XML to C# Converter Online — Generate POCO Classes

Paste any XML and generate XmlSerializer-ready POCO classes. Attributes map to [XmlAttribute], elements to [XmlElement], and nested structures get their own classes — all in your browser.

Input XML

Generated C#

What is an XML to C# converter?

An XML to C# converter takes a real XML document and emits annotated POCO classes that XmlSerializer can deserialize into. The OpenFormatter generator inspects every element and attribute, infers C# types, and produces a complete class hierarchy with [XmlRoot], [XmlElement], and [XmlAttribute] attributes — saving the tedious step of writing them by hand for SOAP, RSS, or app.config-style XML.

XML differs from JSON in two ways your C# model has to honour. First, XML has attributes on elements (<book id="bk101">) — these become [XmlAttribute]-annotated properties, not [XmlElement]. Second, XML has namespaces; the generator strips them by default, but you can re-add them via the Namespace argument on each annotation. Both aspects are handled by the sample below.

Sample XML and the C# POCO it generates

Input XML

<book id="bk101" lang="en">
  <title>Programming C# 10</title>
  <year>2022</year>
  <price currency="USD">59.99</price>
</book>

Generated C#

[XmlRoot("book")]
public class Book
{
    [XmlAttribute("id")]
    public string Id { get; set; }
    [XmlAttribute("lang")]
    public string Lang { get; set; }
    [XmlElement("title")]
    public string Title { get; set; }
    [XmlElement("year")]
    public int Year { get; set; }
    [XmlElement("price")]
    public Price Price { get; set; }
}

Notice id and lang use [XmlAttribute], while title and year use [XmlElement]. The nested <price currency="USD">59.99</price> generates a Price class with one [XmlAttribute] and one [XmlText] for the text content — exactly what XmlSerializer expects.

How to convert XML to C# — 4 steps

Paste your XML. A SOAP envelope body, an RSS feed entry, an app.config fragment — anything well-formed.
Click Convert. The browser parses the XML and generates XmlSerializer-annotated POCO classes for the full element tree.
Review attribute mapping. Confirm [XmlAttribute] matches the attributes you care about; tweak property names if needed.
Drop into your project. Copy the output, save each class as its own .cs file, and deserialize real XML with new XmlSerializer(typeof(Root)).Deserialize(reader).

XmlSerializer Ready

Generates [XmlRoot] on the top class plus [XmlElement] and [XmlAttribute] on every property — ready to deserialize with new XmlSerializer(typeof(Root)).

Attribute vs Element

XML attributes become [XmlAttribute] properties, child elements become [XmlElement] properties. The distinction is preserved exactly so round-tripping is lossless.

Client-Side Only

Your XML — including SOAP responses with credentials — is parsed in JavaScript on your machine. Verify in DevTools: zero network requests on Convert.

Common use cases

check_circleGenerate POCO classes for a SOAP service response
check_circleBuild C# models for an RSS or Atom feed reader
check_circleConvert app.config or web.config XML into typed POCOs
check_circleGenerate C# types from an XSD-described XML file
check_circleCreate deserialization models for legacy enterprise XML
check_circleBuild typed POCOs for a SAML or WS-Security XML payload
check_circleGenerate C# models for sitemaps.xml or robots.xml
check_circleCreate POCOs for MSBuild project (.csproj) or NuGet (.nuspec) files

Why client-side conversion matters

SOAP responses and enterprise XML often contain customer PII, API tokens, internal endpoint names, and database identifiers. Pasting them into a server-hosted converter is a compliance violation in most regulated industries. OpenFormatter parses the XML and generates C# code entirely in JavaScript on your device — no upload, no logs, no cookies. Open DevTools → Network and confirm no requests fire when you click Convert.

More XML tooling

Validate, format, or convert XML to other languages — every tool runs locally in your browser.

XML Validator XML Formatter All XML Tools

Frequently Asked Questions

Does it use [XmlElement] / [XmlAttribute] for XmlSerializer?

Yes. The generator emits classes annotated with [XmlRoot], [XmlElement("name")], and [XmlAttribute("name")] from System.Xml.Serialization. The classes deserialize directly with new XmlSerializer(typeof(Root)).Deserialize(stream) — no custom converter or reflection setup required.

Or System.Text.Json — can the same class be used?

No. System.Text.Json is JSON-only and ignores XML attributes. For XML use System.Xml.Serialization (XmlSerializer) or System.Xml.Linq (XDocument). If you also need JSON, add [JsonPropertyName] alongside the XML attributes — both serializers will respect their own annotations on the same POCO.

How are XML attributes mapped to C# properties?

XML attributes (e.g. <book id="bk101">) become public properties annotated with [XmlAttribute("id")]. Element children (<title>...</title>) instead receive [XmlElement("title")]. The two annotations tell XmlSerializer exactly where each value lives in the source XML, so round-tripping is lossless.

How are repeated elements like <tag> in <tags> represented?

Repeated child elements become a List<TagType> property on the parent class. XmlSerializer automatically marshals and unmarshals the list against repeated <tag> elements. You can also wrap with [XmlArray("tags")] [XmlArrayItem("tag")] for explicit container/item naming.

What about XML namespaces?

The basic generator strips namespaces. For namespace-aware binding add Namespace = "http://example.com/ns" to each [XmlElement] and [XmlRoot] attribute, or pass an XmlSerializerNamespaces instance to the serializer at runtime so prefixes are emitted on output.

Can elements with both attributes and text content be modeled?

Yes. <price currency="USD">59.99</price> generates a Price class with two properties — Currency annotated with [XmlAttribute("currency")] and a Value field annotated with [XmlText]. XmlSerializer populates the text content into the [XmlText] property while reading the attribute separately.

Is the XML I paste sent to your servers?

No. XML is parsed by the browser DOMParser and the C# code is generated entirely in JavaScript on your machine. Open DevTools → Network and you will see no requests when you click Convert. Safe for SOAP envelopes and configuration containing API keys, connection strings, or secrets.

How do I deserialize XML into the generated POCOs?

Use XmlSerializer: var serializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(Book)); using var reader = new StringReader(xml); var book = (Book)serializer.Deserialize(reader); — the [XmlElement]/[XmlAttribute]-annotated properties are populated automatically. Works on .NET Framework 4.x, .NET Core, and .NET 6/7/8.