What Is an XPS File?
An XPS file (extension .xps) is a fixed-layout document in Microsoft's XML Paper Specification format. Like a PDF, it preserves the exact layout of a page — fonts, images and positioning — so the document looks identical on any compliant viewer. If you have received one and aren't sure what it is, this page explains where XPS files come from and what to do with them.
Where XPS came from
Microsoft introduced XPS with Windows Vista in 2006 as its own answer to Adobe's PDF. It shipped three things: the Microsoft XPS Document Writer (a virtual printer that produces an .xps file from any Print dialog), a bundled XPS Viewer, and a 'Save as XPS' export in Office 2007 onward. In 2009 ECMA International standardised a variant called OpenXPS (ECMA-388), which uses the .oxps extension — see our OXPS vs XPS guide.
What's inside an XPS file
Technically, an .xps file is a ZIP archive built on the Open Packaging Conventions (OPC) — the same container scheme used by .docx and .xlsx. Inside are XAML markup describing the page content, an OPC manifest, and embedded resources such as fonts and images. That is why renaming an .xps to .zip and opening it reveals a folder structure rather than gibberish.
Where you'll run into XPS files today
XPS never caught on widely, so you usually meet it in three places: documents printed to XPS on older Windows machines, scanner software that defaults to XPS output, and enterprise document systems that adopted it internally. Outside Windows the format is awkward — macOS, iOS, Android and Chrome OS have no built-in reader — which is why most people convert XPS to PDF as soon as they receive one.
How to open or convert an XPS file
On Windows you can install the optional XPS Viewer (see Windows 11 and Windows 10 guides). On every other platform the simplest path is conversion: turn the file into a PDF, which opens everywhere. Our XPS vs PDF comparison explains why PDF is usually the better format to keep the document in.
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Frequently asked questions
Is an XPS file the same as a PDF?
They are very similar — both are fixed-layout document formats — but XPS is Microsoft's format and PDF is the cross-platform ISO standard. PDF opens on far more devices and apps, which is why XPS is usually converted to PDF.
How do I open an XPS file?
On Windows, install the optional XPS Viewer. On Mac, iPhone, Android, Chromebook or Linux, convert it to PDF first because those systems have no built-in XPS reader.
Can I edit an XPS file?
Not easily — XPS is a fixed-layout output format, not an editable one. To make changes, go back to the original document, or convert the XPS to PDF and edit that.
Is XPS still used?
Rarely by choice. It survives mostly as the output of older Windows software and some scanners. Microsoft removed the XPS Viewer from default Windows installs in 2017.
Last updated: June 2026