Shapefile Viewer
Open an Esri shapefile without installing GIS software. Choose the .zip (or the .shp, .dbf and .prj files together) to draw points, lines and polygons on an OpenStreetMap map, browse and search the attribute table, color the map by any field, and export the layer to GeoJSON or CSV. Common projected coordinate systems such as UTM, State Plane and Web Mercator are converted automatically.
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Choose a .zip with the .shp, .dbf and .prj files, or select those files together. Drop them on the map to open.
The OpenStreetMap basemap could not be loaded (offline or blocked). Features are drawn on a grid.
Attribute table
How to use the Shapefile Viewer
- Open your shapefile: choose the .zip, or select the .shp, .dbf and .prj files together, or drop them on the map. A sample layer is shown first.
- Pick a layer from the menu if the zip holds several shapefiles.
- Explore: pan and zoom the map, click a shape to see its attributes and measurements, or click a table row to zoom to it.
- Style the map with Color by and Labels to see patterns in a field.
- Export the layer as GeoJSON or CSV for web maps, spreadsheets or databases.
Shapefile parts and what this viewer does with them
| File | Contains | Required? | Used for |
|---|---|---|---|
.shp | Geometry: points, lines or polygons (binary, little/big-endian mix) | Yes | Drawing, measurements, GeoJSON and WKT export |
.dbf | Attribute table in dBASE III format, one row per shape | For attributes | Table, search, color by, labels, exports |
.prj | Coordinate system as WKT text | Strongly recommended | Converting projected coordinates to latitude/longitude |
.cpg | Text encoding name such as UTF-8 or 1252 | Optional | Decoding accented and non-Latin text |
.shx | Index of record positions | Formally yes | Not needed: records are read in order from the .shp |
.sbn, .sbx, .qix, .xml | Spatial indexes and metadata | No | Ignored |
Shape types
| Code | Type | GeoJSON export |
|---|---|---|
| 1, 11, 21 | Point, PointZ, PointM | Point (Z and M values are dropped) |
| 8, 18, 28 | MultiPoint (Z, M) | MultiPoint |
| 3, 13, 23 | PolyLine (Z, M) | LineString or MultiLineString |
| 5, 15, 25 | Polygon (Z, M) | Polygon or MultiPolygon, holes matched to their outer ring |
| 31 | MultiPatch (3D surfaces) | Drawn as flat polygons |
In a shapefile, outer polygon rings run clockwise and holes counterclockwise. GeoJSON (RFC 7946) uses the opposite convention, so rings are reversed on export. Field names in a .dbf are limited to 10 characters and text fields to 254 characters, which is why exported columns sometimes have shortened names like POP_DENSIT.
Tip: when sending a shapefile to someone, zip all of its files together. A .shp on its own has no attributes and no coordinate system.
Frequently asked questions
What files make up a shapefile?
A shapefile is a set of files with the same name: .shp holds the geometry, .shx is an index, and .dbf holds the attribute table in dBASE format. Optional but important are .prj, which describes the coordinate system, and .cpg, which names the text encoding. The .shp is required here; without the .dbf there are no attributes, and without the .prj the coordinate system has to be guessed.
Why is my shapefile shown without a basemap?
The map needs longitude and latitude. If the .prj file is missing, or describes a projection this viewer cannot convert, the shapes are still drawn correctly relative to each other in their own units, but they cannot be placed on the world map. Add the original .prj file to the zip to fix it.
Which coordinate systems are supported?
Geographic coordinates (WGS 84, NAD83, ETRS89 and similar) are shown directly. Projected systems using Transverse Mercator (all UTM zones and many national grids), Lambert Conformal Conic (most US State Plane zones, in meters or US survey feet), Albers equal-area and Mercator/Web Mercator are converted with the published USGS formulas. Other projections are converted with the proj4js library when it can be loaded. Datum shifts of a few meters, such as NAD27 to WGS 84, are not applied.
Is my data uploaded to a server?
No. The zip is unpacked and the .shp and .dbf files are decoded by JavaScript in your browser. Only the background map tiles are requested from OpenStreetMap; they reveal the map area you are looking at, not your data. Turn off the basemap to avoid even that.
Why do accented characters look wrong in the attributes?
Older shapefiles store text in a legacy code page. The viewer uses the .cpg file if present, otherwise the code page byte in the .dbf header, and otherwise tests whether the text is valid UTF-8 before falling back to Windows-1252. The encoding that was used is listed under Layer info.
How do I convert a shapefile to GeoJSON?
Open it here and click Download GeoJSON. Coordinates are converted to WGS 84 longitude/latitude with 7 decimal places, polygon rings are written counterclockwise as RFC 7946 requires, multipart shapes become MultiPolygon or MultiLineString, and every .dbf field becomes a property.
Is there a size limit?
Layers with tens of thousands of features and a few hundred thousand vertices display smoothly. Shapefiles are limited to 2 GB by design, but browsers struggle above a few hundred megabytes; for very large layers, clip or simplify them first.
Are all the tools on FreeToolCabin tested for quality and accuracy?
Yes! Every tool on our site undergoes automated Q/A testing in real browser environments to ensure high precision, correct output, and zero errors. If you happen to spot a bug or have a suggestion, please contact us at [email protected] and our team will review it right away.