines of the output

xml

<rows>
  <row>
    <company>Northwind Traders</company>
    <stage>Proposal</stage>
    <arr>48000</arr>
    <owner>R. Ayers</owner>
    <close_date>2026-10-14T00:00:00.000Z</close_date>
  </row>
  <row>
    <company>Contoso Ltd</company>
    <stage>Negotiation</stage>
    <arr>120000</arr>
    <owner>P. Ng</owner>
    <close_date>2026-09-30T00:00:00.000Z</close_date>
  </row>
  <row>
    <company>Fabrikam</company>
    <stage>Qualified</stage>
…

Options and when to change them

delimiter: Set this before conversion if the source is semicolon, pipe, or tab delimited despite the CSV extension.
header: Leave it on for meaningful element names; turn it off only when column_1 style elements are acceptable.
quote: Use this for CSV dialects that protect fields with a quote character other than double quote.
encoding: Switch to latin1 when the source text is not UTF-8 before creating XML.
rowElement: Choose a domain name such as product or transaction when the downstream XML consumer expects a specific repeated element.

Do it yourself

Python csv and ElementTree

bash

python - <<'PY'
import csv, xml.etree.ElementTree as ET
root = ET.Element("rows")
with open("input.csv", newline="", encoding="utf-8-sig") as f:
    for record in csv.DictReader(f):
        row = ET.SubElement(root, "row")
        for key, value in record.items():
            ET.SubElement(row, key).text = value or None
ET.ElementTree(root).write("output.xml", encoding="utf-8", xml_declaration=True)
PY

Element names must be legal XML names; clean CSV headers before using this on uncontrolled files.

CSV to XML by API or MCP

The HTTP API and the MCP server run the exact engine this page uses (Table engine); the response carries the same warnings the web converter shows. Check support first with GET /api/v1/pairs?from=csv&to=xml.

curl

curl -X POST https://filetypeconverters.com/api/v1/convert \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $FTC_API_KEY" \
  -F "file=@input.csv" -F "from=csv" -F "to=xml" \
  -F 'options={"delimiter":","}' \
  --output output.xml

Options this engine accepts for CSV → XML

Key	Applies to	Type	Default
delimiter	Reading CSV	string	,
header	Reading CSV	boolean	true
quote	Reading CSV	string	"
encoding	Reading CSV	utf-8 · latin1	utf-8
delimiter	Writing XML	string	,
newline	Writing XML	·
sheetName	Writing XML	string
dialect	Writing XML	postgres · mysql · sqlite	postgres
tableName	Writing XML	string	data
createTable	Writing XML	boolean	true

API reference

When this is the wrong conversion

Do not use CSV to XML when you need attributes, namespaces, or nested XML hierarchy designed from business rules.
If a system expects a fixed XML schema, validate the generated file against that schema before sending it.

CSV to XML questions

What root element does CSV to XML create?

The current writer uses rows as the root wrapper. Inside it, each record is a repeated row element unless the rowElement option is changed.

How are empty CSV cells represented in XML?

They are self-closing elements in the output we tested. For example, the blank empty column was written as <empty/>.

Can CSV headers become invalid XML?

Yes, if a header contains spaces, leading digits, or punctuation that XML element names reject. Clean headers before conversion when the file comes from an uncontrolled source.