Open and View XPS Files Online
Open an XPS or OXPS file here and read it, page by page, without installing anything. Windows dropped XPS Viewer from its default install in 2018, so a file that used to open on a double-click now presents as something the computer does not recognize — which is a problem about a missing viewer rather than about a broken file. The document is intact; nothing on the machine will show it to you.
Use this without the search next time. Prathom Workbench puts Prathom's tools in your toolbar.
Add to Chrome — freeDrop an XPS or OXPS file here
No account, no XPS Viewer, nothing to install.
What it does
- Reads .xps and the later OpenXPS variant
- Every page, not just the first
- Text stays searchable with your browser's find
- Nothing to install, and no account
How to use XPS Viewer
- 1
Add the file
Drop an .xps or .oxps file onto the box above, or choose it from your computer. Files up to 50 MB, and no account is needed.
- 2
Read it
Every page appears in order. The text stays real text, so your browser's find (Ctrl+F, or Cmd+F on a Mac) searches the document rather than just the page you can see.
- 3
Keep a copy if you want one
Download it as a PDF, which opens anywhere without a viewer and is the format to send if somebody else needs to read it too.
Why Windows stopped opening these
XPS was Microsoft's fixed-layout document format, introduced with Windows Vista as an answer to PDF. It never won, but it was in the print dialog of every Windows machine for over a decade as the "Microsoft XPS Document Writer", which means an enormous number of these files exist without anybody having chosen the format. People printed a statement, a receipt, a form or a report to it because it was there.
Then, in Windows 10 version 1803, XPS Viewer stopped being installed by default. It is still available — Settings, Apps, Optional features, Add a feature, "XPS Viewer" — but it is no longer there unless you go and get it, and nothing on screen tells you that is what is missing. The file looks broken. It is not.
If you would rather fix this properly on your own machine — install the viewer, or find one that works on a Mac or Linux — the longer write-up is how to open XPS files when Windows cannot read them, which covers the optional Windows feature, Okular and MuPDF, and where each of them falls short.
The awkward part is the second spelling. Windows 8 and later write OXPS (OpenXPS, the standardized revision), while older systems write XPS, and Microsoft's own viewer on some Windows versions refuses to open the one it does not expect. That is why a file can open on one colleague's machine and fail on another that also has a viewer installed. Both open here.
How it works
The document is rendered on our server by a dedicated XPS engine and handed back to your browser as a PDF, which your browser already knows how to display. That is the whole mechanism, and it is worth being plain about because two details follow from it that matter to you.
Every page comes across. The engine walks the document's page sequence, so a four-page statement arrives as four pages. That is not automatic for this format — converting an XPS to a PNG or a JPG gives you the first page only, because one image file holds one picture, and those pages say so rather than letting you find out.
The text stays text. XPS stores characters, not a photograph of characters, and that survives into what you are reading. So your browser's find will search the whole document, and you can select and copy from it. Most online viewers for formats this old render each page to an image, which looks correct and silently costs you search, selection and copy — a difference nobody notices until the moment they need it.
The cost is that your file goes to a server, because nothing in a browser can read XPS. It is deleted, along with everything produced from it, within thirty minutes. If a document is sensitive enough that this is the wrong trade, adding the Windows optional feature and opening it locally is the better answer, and it is a two-minute job.
Viewing it, or converting it
These are different questions and it is worth knowing which one you have.
If you need to read the document once — check an amount, find a date, confirm which invoice it is — you are done above. Nothing has to be saved.
If you need to send it to somebody, or attach it, or keep it somewhere it will still open in five years, convert it to PDF and use that. PDF is the format XPS was competing with, and it is the one that won: it opens on every operating system, every phone and every browser without anything installed. The layout, the fonts and the vector artwork transfer exactly, because both formats describe a fixed page the same way.
If you need a picture of a page — for a slide, a bug report, a document that wants an image — XPS to PNG or XPS to JPG will give you the first page. Not the rest; see above.
Examples
A statement printed to XPS years ago
The common case, because Windows shipped an "XPS Document Writer" printer for years and anything that could print could produce one. Most of these files exist because it was in the print dialog, not because anyone chose the format.
A multi-page OXPS scan
OXPS is the later, standardized spelling of the same format and opens the same way here. Windows is stricter about the difference than this is — its own viewer refuses OXPS on some versions and XPS on others.
Frequently asked questions
Why will my XPS file not open on Windows?
Because XPS Viewer stopped being part of the default Windows install in version 1803, released in April 2018. Microsoft did not remove support for the format — it moved the viewer to an optional feature you have to add deliberately through Settings, Optional features, Add a feature. A file that opened on a double-click in 2015 now looks like an unknown file type, and nothing on screen explains that the viewer is what is missing.
Do I have to install XPS Viewer to read this file?
No. This renders the document on our server and shows it in your browser, so you can read it on a machine where XPS Viewer was never installed, on a work computer where you cannot install anything, and on a Mac or a phone where Microsoft's viewer does not exist at all. Installing the optional Windows feature is a reasonable thing to do if XPS files reach you often and you are on Windows; it is not required to read one now.
Can I search the text inside the document?
Yes. XPS stores text as text rather than as a picture of text, and that survives into what you are shown here, so your browser's find will match words anywhere in the file. This is worth knowing because most online "viewers" for obscure formats render each page to an image, which looks right and silently costs you search, selection and copying.
What is the difference between XPS and OXPS?
OXPS is the later version, standardized as OpenXPS, and Windows 8 onwards produces it while older systems produce plain XPS. They are close enough that both open here the same way. Windows itself is less forgiving: its own viewer on some versions refuses to open the other spelling, which is the reason a file that opens on one machine can fail on another that also has a viewer installed.
Is my document uploaded anywhere?
It is sent to our server, because rendering XPS needs software that does not exist in a browser. The file, everything produced from it, and the result are all deleted within 30 minutes, and nothing is looked at or kept. If a document is sensitive enough that this matters, adding the Windows optional feature and opening it locally is the right choice, and that is the honest answer rather than a reassurance.
Does every page come across?
Yes. A three-page XPS shows three pages, and long documents come across whole. This is worth stating because it is not true of every conversion of this format — turning an XPS into a PNG or a JPG gives you the first page only, since a single image file holds a single picture, and the pages for those conversions say so up front.