Convert Excel to ODS
Ethical Tube's free Excel to ODS converter turns Excel spreadsheets into ODS, the open spreadsheet format of LibreOffice, using LibreOffice, the open-source office suite. It runs entirely in your browser, so your spreadsheets are never uploaded, and it's free with no sign-up or watermark. The first conversion downloads the LibreOffice engine (77 MB) once, and it's cached after that.
Files are converted on your device and never uploaded.
- Price
- Free
- Uploads
- None, it runs on your device
- Sign-up
- Not needed
- Batch
- Unlimited files
- Output
- ODS
- First use
- 77 MB download, once
How it works
How to convert Excel to ODS
Add your Excel files
Drop Excel files onto the converter, click to choose them, or paste from the clipboard. Add as many as you like.
Check the settings
ODS is already selected. The first time, confirm the one-time download of the document engine.
Download your ODS spreadsheets
Each file gets its own download button as soon as it's ready. Download all saves everything in one ZIP file.
The formats
Excel and ODS at a glance
What is an Excel file?
XLSX is the workbook format Microsoft Excel has used since 2007. A workbook can hold several sheets with formulas, formatting, charts, and filters, and it's the standard way spreadsheets are shared at work. It opens in Microsoft Excel, Google Sheets, Apple Numbers, LibreOffice Calc, and WPS Office.
What is an ODS file?
ODS is the OpenDocument spreadsheet format, the default in LibreOffice Calc and an open ISO standard. Excel and Google Sheets open it, though some formatting and advanced formulas may not carry over exactly. It opens in LibreOffice Calc, Apache OpenOffice, Microsoft Excel, and Google Sheets.
Good to know
What changes when you convert Excel to ODS
- Text, formatting, tables, and images carry over to ODS.
- Moving between OpenDocument and Microsoft formats can shift complex layouts, so check documents with heavy formatting.
- The first conversion downloads LibreOffice compiled to WebAssembly (77 MB). It's cached, so later visits start quickly.
- Chinese, Japanese, and Korean text may appear in a fallback font.
- Password-protected documents can't be converted.
- It works best on a computer, because LibreOffice needs a lot of memory.
FAQ
Questions, answered
Is this Excel to ODS converter free?
Yes. It's completely free, with no sign-up, no watermark, and no limit on how many files you convert. It costs Ethical Tube nothing to run, because the conversion happens on your own device rather than on a server.
Are my files uploaded anywhere?
No. The conversion runs inside your browser with LibreOffice compiled to WebAssembly, so your files never leave your device. Once the page and the engine have loaded, it even works offline.
Why is there a download the first time?
The conversion uses LibreOffice, the open-source office suite, compiled to run inside your browser. It's about 77 MB, downloads once from Ethical Tube's own server, and is cached for next time. Your documents are never uploaded.
Can I convert several Excel files at once?
Yes. Add as many as you like. They're converted one after another, and you can download each ODS file as soon as it's ready or all of them in one ZIP file.
Does it work on iPhone, Android, Mac, and Windows?
It works in Chrome, Edge, Firefox, and Safari, but it's built for computers. LibreOffice needs about 1 GB of memory, which many phones can't spare.
What can open an ODS file?
LibreOffice Calc, Apache OpenOffice, Microsoft Excel, and Google Sheets.
Is there a file size limit?
There's no upload limit because nothing is uploaded. The practical limit is your device's memory: everyday files are fine, and most computers handle documents with hundreds of pages.
Keep converting
Related converters
Start your first recording in seconds
It's free, it runs in your browser, and there's no account to create.
Start recording for free