XPS to PDF
Convert Microsoft XPS / OXPS documents to PDF. 100% in your browser — nothing uploaded.
Select an XPS
or drop one .xps or .oxps file here
—
Best for text XPS documents (Word printed to XPS). v0.1 extracts text only — embedded images and complex vector graphics may not survive.
Your file is ready
Processed entirely in your browser — the file never left your device.
How to convert XPS to PDF
Three steps. Everything happens locally.
Open the .xps
Pick or drop an XPS/OXPS file. It's a ZIP — jszip opens it in your browser.
Pick page size
A4, Letter, or Legal.
Download
pdf-lib builds the PDF in your tab.
What is "XPS to PDF"?
XPS (XML Paper Specification) is Microsoft's PDF equivalent. Introduced in 2006 with Windows Vista, every modern Windows version ships with a "Microsoft XPS Document Writer" virtual printer that creates .xps files. The format is technically a fine choice — it's an open standard now (ISO/IEC 29500-2) — but practically, almost nothing outside the Windows ecosystem opens XPS. macOS, Android, iOS, Linux desktops, and most online viewers don't preview XPS files. That makes the format a hassle the moment you share a file outside your laptop.
Converting XPS to PDF wraps the same content in the universally opened PDF format. The result loses nothing important for text-heavy XPS documents (which is most of them — XPS is typically the output of "Print to XPS" from Word, Excel, or any Windows app).
How XPS to PDF works in your browser
XPS is built on the
Open Packaging Convention
— the same ZIP-of-XML architecture used by .docx and .xlsx files.
We unzip the .xps with
jszip,
find every .fpage file (each represents one page of
the document), walk the XML to extract <Glyphs>
elements with their positions and styling, then re-render the
text onto standard PDF pages with
pdf-lib.
Everything happens inside your browser tab. There is no upload, no server, no account. Run the tool offline (after the first page load) and it still works.
Common use cases
- Receiving an XPS at work. Many corporate Windows shops produce XPS by default. Convert before sharing externally.
- Archiving old Windows documents. XPS files from a decade ago are getting harder to open. PDF is more durable.
- Sending to non-Windows recipients. Mac, mobile, and Linux users can't preview XPS in their inbox.
- Submitting to a portal that requires PDF. Government and education portals rarely accept XPS.
- Pre-processing for other PDF tools. Once it's a PDF, you can merge, split, OCR, redact, sign — anything in our toolkit.
Privacy & security
XPS documents from Windows shops often contain sensitive material — internal reports, signed contracts, HR forms. Most online XPS-to-PDF services upload your file to their servers. imisspdf processes everything locally — no upload, no server-side temp file, no retention. See our iLovePDF privacy review for what the standard upload model actually looks like.
Frequently asked questions
XPS (XML Paper Specification) is Microsoft's PDF equivalent — a fixed-page document format introduced with Windows Vista in 2006. Windows includes a "Microsoft XPS Document Writer" virtual printer that creates .xps files. OXPS (Open XPS) is the ISO-standardised variant. Outside the Windows ecosystem, XPS is rare and hard to open — which is exactly why people convert to PDF.
Best-effort. We extract text content with absolute positioning preserved, then re-render onto standard pages with Helvetica. Prose XPS documents (someone printed a Word doc to XPS) convert well. XPS with complex vector graphics, embedded fonts, or fixed-layout content (technical drawings, posters) may lose visual fidelity — only the text comes through.
No. The .xps archive is unpacked in your browser by jszip, FixedPage XML files are parsed locally, and the PDF is built with pdf-lib — also in your browser. Nothing leaves your device.
v0.1 of this tool focuses on text content. Images and <Path> vector elements are skipped. If you need a pixel-perfect render of an XPS with diagrams, open it in Windows Reader or SumatraPDF and use the built-in PDF export instead.
Two possibilities. (1) The XPS is image-based (a scanned doc embedded as a TIFF or JPEG inside the XPS); we don't extract images in v0.1. (2) The XPS uses an unusual coordinate convention or our XML walker missed the Glyphs. Try opening the file in SumatraPDF — if you can see selectable text there, we should be able to extract it; please report the file.
Tips for best results
- Print-to-XPS works well. XPS files produced by Microsoft's "Print to XPS Document Writer" from Word/Excel/PowerPoint convert cleanly.
- Pick the page size your recipient expects. A4 for Europe, Letter for the U.S.
- For image-heavy XPS, use SumatraPDF. The free Windows reader has a built-in PDF export that preserves images. Our v0.1 focuses on text.
- OXPS works too. The ISO variant uses the same internal structure as XPS. Either extension is fine.
- Compress the result if it's image-heavy after conversion. Pipe through Compress PDF.
Related PDF tools
- Word to PDF — if the XPS came from Word, converting the original .docx may be more faithful.
- PDF to Word — once converted, get back to an editable .docx.
- Merge PDF — combine the new PDF with other PDFs.
- Compress PDF — shrink the resulting PDF.