Excalidraw and Draw.io are two of the most popular diagramming tools, but they use completely different file formats. This guide explains when and how to convert between them.
Excalidraw is great for quick, hand-drawn-style diagrams — many developers use it inside Obsidian or directly at excalidraw.com. But when you need to share diagrams with a team that uses Draw.io (diagrams.net), or when you need features like layering, advanced connectors, or Confluence/Jira integration, converting to .drawio format becomes necessary.
Common scenarios:
Go to the converter tool. No installation or sign-up is required.
In the format selector, click the .drawio option. The source format is auto-detected from your file.
Drag and drop your .excalidraw or .excalidraw.md file into the drop zone. You can also click to browse. Batch conversion is supported — drop multiple files at once.
Click “Download” to save the converted file. Open it in diagrams.net or the Draw.io desktop app.
The converter preserves the following elements:
Some Excalidraw-specific features like the hand-drawn style or freehand drawings may look different in Draw.io, since Draw.io uses a different rendering engine. The structural content and connections are preserved accurately.
All conversion runs entirely in your browser. Your diagram files are never uploaded to any server. This makes the tool safe for proprietary or confidential diagrams.