YAML to XML

Convert YAML to well-formed XML. Mappings become nested elements, sequences are wrapped in <item> tags, and scalars become text content.

Indent

Input YAML

XML Output

All processing is done locally in your browser. No data is sent to our servers.

Why Convert YAML to XML?

XML remains the dominant data format in many enterprise and legacy environments. SOAP web services, Spring XML bean configuration, Android resource files, Maven pom.xml, and many ETL pipelines exclusively consume XML. Converting YAML to XML lets you author data in the more ergonomic YAML format and produce XML output for downstream systems that require it.

This is particularly useful when migrating data between systems, when generating XML fixtures for unit tests, or when a tool's configuration is XML-based but you find YAML easier to write and review.

Conversion Conventions

Root element - the entire document is wrapped in a <root> element. If your YAML root is a mapping, its keys become direct children of <root>.
Mappings - each key in a mapping becomes an XML element whose name is the key. Child mappings produce nested elements.
Sequences - a YAML sequence is wrapped in the parent element (using the key name) and each item becomes an <item> child element.
Scalars (strings, numbers, booleans) become text content inside their parent element: <name>John Doe</name>.
Null values produce self-closing elements: <key/>.
Special characters in text content (<, >, &, ") are escaped to XML entities automatically.

Array Element Naming

YAML sequences are anonymous lists - items have positional indices, not names. XML requires every element to have a tag name. This converter uses <item> as the default tag name for sequence elements. For example:

YAML Input

tags:
  - developer
  - designer

XML Output

<tags>
  <item>developer</item>
  <item>designer</item>
</tags>

If your target XML schema requires a specific element name (e.g. <tag> instead of <item>), restructure the YAML so that the sequence contains mappings with the desired key name.

Common Use Cases

Spring & Maven Configs

Spring XML bean definitions and Maven pom.xml fragments are verbose to write by hand. Author the data structure in YAML and convert to XML as a starting point for the XML config file.

Data Migration

When migrating data from a YAML-based system to an XML-consuming system (e.g., an older ERP or CMS), converting the YAML export to XML produces the format the target system expects without manually rewriting each record.

XML Test Fixtures

Writing XML test fixtures by hand is tedious and error-prone. Define the test data in YAML (which is easier to edit and review) and convert to XML to create the fixture files your XML-parsing code will consume during tests.

Android Resources

Android string, dimension, and style resource files use XML. When managing large sets of resources (e.g., localisation strings), maintaining them in YAML and converting to XML can simplify bulk edits and reviews.