Excel spreadsheets are everywhere — finance reports, product catalogues, user exports, survey results. But when you need that data in a system, database, or API, you need JSON or CSV. Here's how to convert Excel files for free, without installing anything.

Convert Excel to JSON online — free

Go to SolutionGigs Excel to JSON Converter. Upload your .xlsx file and get a clean JSON array in seconds.

The first row of your spreadsheet becomes the JSON keys. Each subsequent row becomes one object:

Excel input:

name department salary
Alice Engineering 85000
Bob Marketing 72000

JSON output:

[
  {"name": "Alice", "department": "Engineering", "salary": "85000"},
  {"name": "Bob",   "department": "Marketing",   "salary": "72000"}
]

Convert Excel to CSV online — free

Go to SolutionGigs Excel to CSV Converter. Upload your .xlsx and download a .csv that opens in any database tool, Python script, or analytics platform.

Excel to CSV is the most common data pipeline step — CSV is accepted by MySQL, PostgreSQL, BigQuery, Snowflake, Pandas, and virtually every other data tool.

Convert JSON or CSV to Excel

Need to go the other direction? These converters produce styled .xlsx files with bold headers, ready to open in Excel or Google Sheets:

The output includes auto-sized columns and a styled header row (white text on dark background) for readability.

Convert Excel to XML

For enterprise systems that require XML format:

Each row becomes an <item> element with child tags named after the column headers.

Excel vs JSON vs CSV — when to use each

Format Best for
Excel (.xlsx) Sharing with business users, reports, pivot tables
CSV Database imports, data pipelines, lightweight storage
JSON REST APIs, NoSQL databases, frontend applications
XML Enterprise/SOAP APIs, legacy system integration
Parquet Big data analytics (Spark, BigQuery, Redshift)

Common problems when exporting Excel data

Merged cells — Merged cells in Excel may produce blank values in the exported rows. Unmerge cells before converting for clean output.

Multiple sheets — The converter processes the active (first) sheet. If your data is on a different sheet, make it the first sheet before uploading.

Date formatting — Excel stores dates as serial numbers internally. They are exported as their display value (e.g., "2026-01-15") which is usually what you want.

Formulas — Only the calculated values are exported, not the formula strings. The converter uses data_only=True mode.

Large files — Files up to 500 MB are supported. Spreadsheets with 100,000+ rows convert in 5–15 seconds.

Frequently asked questions

Is Excel to JSON/CSV conversion free? Yes — completely free with no monthly limits, no account needed, and no watermarks.

Is .xls (old Excel format) supported? The converter accepts .xlsx (Excel 2007+). For older .xls files, open in Excel or LibreOffice and save as .xlsx first.

What about password-protected Excel files? Remove the password protection before uploading — the converter cannot open encrypted files.

Are my Excel files kept private? Your file is processed on a private server and deleted automatically within 1 hour. It is never shared or stored permanently.

Convert Excel to JSON — free, no signup →