How can I open a Shapefile without ArcGIS?

Zip the .shp, .shx, .dbf and .prj files together and drop the .zip into the viewer above. The shapes appear on a map with their attribute table — no GIS software needed.

Why do I need to upload a .zip?

A Shapefile is several files that only work together: geometry (.shp), index (.shx), attributes (.dbf) and projection (.prj). The .zip keeps them together.

My shapes are in the wrong place — why?

The .prj file is probably missing. It tells the viewer which coordinate system the data uses; without it, projected coordinates can't be placed on the map.

Is my Shapefile uploaded?

No. It's unzipped and read in your browser, and nothing is sent to a server.

Free online viewer

Shapefile Viewer

Open a Shapefile without ArcGIS or QGIS. Drop a zipped Shapefile to see its shapes on an interactive map and browse its attribute table, right in your browser.

Drop your Shapefile file to view it

or click to browse · also opens KML, KMZ, GPX, GeoJSON, Shapefile (.zip), CSV and Excel

Free and private: your file is opened in your browser and never uploaded. Need to convert instead?

How to open a Shapefile file online

1
Zip the Shapefile parts
Put the .shp, .shx and .dbf (and the .prj, if there is one) into a single .zip file. Many downloads are already zipped.
2
Drop the .zip
Drag it onto the box above. The geometry is read and, when a .prj is included, re-projected to standard latitude/longitude.
3
Browse shapes and attributes
Click a shape for its attributes, or scan the full attribute table below the map.

What is a Shapefile file?

The Shapefile is Esri's long-standing GIS format, still the most common way governments and GIS teams share boundaries, parcels, zones and points. A Shapefile is several files: .shp (geometry), .shx (index), .dbf (attributes) and usually .prj (coordinate system).

Without desktop GIS software those files are unreadable. Zip them together and drop the .zip here to see the shapes on a map with their attributes.

Upload the Shapefile as a .zip containing at least the .shp, .shx and .dbf files.
Include the .prj file. Without it, data in a projected coordinate system can't be placed correctly on the map.