Free online YML to TEXT converter

What the YML format is

YML is an alternate filename extension for YAML (YAML Ain’t Markup Language), a human-readable data-serialization format. YAML represents mappings, lists, strings, numbers, Boolean values, multiline text, anchors, aliases, and sometimes multiple documents in one file. Indentation, punctuation, and quoting carry structural meaning.

Configuration and automation tools commonly use .yml files, including Docker Compose, Kubernetes, Ansible, GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, static-site generators, and application frameworks. The .yaml and .yml extensions normally identify the same format.

What the TEXT format is

TEXT usually means an ordinary plain-text file, commonly saved with the .txt extension. It has no required schema: it may contain notes, logs, source data, YAML syntax, or a human-readable export of structured data.

Plain text is supported by basic editors, command-line tools, indexing systems, and many document-processing programs. It avoids application-specific formatting and is useful when a recipient needs a readable file rather than a YAML-specific file association. A .txt file can still contain valid YAML; changing the extension does not remove YAML structure.

How to preserve the YAML as TEXT

Use this method when the destination requires the .txt extension but the content must remain unchanged:

1. Make a copy of the original file, such as settings.yml.
2. Rename the copy to settings.txt, or open it in Notepad++, VS Code, or another plain-text editor and use File → Save As.
3. Choose plain text and UTF-8 encoding if the editor provides those options.
4. Check that the system has not hidden extensions and created settings.txt.txt.

On Linux or macOS, copy the file with cp settings.yml settings.txt. In PowerShell, use Copy-Item settings.yml settings.txt. These commands copy bytes without parsing or reformatting the YAML.

Use the built-in converter

You can convert the file on 101convert.com for free without installing software: upload the .yml file, select TEXT as the output format, start the conversion, and download the result. Compare the output with the original before using it; a format converter may preserve the YAML source or generate a reformatted text representation.

Produce a simpler readable text file

Renaming is not enough when the recipient needs values without YAML notation. In that case, load the YAML with a YAML-aware application or library and write the required fields to a new .txt file. A local Python workflow can use PyYAML’s safe parser:

python -m pip install pyyaml
python -c "import yaml; data=yaml.safe_load(open('settings.yml', encoding='utf-8')); open('settings.txt', 'w', encoding='utf-8').write('\n'.join(f'{k}: {v}' for k, v in data.items()))"

This example expects one top-level mapping whose values can be represented on one line. Nested mappings, lists, repeated structures, and multiple YAML documents need an explicit output design, such as indentation, delimiters, or one record per line. Use yaml.safe_load, not unsafe object-loading functions, for files from untrusted sources.

Quality and compatibility limits

• Copying or renaming preserves comments, anchors, aliases, custom tags, ordering, whitespace, and line endings. Parsing and writing the data can remove comments and change formatting.
• A flattened text export can lose hierarchy, data types, list boundaries, duplicate keys, or document boundaries unless the output rules preserve them.
• Keep the original YAML when another application must read it as configuration; a generic text export may no longer be valid YAML.
• Check UTF-8 encoding and line endings when the receiving program expects a specific character set or operating-system convention.