XML to YAML Converter
Convert XML documents to YAML with full attribute preservation, namespace handling, and array detection. Uses the browser's DOMParser for 100% client-side processing.
How to Use
Converting XML documents to YAML is common when migrating configuration files, API responses, or data interchange formats to more human-readable YAML. Here is how to use this converter:
- Paste your XML into the input area on the left. The tool accepts any well-formed XML document including configuration files, SOAP responses, RSS feeds, and custom schemas.
- Configure conversion options using the sidebar. Enable or disable attribute preservation, set the attribute prefix character, choose indentation level, and toggle alphabetical key sorting.
- Review the YAML output in the right panel. Elements become YAML mappings, text content becomes scalar values, and repeated same-name elements are automatically grouped into sequences.
- Copy or download the result. Use the copy button for clipboard access or download as a
.yamlfile for use in your project.
Understanding the XML to YAML Mapping
XML and YAML represent hierarchical data differently. Here are the rules this converter applies:
- Elements with only text content become simple key-value pairs.
<name>DevToolkit</name>becomesname: DevToolkit. - Elements with attributes produce a mapping with prefixed attribute keys.
<price currency="USD">12.99</price>becomes a mapping with@currency: USDand#text: 12.99. - Repeated sibling elements are grouped into YAML sequences (arrays). Three
<tag>children automatically become a list under thetagkey. - CDATA sections are extracted as plain text values. The CDATA delimiters are stripped since YAML uses its own quoting rules.
- XML comments are silently removed. YAML has no equivalent comment-in-data concept during serialization.
About This Tool
How This Converter Works
This XML to YAML converter uses a two-stage pipeline. First, the browser's native DOMParser API parses the XML string into a Document Object Model (DOM) tree. The DOMParser is the same XML engine used by browsers for XHTML, SVG, and MathML processing, so it handles well-formed XML documents of any complexity including namespace declarations, processing instructions, and CDATA sections.
Second, a recursive tree-walker traverses the DOM, building a plain JavaScript object. This object is then serialized to YAML using the js-yaml library, which produces clean, standards-compliant YAML 1.2 output. The tree-walker handles attribute extraction, text node collection, CDATA extraction, comment stripping, and automatic array detection for repeated sibling elements.
Attribute Handling
XML attributes have no direct equivalent in YAML. This converter uses a prefix convention (default @) to distinguish attribute-derived keys from element-derived keys. For example, <user id="5" role="admin">Alice</user> produces a YAML mapping with @id, @role, and #text keys. The prefix is configurable, and attribute inclusion can be disabled entirely when only element content matters.
Namespace Preservation
XML namespace prefixes are preserved in the YAML output keys. A SOAP envelope like <soap:Envelope xmlns:soap="..."> produces a YAML key soap:Envelope with the namespace URI captured as an attribute. This ensures no structural information is lost during the conversion, making the output suitable for documentation or further processing.
Why Use This Tool
When to Convert XML to YAML
XML to YAML conversion is valuable in several scenarios across infrastructure, data engineering, and application development:
- Configuration migration — Moving from XML-based configuration (Maven pom.xml, Spring XML, .NET web.config) to YAML-based tools (Docker Compose, Kubernetes, GitHub Actions, Ansible). YAML's cleaner syntax reduces boilerplate by 30-50% compared to equivalent XML.
- CI/CD pipeline authoring — Many CI systems (GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, Azure Pipelines) use YAML. Converting existing XML build definitions (Jenkins, Ant, MSBuild) to YAML is the first step in migration.
- API response transformation — Legacy SOAP and XML-RPC services return XML. Converting responses to YAML provides a more readable format for debugging, logging, and documentation than raw XML.
- Data interchange — YAML is the preferred format for Kubernetes manifests, Helm charts, and OpenAPI specifications. Converting XML data sources to YAML enables integration with cloud-native toolchains.
- Documentation readability — YAML's minimal syntax makes converted data easier to review in pull requests, wikis, and technical documentation compared to verbose XML markup.
Privacy and Security
This converter runs entirely in your browser using the native DOMParser API and the js-yaml library. No data is transmitted to any server, stored remotely, or logged. This makes it safe for converting XML documents containing proprietary configurations, API credentials, customer data, or any information subject to compliance regulations. Your data never leaves your device.