Free online ODS to SAV converter

What the ODS format is

ODS, or OpenDocument Spreadsheet, is the spreadsheet format used by LibreOffice Calc and Apache OpenOffice Calc. Microsoft Excel, Google Sheets, and other spreadsheet applications can also open or export ODS files. An ODS file may contain multiple sheets, formulas, formatting, merged cells, charts, and mixed data types.

What the SAV format is

SAV is the native data-file format associated with IBM SPSS Statistics and is also supported by GNU PSPP and several statistical programming libraries. It stores rectangular data together with metadata such as variable names, variable labels, value labels, measurement levels, missing-value definitions, and display settings.

SAV is appropriate when each row represents one case or observation and each column represents one variable. It does not preserve spreadsheet presentation, charts, formulas, multiple worksheets, or general-purpose cell formatting.

How to actually convert ODS to SAV

Using R

R provides a direct and reproducible conversion with the readODS and haven packages:

1. Install the required packages once with install.packages(c("readODS", "haven")).
2. Put the source spreadsheet in the working directory, or provide its full path.
3. Read the required worksheet and write it as an SAV file:

library(readODS)
library(haven)

survey <- read_ods("input.ods", sheet = 1, col_names = TRUE)
write_sav(survey, "output.sav")

Replace sheet = 1 with a worksheet name or number. Run the conversion separately for each worksheet that must become a dataset; one SAV file represents one rectangular table.

Using Python

Python can read the ODS worksheet with pandas and write the result with Pyreadstat:

pip install pandas odfpy pyreadstat

import pandas as pd
import pyreadstat

data = pd.read_excel("input.ods", sheet_name=0, engine="odf")
pyreadstat.write_sav(data, "output.sav")

Set sheet_name to a worksheet name or index. Review the resulting data in PSPP or SPSS before analysis.

Using the website converter

For a one-off conversion without installing software, use the free converter on 101convert.com: upload the ODS file, select SAV as the output format, start the conversion, and download the generated file.

Quality, compatibility, and limitations

• Clean the worksheet before conversion: use one header row, one observation per row, and no subtotal rows, blank separator columns, merged cells, or explanatory notes inside the data range.
• ODS formulas are normally transferred as their calculated values, not as editable formulas. Recalculate and save the spreadsheet before converting if current results are required.
• Dates, times, percentages, and numeric-looking text require checking. Spreadsheet date serials or mixed-type columns may be imported with an unintended numeric or text type.
• ODS formatting, charts, conditional formatting, and most cell styling do not belong in SAV. Variable labels, value labels, and missing-value rules must be added separately unless the conversion tool provides explicit mappings.
• Column names must conform to the naming rules enforced by the target SPSS-compatible software. Rename duplicate, blank, or excessively long headers before conversion.
• Inspect row counts, column types, missing values, and representative dates after conversion; a file can open successfully while still containing incorrectly inferred values.