Use the free YAML to XML Converter below: your data never leaves your browser — all work happens on your device, and nothing is uploaded to any server.
Two Ways to Write the Same Configuration
YAML and XML both describe structured data, but they come from different worlds. YAML is the favourite of modern configuration files: compact, indentation-based, and easy for humans to read. XML is the veteran of enterprise systems, data exchange, and older configuration formats: verbose, tag-based, and understood by tools that predate YAML by decades. When a system that speaks XML needs data that currently lives in YAML, someone has to translate. This converter does that translation in your browser.
The mapping is simple and predictable. A YAML mapping becomes nested XML elements, one per key. A YAML list becomes repeated elements with the same tag, one per item. A scalar value becomes the text inside its element. Numbers and booleans arrive as their text forms, and null values become empty elements. The output starts with an XML declaration and wraps everything in a root element you choose, because XML requires exactly one root.
How to Use It
Paste your YAML into the box and set the root element name, or leave the default. Click convert, and the XML appears below, indented so the nesting is visible. Copy it or download it as a .xml file. If the tool reports invalid YAML, the error message usually points at the problem: inconsistent indentation is the most common cause, followed by a tab character where spaces were expected, since YAML forbids tabs for indentation.
Indentation is YAML’s whole structure, so it deserves care. Two spaces per level is the common convention, and the tool accepts any consistent width as long as each level lines up. A mapping key at the wrong indent becomes a different level, or an error, and the resulting XML will faithfully reflect whatever structure the YAML actually described, not what you meant. When the output looks wrong, check the indentation first: the converter is rarely the problem.
How Lists, Nesting, and Values Map
Lists are the one mapping that surprises people. In YAML, a list under the key “features” holds several items. In XML, there is no list type, so the converter emits one features element per item, each holding one value. That is the standard convention, and any XML reader that expects repeated elements will handle it. If your target system instead expects a single wrapper element containing repeated item elements, adjust the output after conversion: wrap the repeated elements and rename them to match the schema you are feeding.
Nested mappings map naturally: a server mapping with host and port keys becomes a server element containing host and port elements. Deep nesting works the same way, level by level, and the indentation in the output mirrors the depth. Scalar values are escaped on the way out, so a value containing an ampersand or an angle bracket becomes safe XML text instead of breaking the document. That escaping is automatic and silent, which is exactly how it should be.
Where This Conversion Fits
The classic case is migration: a configuration written in YAML for a modern tool needs to feed an older system that only reads XML. Another is data exchange: a partner or a client expects XML, while your own tooling produces YAML, and the converter bridges the two without a server round trip. A third is testing: you have sample data in YAML and a test harness that consumes XML, and the converter produces fixtures quickly. In each case the win is that the translation is mechanical, repeatable, and visible.
There are limits worth knowing. YAML anchors and aliases, which let one value repeat another, are resolved by the parser before conversion, so the XML holds the repeated values rather than the references. That is usually what you want. Custom YAML tags are not preserved, because XML has no equivalent concept. And very large YAML files may strain a browser text box, so for multi-megabyte configurations, a command-line converter is the better tool. For everyday configuration sizes, this tool is exactly right.
Privacy and Practical Tips
Everything runs in your browser. Your YAML is never uploaded, stored, or logged. That matters because configuration files often hold hostnames, internal paths, and sometimes secrets that should never have been in the file at all. Paste, convert, copy, close, and then scan the output for secrets before sharing it anywhere. A practical tip: after converting, validate the XML against your target schema if one exists, because a valid XML document is not necessarily a document your system accepts, and the schema check catches mismatched element names early.