Free tools › Documents
XLS to XLSX
A .xls from 2003 opened as a modern workbook, formulas and sheets kept.
More free conversions, where you upload. The Fylane extension does the same work inside any upload form, on its own free share every day.Add to Chrome
How to convert XLS to XLSX
- Drop the file.
- Nothing to choose.
- Press Convert and download.
What happens to your file
LibreOffice opens the file headless on Fylane’s servers and writes the target with its own export filter — the same conversion Save As does on a desktop, without the desktop. Deleted on schedule.
Formulas, sheets, number formats and column widths carry over; macros (VBA) do not — .xlsx holds none, and the report says nothing about them because there is nothing to say.
Questions
What is the difference between XLS and XLSX?
XLS is the binary format Excel used up to 2003; XLSX is the zipped XML format introduced with Excel 2007 and standard ever since. XLSX files are smaller, survive corruption better, and hold a million rows against the old format’s 65,536 — which is the limit people usually hit first.
Will my macros survive?
No. XLSX holds no macros at all; that is the .xlsm format, which this page does not write. If the workbook’s macros matter, keep the original .xls as well.
Will my formulas and multiple sheets come through?
Yes. Every sheet, formula, number format, column width and merged cell carries over, because both formats describe the same things. Charts and pivot tables come through too, though a very old chart may be redrawn in a newer style.
Can Excel open an old .xls without converting?
Modern Excel still opens .xls in a compatibility mode, so for reading it you often need nothing. Convert when you want the row limit lifted, the file smaller, or a system that only accepts .xlsx to take it.
Does this work the other way, XLSX back to XLS?
Not on this page. Going backwards would have to throw away any rows past 65,536 and any feature the old format cannot express, and silently dropping a customer’s data is not something a converter should do quietly.
Are my files kept?
Uploads are deleted after 24 hours and results after 7 days; nobody opens them in between. See the data safety page for the exact policy.
Do it once, not on every form
Fixing a file here means downloading it and going back to the form. The Fylane extension does this work inside the form instead, on the file you already have.
And it keeps the result. The next application that asks for a résumé, a cover letter and a photo fills all three from one tap, each one refitted to what that site accepts.
Your files stay in the browser, encrypted, on your machine. Nothing is uploaded to keep them and nothing is sent anywhere to fill a form.
Related tools
Do this in code
curl -X POST https://api.fylane.dev/v1/jobs \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $FYLANE_API_KEY" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{
"file_id": "<file id>",
"operation": "convert",
"options": {
"to": "xlsx"
}
}'The same operation, convert — Documents into another document format: Office, text and HTML to PDF by default, or by `to` into docx, odt, rtf, txt, html, xlsx, ods, csv, pptx, odp, md or epub (Markdown and EPUB through pandoc). Images to WebP. Upload first with the quickstart; every option is on the operations page. 500 free credits a month, then $5 per thousand.