Is it free, and do I need to sign up?

Yes, it's free, and no. There's no account, no trial, and no watermark on the output.

Do I need to install anything or sign up?

No. The conversion runs in your browser, so there's nothing to install and no account to create. GeoPreview sets no tracking cookies and never sells or shares your data.

Does it keep my attributes?

Yes. Every column from the shapefile's .dbf becomes a property on each GeoJSON feature, so no attribute data is lost.

What happens to the coordinate system?

GeoJSON expects WGS84 lon/lat. If your shapefile is in a projected system like UTM or State Plane (via its .prj file), GeoPreview reprojects it to lon/lat as part of the conversion.

Can I convert GeoJSON back to a shapefile?

Yes. GeoPreview also exports to a Shapefile ZIP, plus CSV and FlatGeobuf, so it works as an any-to-any converter.

Is there a file-size limit?

Files up to 128MB convert in your browser. Larger files still work, using a temporary server to help process them.

Convert shapefile to GeoJSON

GeoPreview converts a shapefile to GeoJSON right in your browser. Drag in your .shp (or a .zip of the set), see it on the map, and download a clean .geojson file. It's free, needs no account, and there's nothing to install.

Convert a shapefile to GeoJSON in your browser

GeoPreview turns a shapefile into GeoJSON without any desktop GIS or command line. Drop your .shp (or the whole zipped set) onto the map, confirm it looks right, and export a single .geojson file. The conversion runs right in your browser, with no account and nothing to install.

Why convert a shapefile to GeoJSON

A shapefile is really a bundle of files (.shp, .shx, .dbf, .prj) that has to travel together. GeoJSON is one plain-text file instead, which is why it's the format of choice for the web:

Web-friendly. GeoJSON drops straight into Leaflet, Mapbox, OpenLayers, deck.gl, and most mapping APIs.
Human-readable. It's just JSON, so you can open it in any text editor and see the coordinates and properties.
One file, not four. Nothing to keep zipped together or accidentally leave behind.

How to convert (3 steps)

Add your shapefile. Drag the .zip in, or drag the loose .shp, .dbf, .shx, and .prj files onto the page together.
Preview it. Your data renders on the map so you can confirm the shapes and attributes are correct before exporting.
Export as GeoJSON. Choose GeoJSON from the export options and download the file.

What happens to attributes and projection

Both of the things people ask about are handled. Attributes carry through: each column in the .dbf becomes a property on the matching GeoJSON feature, with the same names and values. Projection is normalized too. The GeoJSON spec expects coordinates in WGS84 longitude/latitude, so if your shapefile uses a projected coordinate system (UTM, State Plane, or similar) declared in its .prj, GeoPreview reprojects the geometry to lon/lat during export. If there's no .prj, the coordinates are assumed to already be WGS84.

Is the conversion accurate?

The geometry and attributes convert faithfully: shapes, rings, and every data column come across intact. The one caveat is coordinate precision. Reprojecting from a projected system to lon/lat involves floating-point math, so values may differ in their final decimal places, which is far below any real-world mapping accuracy. If your source has no .prj, double-check that its coordinates really are in lon/lat before trusting the output, since there's no projection information to reproject from.

When you're ready, you can also send the same data out as CSV, a Shapefile ZIP, or FlatGeobuf from the same export menu.

Free, no account, no install. Runs right in your browser.

Convert your shapefile