Converting KML to Shapefile packages Google Earth features into the Esri multi-file set for desktop GIS analysis.
What is KML?
KML (Keyhole Markup Language) is an XML-based format for expressing geographic annotation and visualization, adopted as an OGC standard and popularized by Google Earth.
KML describes Placemarks, geometries (points, lines, polygons), and their presentation using an XML tree that also supports folders for organization, rich styling (icons, colors, line widths, fills), balloon descriptions, and ground overlays. It is designed for display and sharing rather than analysis, and is opened natively by Google Earth, Google Maps, and most GIS packages. Because it targets a single global view, it has no concept of reprojection.
What is Shapefile?
The Shapefile is a widely used vector data format developed and published by Esri, stored as a set of sibling files that share a common base name.
A single "shapefile" is really a bundle: the mandatory .shp (feature geometry), .shx (a shape index for fast seeking), and .dbf (a dBASE table of attributes), usually alongside a .prj (coordinate system) and sometimes a .cpg (attribute encoding). It is the lingua franca of desktop GIS and is read by virtually every tool, from ArcGIS and QGIS to GDAL/OGR. Its age shows in several hard limits: DBF attribute field names are truncated to 10 characters, each file component is capped at 2 GB, every file holds a single geometry type, and attribute types are constrained to what DBF supports (limited-width text, numbers, dates, and booleans).
Why convert KML to Shapefile?
Shapefile is required by many ArcGIS/QGIS workflows and data submissions that cannot ingest KML, so converting brings Google Earth data into professional analysis pipelines. It gives you an indexed, attribute-tabled dataset suited to spatial queries and geoprocessing. This is the standard step for turning shared KML into analyzable GIS layers.
Coordinate systems
KML coordinates are always geographic WGS84 longitude, latitude, and (optionally) altitude in that order; the format has no CRS or projection field, so any data written to KML is expressed in EPSG:4326 by definition.
The coordinate reference system lives in the optional .prj sidecar as a WKT (well-known text) string. When the .prj is absent the CRS is genuinely unknown and consumers typically fall back to assuming WGS84, which can silently misplace data that was in another projection.
What to watch out for
- Placemark data names longer than 10 characters are truncated to fit DBF field-name limits.
- A Shapefile holds one geometry type per file, so KML mixing points, lines, and polygons may be split or partially dropped.
- KML is already WGS84, and a matching .prj declaring EPSG:4326 is written with the output.
- KML styling and rich HTML descriptions do not fit the DBF attribute model and are lost or clipped by field width.
How to convert KML to Shapefile
- Drag your KML file (.kml) into the converter above, or click to browse.
- Confirm the source is KML and choose Shapefile as the output format.
- Optionally pick a target coordinate system (EPSG) to reproject.
- Click Convert and download your Shapefile file. Everything runs in your browser.
Frequently asked questions
- Why is the download a ZIP?
- A Shapefile is a bundle of files (.shp/.shx/.dbf/.prj). They are zipped so the set stays intact.
- What coordinate system will the Shapefile have?
- WGS84 (EPSG:4326), because KML is inherently in WGS84; a .prj declaring it is included.
- My KML has mixed geometry — is that a problem?
- It can be. Shapefile supports only one geometry type per file, so mixed placemarks may need to be separated by type.