Deliver a Trados or memoQ job without the licence
A client sends an SDLXLIFF or MQXLIFF. Open it here, translate and confirm, and export. Statuses change only on the segments you confirmed; comments and match rates are left as they came.
Free translation file editor · runs in your browser
Open the file your client sent. Translate it. Send it back intact.
xliff.ai edits XLIFF, SDLXLIFF (Trados), MQXLIFF (memoQ), Excel and CSV translation files right in your browser. It is free, needs no account, and never uploads your file.
- No account
- No upload
- No cookies
- Works offline
This is the real editor, already running on a sample file. Click a target cell, type, and press Ctrl+Enter to confirm.
A preview of the editor, with the sample file it opens. The editor is built for a computer screen and a keyboard: open this page on one to try it live.
sample.xlf en → de 5 of 8 confirmed Loading the editor…
Save changesÄnderungen speichern Your session will expire in {0} minutes.Ihre Sitzung läuft in {0} Minuten ab. Delete project Exporting %s to the selected folder… Welcome back, {{name}}!
- 6 formats
- XLIFF 1.2 and 2.0, SDLXLIFF, MQXLIFF, XLSX and CSV.
- 15 QA checks
- Tags, placeholders, numbers, punctuation, terms, consistency.
- 300,000 segments
- The size of file the performance test opens and exports.
- 0 files uploaded
- Your file is read and written on your own computer.
Why use xliff.ai
A translation file is somebody else's property, in somebody else's format, due tomorrow. The tool that opens it should be free to reach for, safe to trust with it, and careful with every byte it does not need to touch.
- Free, with nothing locked
- The editor, the quality checks, the translation memory and every export. No trial, no paid tier, no sign-up form — there is no account to create.
- Your files stay on your computer
- The file is opened, edited and saved by your browser. There is no upload and no server holding a copy, so confidential client work stays where it is.
- Your file comes back intact
- Only the segments you changed are rewritten. In XLIFF, SDLXLIFF and MQXLIFF files, the tags, comments, match rates, locked segments and formatting around them stay byte for byte as they arrived.
- Opens the files you are sent
- SDLXLIFF from Trados Studio, MQXLIFF from memoQ, XLIFF 1.2 and 2.0, and Excel or CSV string files. No CAT-tool licence and nothing to install.
- Catches errors before your client does
- Fifteen checks for missing tags, broken placeholders, wrong numbers, punctuation, terminology and inconsistent translations. The issues filter the grid, so you fix them one by one.
- Never loses your work
- Every edit is saved in your browser as you type, and a reload brings the session back with its undo history. Install it as an app and it opens with the network switched off.
Three steps, all in your browser
-
Open your file
Drop an XLIFF, SDLXLIFF, MQXLIFF, Excel or CSV file on the page, or open a whole project folder in Chrome or Edge. Your browser reads it; nothing is uploaded.
-
Translate and check
Work segment by segment: type, press Ctrl+Enter to confirm and jump to the next one, and let repetitions fill themselves. Pretranslate from your own memory, run the quality checks, and fix what they find.
-
Export and deliver
Download the finished file in its original format, ready to send back. Add a TMX for your memory, a QA report, or an Excel review workbook for a client who does not use a CAT tool.
Your computer
Your file xliff.ai, running in your browser The finished file
Autosave keeps your session in the browser's own storage, on the same disk.
What you can do with it
Check a translation before it goes out
Run the quality checks over a file you did not translate — a vendor's delivery, a post-edited machine translation — filter to the problems, and export a QA report.
Get a client's review in Excel
Export a review workbook with a decision drop-down on every segment. Your client reviews it in Excel, and you import their decisions back into the file.
Reuse the work you have already done
Load a TMX or a file you translated before and pretranslate new segments from it. Export what you finish as TMX to feed the memory in your main tool.
Translate string files from developers
Open the Excel or CSV sheet a developer exported, with the source and target columns detected for you, and send back the same sheet with the translations filled in.
Test software before it is translated
Pseudo-translate a resource file to find hard-coded strings, text that gets cut off and broken placeholders before a single word goes to a translator.
Your file comes back as your file
The usual way to save a translation file is to read it into memory and write a new one out. The new file means the same thing, but the details a CAT tool cares about can shift on the way: attribute order, line endings, entities, the byte order mark.
xliff.ai keeps your original file and replaces only the targets you changed. Export an XLIFF, SDLXLIFF or MQXLIFF without editing it and you get the same file back, byte for byte — automated tests check that on every build. Excel and CSV files are rewritten by their own format's rules, keeping sheets, columns and formatting.
Read into memory, write a new file
every byte rewritten
xliff.ai, after you edit two segments
two ranges rewritten, the rest copied
Questions
Is xliff.ai really free?
Yes. The editor, the quality checks, the translation memory and every export are free, with no account, no trial and no paid tier. It can be free because there is no server: your own computer does the work, so there is nothing to pay for per user. A donation link in the footer supports development, and nothing is behind it.
Is my file uploaded anywhere?
No. Your browser reads the file, edits it and writes the export on your own computer. You can check this yourself: open your browser's network tab, open a file, and look for a request that carries it — there is none. The only feature that sends text anywhere is the optional AI review, which sends the segments you select to the AI provider you chose, with your own key.
Do I need Trados Studio or memoQ?
No. xliff.ai opens SDLXLIFF files from Trados Studio and MQXLIFF files from memoQ on its own, as well as XLIFF 1.2 and 2.0, Excel and CSV. There is nothing to install.
Will the exported file open in Trados Studio or memoQ?
It is built to. Everything outside the segments you edit is written back byte for byte as it arrived, and automated tests check that on every build. It has not yet been tested inside Trados Studio and memoQ themselves, so until it has, keep your original file and open the export in the tool that will consume it before you deliver. If something is rejected, write to xliff@terratra.com.
Does it translate for me?
No. There is no machine translation. You write the translation; pretranslation comes only from translation memories you load yourself. The optional AI review reads your translation and reports possible errors against the source — it does not write your targets.
What happens if my browser crashes or I close the tab?
Every edit is saved in your browser's own storage as you type, together with two hundred steps of undo. Open xliff.ai again and it offers the session back. That storage is on your computer, so your work does not follow you to another machine, and opening a second file replaces the stored session — the editor asks before it does.
Can I use my own translation memory?
Yes. Load a TMX file, a two-column Excel, CSV or TSV file, or a bilingual file you translated before, and pretranslate from it with exact and fuzzy matches. You can export your finished work as TMX too. Trados .sdltm files and server-based memories are not supported; export them to TMX first.
Which browsers and devices does it work on?
It is tested in current Chrome and Edge on a desktop or laptop. Opening a whole project folder uses a feature only Chrome and Edge have; elsewhere you open files one at a time, and Firefox and Safari are not yet part of the automated tests. The editor opens on a phone, but it is built for a larger screen with a keyboard.
Something else? Ask, or report a problem.
Open your first file
Drop it below and it opens in the editor. It stays on your computer the whole time.