SXI File (.sxi): What It Is and How to Open It

The basics

What is an SXI file?

An SXI file is a slide presentation saved by Impress in OpenOffice.org 1.0 or 1.1, or in Sun's StarOffice 6 and 7, between 2002 and 2005. It replaced the binary .sdd format of StarImpress 5.x and was itself replaced by ODP when OpenOffice.org 2.0 and StarOffice 8 moved to the OpenDocument Format in 2005.

Sun gave the OpenOffice.org XML format to OASIS, where it became the basis of OpenDocument. So an SXI and an ODP are built the same way, a ZIP package with content.xml, styles.xml, meta.xml and a manifest, but the XML names were revised and the two are not interchangeable. SXI is the presentation member of the 1.x family, next to SXW for text; the SXW page has a table of all the 1.x extensions.

If you have an SXI today, it is almost certainly an old lecture, conference talk or company deck from an archive or backup.

Anatomy

What's inside an SXI file

There's no sample file on this page (see below why), so this outline isn't taken from one of ours. The package layout comes from the OpenOffice.org XML FAQ and MIME type list; the element names are the OpenOffice.org 1.x vocabulary that LibreOffice's importer still reads, the same one our SXW samples use for text.

A typical SXI package (structure outline)

presentation.sxi  (a ZIP archive)
├── mimetype               application/vnd.sun.xml.impress  (first, stored)
├── content.xml            the slides and their notes
├── styles.xml             master slides, page size, styles
├── meta.xml               title, author, dates, statistics
├── settings.xml           view and printer settings
├── Pictures/              images in their own formats (PNG, JPEG…)
├── Thumbnails/thumbnail.png
└── META-INF/manifest.xml  every entry with its media type

content.xml, shortened:
<office:document-content
    xmlns:office="http://openoffice.org/2000/office"
    xmlns:draw="http://openoffice.org/2000/drawing"
    xmlns:presentation="http://openoffice.org/2000/presentation"
    office:class="presentation" office:version="1.0">
  <office:body>
    <draw:page draw:name="Slide 1" draw:master-page-name="Default">
      <draw:text-box presentation:class="title" svg:x="2cm" svg:y="2cm" …>
        <text:p>Quarterly review</text:p>
      </draw:text-box>
      <presentation:notes>
        <draw:text-box presentation:class="notes" …>
          <text:p>Speaker note for slide 1</text:p>
        </draw:text-box>
      </presentation:notes>
    </draw:page>
    <draw:page draw:name="Slide 2" …> … </draw:page>
  </office:body>
</office:document-content>

styles.xml, shortened:
<style:page-master style:name="PM1">
  <style:properties fo:page-width="28cm" fo:page-height="21cm" …/>
</style:page-master>
<style:master-page style:name="Default" style:page-master-name="PM1"/>

1mimetype
The mimetype entry
First in the ZIP and stored uncompressed, so application/vnd.sun.xml.impress (31 characters) starts at byte 38. ODF kept this arrangement for ODP.
2content.xml
All the slides in one file
Every slide, in order, with its shapes and notes. Like an ODP, and unlike a PPTX, there's no file per slide.
3styles.xml
Masters and page size
The master slides (style:master-page), the page size in a style:page-master, and the presentation styles.
4office:class="presentation"
The document class
The root names the kind of document. ODF dropped the attribute and wraps the slides in an office:presentation element instead.
5<draw:page … draw:master-page-name>
A slide
Each slide is a draw:page that names its master, directly inside office:body. ODP uses the same element in a different namespace.
6presentation:class="title"
A placeholder
A text box that plays a role from the layout: title, subtitle, outline or notes. Positions are in real units such as cm.
7<presentation:notes>
Speaker notes
Stored inside the slide they belong to, as in ODP.
8<style:properties …/>
One properties element
1.x put all formatting in a single style:properties element. ODF split it by kind: style:graphic-properties, style:page-layout-properties and so on.

Under the hood

What changed between SXI and ODP

	SXI (OpenOffice.org 1.x)	ODP (OpenDocument)
`mimetype`	`application/vnd.sun.xml.impress`	`application/vnd.oasis.opendocument.presentation`
Namespaces	`http://openoffice.org/2000/office`, `…/drawing`, `…/presentation`	`urn:oasis:names:tc:opendocument:xmlns:office:1.0` and so on
Root element	`office:class="presentation"`	No class attribute
Slides	`draw:page` directly in `office:body`	`draw:page` in `office:body` then `office:presentation`
Page size	`style:page-master`	`style:page-layout`
Formatting properties	One `style:properties` element	Split by kind, e.g. `style:graphic-properties`
Validation	DTD	RELAX NG schema
Template	`.sti`	`.otp`

Because the two are so close, LibreOffice opens an SXI by translating its XML to ODF as it reads it. Slides, masters, notes and pictures usually come through; slide transitions and animations are the parts most worth checking after conversion.

How to

How to open and convert an SXI file

LibreOffice Impress (free; Windows, macOS, Linux) opens SXI files. It no longer offers SXI in Save As: LibreOffice 24.2's filter list marks the format import-only, so you save the result as ODP, PPTX or PDF.
Apache OpenOffice Impress opens SXI files too.
Microsoft PowerPoint opens ODP, not SXI. Convert the file in LibreOffice first.
Convert one file: open it in LibreOffice and use File, Save As, or run soffice --headless --convert-to odp talk.sxi (or pptx, or pdf).
Convert a folder of old decks: soffice --headless --convert-to pdf --outdir converted *.sxi converts them all in one run.
On a phone or in a browser: browsers can't display SXI files, so a link to one downloads it. A PDF export is the easiest way to let anyone see the slides.

Check the slide size

Decks from that era are often 4:3. Conversion keeps the original slide size, so such a deck stays 4:3 and looks narrow on a 16:9 screen. Change it in Slide, Slide Properties if you need to, and check the layout afterwards.

Troubleshooting

Common SXI problems and how to fix them

Windows doesn't know what to do with it. No app is registered for .sxi. Install LibreOffice, or right-click, Open with, LibreOffice Impress.
I need to save as SXI for an old system. Current LibreOffice can't. Use an old OpenOffice.org version on a machine set aside for it, or check whether the system accepts ODP.
Fonts look different. Fonts used in 2003 may be missing and get replaced. Install them if you have them, or pick substitutes and check each slide for overflowing text.
Sounds or videos are missing. Old decks often linked media files by path instead of embedding them. Find the files and put them next to the presentation, or embed them again.
My XML code finds nothing. It's looking for the ODF namespaces. SXI uses http://openoffice.org/2000/… namespaces; convert to ODP first, or handle both.
It downloads as a ZIP. The server sends application/zip. Serve .sxi as application/vnd.sun.xml.impress.

Security

Is an SXI file safe to open?

An SXI is XML in a ZIP, so the presentation itself is not a program. Like an ODP it can carry StarBasic macros, and LibreOffice's default macro security only runs macros signed by a trusted source or stored in a trusted location. Keep that setting for old files from unknown sources.

Speaker notes and hidden slides travel with the file. Check them before you share an old deck or a PDF made from it.
Metadata in meta.xml keeps the author, dates and editing time, which can identify people years later.
Old encryption. A password-protected SXI uses the encryption OpenOffice.org 1.x had. For anything sensitive, open it and save it as ODP with a new password, which LibreOffice protects with AES.

Sample files

LibreOffice can still open SXI files but can no longer save them: its OpenOffice.org 1.x Impress export failed in our tests even when switched back on, and we won't ship a file we can't vouch for. To test, use an SXI from an old archive, our ODP samples, or our SXW samples, which use the same 1.x package format.

Put it online

Have an SXI file? Give it a link.

Drop an old OpenOffice.org presentation on 99helpers and it gets its own link. Browsers can't display SXI files, so visitors download it and open it in LibreOffice or Apache OpenOffice; to share slides everyone can see, export a PDF first.

Put an SXI file online

Questions

SXI files, frequently asked

What is an SXI file?

A presentation from OpenOffice.org 1.x or StarOffice 6 and 7, saved between 2002 and 2005. It's a ZIP package of XML files and the direct predecessor of the ODP format.

How do I open an SXI file?

With LibreOffice Impress or Apache OpenOffice Impress, both free.

Can PowerPoint open SXI files?

No. PowerPoint opens ODP but not SXI. Open the file in LibreOffice and save it as PPTX or ODP, or run soffice --headless --convert-to pptx file.sxi.

What's the difference between SXI and ODP?

Both are ZIP packages of XML with the same parts, but ODP uses the OASIS OpenDocument namespaces and a revised vocabulary. SXI is the OpenOffice.org 1.x format ODP was based on.

How do I convert SXI to PDF?

Open it in LibreOffice Impress and use File, Export as PDF. For many files: soffice --headless --convert-to pdf *.sxi.

Can LibreOffice save as SXI?

No. Current LibreOffice opens SXI files but marks the format import-only, so you save the result as ODP, PPTX or PDF.

What is an STI file?

The OpenOffice.org 1.x Impress template, the predecessor of the [OTP](/file-types/otp). Its MIME type is application/vnd.sun.xml.impress.template.

Related formats

Other file types explained

ODP file SXW file OTP file PPT file PPTX file UOP file All file types

Keep going

Host an SXI file

Put an old OpenOffice.org presentation online at its own address.

Share an SXI file

Send a presentation as a link instead of an attachment.

Host a presentation

Publish a converted deck people can view from a link.

Sources

Last reviewed 27 October 2026.