How to convert KML to CSV
- Drop the .kml file into the box at the top of the page.
- Check that the placemarks appear where you expect on the preview map.
- Choose CSV and convert: points get X and Y columns, while paths and polygons are kept as WKT text in the last column.
What changes when you convert KML to CSV
| What | KML → CSV | |
|---|---|---|
| Geometry | Changes | Point features become X and Y columns; lines and polygons are written to a WKT geometry column, so no shape is lost in the table. |
| Attributes | Kept | Every column and full field name moves from KML into CSV untouched. |
| Styling & labels | Dropped | KML colors, icons and description balloons are presentation, not data. CSV stores the underlying features, so styling is dropped (the geometry and attributes remain). |
| Coordinate system | Changes | CSV stores raw coordinates without a CRS tag, so note the coordinate system separately for whoever opens the file. |
| Elevation (Z) | Changes | Z values, if present, appear as an extra column rather than 3D geometry. |
| File structure | Kept | A single, self-contained .csv file you can move around on its own. |
Why convert KML to CSV?
People build KML in Google Earth, dropping placemarks and tracing paths over satellite imagery, but that XML is awkward to analyze. One clean row per feature changes that: the data opens straight in Excel or Google Sheets for sorting, filtering and pivot tables, loads into pandas for scripting, and feeds APIs without a parser. A field team might collect sample points in Google Earth and export them as CSV to join with lab results.
Coordinate system handling
The Google Earth specification leaves no projection choice inside a KML, so a placemark at longitude 73.05 means the same thing in every file ever written. Datum shifts, zone numbers and false eastings never enter the picture, which is why the converter asks no coordinate questions before writing rows.
On the way out the numbers become plain text in a table that cannot name its own datum. A reader that loads the CSV later, QGIS through its delimited text dialog or a Python script building geometry, has to be handed EPSG:4326 explicitly, because six decimal places of a degree look exactly like six decimal places of anything else.
What to check when converting KML to CSV
KML stores longitude first, then latitude, and the CSV keeps that order. Many spreadsheet workflows and geocoders expect latitude first, and a swap sends points to the wrong hemisphere, so label the columns clearly and tell the next person the values are WGS84. Icons, line colors and the rest of the Google Earth styling have no place in a flat table and are dropped on the way out.
Troubleshooting KML to CSV
- Accented place names turn into garbled characters. The CSV is written as UTF-8, and a double-clicked file on Windows is often decoded with a legacy code page that mangles anything beyond plain ASCII. Pick 65001: Unicode (UTF-8) as the file origin when importing, or use LibreOffice, which asks for the encoding up front.
- A description splits across several columns in a script. Commas inside placemark descriptions are protected by quotes, and code that splits each line on raw commas tears those fields apart. Read the file with a real CSV parser, pandas read_csv or the Python csv module, and the quoted text stays in one piece.
- The table holds three rows while Google Earth showed hundreds of points. A tiny KML is often a NetworkLink stub that tells Google Earth to fetch the real features from a server, meaning the placemarks never lived in the file at all. Load the link in Google Earth, right-click the populated layer, choose Save Place As, and convert that saved copy.
- Nothing in the rows says which folder a placemark came from. Google Earth folders organize the sidebar, and a flat table has no column for that hierarchy. Split the document by folder in Google Earth and convert each piece to its own CSV, or work the grouping into the placemark names before exporting.
- Every value lands in a single column on a European Windows setup. Locales that use a comma as the decimal mark expect a semicolon as the list separator, and Excel on such systems refuses to split a comma-separated file on double-click. Point the import wizard at the comma as the delimiter, or load the file in Google Sheets, which ignores the regional setting.
About the formats
KML is where your map lives inside Google Earth: placemarks, paths and polygons wrapped in styled XML. CSV is where that same data becomes analysis-ready rows for a spreadsheet. Converting one to the other pulls each placemark out of the drawing and lists it as a plain line of values. People do this to count features, sort by name, or hand a colleague coordinates they can open in Excel without touching Google Earth.
Frequently asked questions
Why did Excel change my coordinates when I opened the CSV?
Opening a CSV by double-click lets Excel round long decimals, turn IDs into dates and drop leading zeros. Import it through Data > From Text/CSV instead, or convert to Excel format directly so the cells keep their types.
What is the long text in the last column?
That is WKT, such as LINESTRING(...) or POLYGON(...), written for paths and polygons. A cell cannot hold a shape, so the full geometry is stored as text that GIS software can read back into real features.
Do I need a different tool for a KMZ file?
Use KMZ to CSV, which opens the archive for you and reads the document inside, so the placemarks become rows without a manual unzip.
Does KML to CSV keep placemark names and descriptions?
Yes. Names, descriptions and any ExtendedData fields become regular columns beside the coordinates, ready to edit in any spreadsheet. Styling such as icons and line colors is dropped, since a plain table has nowhere to store it.
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