Upload your YAML file and convert it to XML for easy sharing, importing, or integration with XML-based tools and workflows.
Paste or Drop Your YAML: Paste YAML directly into the left editor, or drag and drop a .yaml or .yml file onto it. Parsing happens client-side in your browser — nothing is uploaded to a server, so this is safe for proprietary Kubernetes manifests, Ansible playbooks, and CI configs that may contain hostnames or environment metadata.
Pick Indentation: Choose two-space indent (the common default), tab indent, or a single-line minified output. Two-space pretty-printed XML is easiest to diff in code review; minified is best when the XML is going straight into a SOAP envelope or an HTTP body where bytes count.
Click Convert: XConvert parses your YAML against the YAML 1.2.2 spec (released October 2021), then walks the resulting node tree to emit well-formed XML. A top-level <root> wrapper is added when your YAML does not have a single top-level mapping key, because XML requires exactly one root element.
Copy or Download: Use the copy button to grab the XML to your clipboard, or click download to save a .xml file. Need the reverse direction? Try XML to YAML. Need a different target? See YAML to JSON or JSON to XML.
YAML 1.2 has become the default authoring format for modern infrastructure — Kubernetes manifests, GitHub Actions workflows, Ansible playbooks, OpenAPI specs, and Docker Compose files are all YAML. XML 1.0, standardized by the W3C in 1998 and still on its Fifth Edition, remains the wire format for a huge install base of enterprise tooling: SOAP web services, XSLT transformation pipelines, Maven pom.xml builds, Spring applicationContext.xml, and industry XML schemas like HL7 CDA (healthcare), XBRL (financial reporting), and UBL (business documents). Converting YAML to XML lets you author once in the more readable format, then ship the data into systems that only speak XML.
<soap:Envelope> your client library needs.config.xml), Ant build files, and Maven POMs are all XML. Teams keeping these in YAML for code review readability convert to XML at commit or deploy time.| Property | YAML 1.2 | XML 1.0 |
|---|---|---|
| Latest spec | 1.2.2 (Oct 2021) | Fifth Edition (Nov 2008) |
| Structural primitives | Scalars, sequences, mappings | Elements, attributes, text nodes |
| Root requirement | Multi-document stream OK | Exactly one root element required |
| Native types | string, int, float, bool, null, timestamp | Text only (typed via XSD) |
| Comments | # line comment (discarded by most parsers) |
<!-- block comment --> (preserved) |
| Anchors / reuse | &anchor + *alias for in-doc reuse |
No native equivalent (ID/IDREF differs semantically) |
| Multi-document | --- separator splits documents in a stream |
One document per file/stream |
| Namespaces | Not part of the data model | xmlns: first-class |
| Whitespace | Indentation is significant | Insignificant outside text content |
| JSON relationship | YAML 1.2 is a strict superset of JSON | Independent format |
| YAML construct | Typical XML output | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Top-level mapping with one key | <key>...</key> |
The key becomes the root element |
| Top-level mapping with multiple keys | <root><k1/><k2/>...</root> |
<root> wrapper added — XML needs one root |
Sequence under key items |
<items><item>a</item><item>b</item></items> |
Wrapper + singularized child element |
Scalar boolean true / false |
<flag>true</flag> |
XML is all-text; type is lost unless an XSD types it |
Scalar null (null or ~) |
<x>null</x> or <x/> |
Empty element is also common — converters vary |
Anchor &a + alias *a |
Expanded inline at every alias site | Lossy on round-trip — anchor identity is gone |
Multi-document (--- separated) |
Wrapped under a single root, e.g. <documents><document>...</document></documents> |
XML cannot hold a true multi-document stream |
Key with special chars (<, &, :) |
Element names must be valid XML Names | Invalid characters are escaped, removed, or rejected |
# comment |
Often dropped | YAML parsers usually discard comments before the converter ever sees them |
Because the consumer dictates the format, not the author. SOAP web services, XSLT pipelines, Maven and Ant builds, Jenkins config.xml jobs, Spring XML bean configs, and regulated XML standards (HL7 CDA, XBRL, UBL) all expect XML on the wire. YAML is much easier to author and review, so teams keep their source-of-truth in YAML and convert to XML at the integration boundary.
---?XML 1.0 requires exactly one root element per document, so a multi-document YAML stream cannot map one-to-one. XConvert wraps the documents under a synthetic root — typically <documents><document>...</document><document>...</document></documents> — so the output is a single well-formed XML document. If you need them as separate .xml files, split the stream yourself before pasting.
&) and aliases (*) expanded in the XML output?Yes — they are flattened. The YAML parser resolves each alias to the full node it references, so the XML output contains the complete data at every reference site. XML's ID/IDREF attribute mechanism is semantically different (it labels elements rather than letting you embed a node by reference), so inline expansion is the only lossless representation. The trade-off: the resulting XML is larger, and the anchor identity is gone.
Not on its own. XML 1.0 treats element content as text, so 42, "42", and true all serialize as character data. To preserve typing through XML, attach an XSD (xs:integer, xs:boolean) or use an xsi:type attribute on the element. Without a schema, a downstream JSON-style consumer reading the XML back has to re-infer types from the strings.
Almost never. You generally lose: (1) comments, because most YAML parsers discard them before the converter runs; (2) anchor identity, because aliases are expanded inline; (3) sequence-vs-single-item ambiguity, because a sequence of one becomes a single repeated element that round-trips as a scalar; (4) explicit null vs empty mapping; and (5) the original key ordering in some parsers. Treat the conversion as one-directional for production data, and keep the YAML as the source of truth.
<, &, or a leading digit — what happens?XML element names cannot start with a digit and cannot contain <, >, &, ", ', or whitespace (per the W3C XML 1.0 Name production). A YAML key like 1st-host or name<tag> cannot become an XML element name as-is. Most converters either reject the input, rewrite the name (e.g., _1st-host), or move the value into a generic <entry name="1st-host"> element. Check the output if your YAML uses unusual key names — and consider renaming keys in source to avoid surprises.
If your YAML's top level is a mapping with exactly one key, that key becomes the root element. If the top level has multiple keys, is a sequence, or is a multi-document stream, a synthetic <root> (or <documents> for streams) wraps everything so the result is a valid single-rooted XML document. Some converters let you override the root name in their options panel — useful when the downstream XSD expects a specific element like <Configuration> or <Order>.
Usually no. The YAML 1.2 spec defines comments (#-prefixed lines) but most parsers discard them at the lexing stage, so by the time the converter walks the node tree the comments are already gone. XConvert preserves comments where the underlying parser exposes them; for production pipelines, assume they will be dropped and document anything important inside the data itself.
A SOAP client expects a fully-formed XML envelope — <soap:Envelope> with body and header namespaces. This converter produces the inner XML payload (the body content), not the envelope. Convert your YAML payload here, then drop the result inside the body element of your SOAP request template. For pure data interchange without SOAP, use the XML output directly — and validate it with an XSD before sending if the consumer is strict.
Yes. The YAML parser, XML serializer, and editors all ship as JavaScript in the page. Once the page has loaded, you can disconnect from the network and continue converting — nothing is sent to a server. For an editing loop, you can also validate YAML before converting to catch indentation errors early.