---
id: xlrd
version: "2.0.2"
license: BSD
license_treatment: permissive
maintenance: aging
---

# xlrd — Library for developers to extract data from Microsoft Excel (tm) .xls spreadsheet files

License: permissive · Maintenance: aging · Popularity: top 1,000 on PyPI

## Install

pip install xlrd
uv add xlrd
poetry add xlrd

## Description

xlrd
====

|Build Status|_ |Coverage Status|_ |Documentation|_ |PyPI version|_

.. |Build Status| image:: https://circleci.com/gh/python-excel/xlrd/tree/master.svg?style=shield
.. _Build Status: https://circleci.com/gh/python-excel/xlrd/tree/master

.. |Coverage Status| image:: https://codecov.io/gh/python-excel/xlrd/branch/master/graph/badge.svg?token=lNSqwBBbvk
.. _Coverage Status: https://codecov.io/gh/python-excel/xlrd

.. |Documentation| image:: https://readthedocs.org/projects/xlrd/badge/?version=latest
.. _Documentation: http://xlrd.readthedocs.io/en/latest/?badge=latest

.. |PyPI version| image:: https://badge.fury.io/py/xlrd.svg
.. _PyPI version: https://badge.fury.io/py/xlrd


xlrd is a library for reading data and formatting information from Excel
files in the historical ``.xls`` format.

.. warning::

  This library will no longer read anything other than ``.xls`` files. For
  alternatives that read newer file formats, please see http://www.python-excel.org/.

The following are also not supported but will safely and reliably be ignored:

*   Charts, Macros, Pictures, any other embedded object, **including** embedded worksheets.
*   VBA modules
*   Formulas, but...

## AI interpretation — verify before relying

xlrd extracts data and formatting information from legacy Excel .xls files. It reads cell values, sheet metadata, and formula results but does not support newer Excel formats.

Verdict: xlrd is a stable, dependency-free library for reading legacy .xls files with no known vulnerabilities. Its age and format limitation are intentional—it is purpose-built for historical Excel data extraction and not a general-purpose spreadsheet tool. Suitable for maintenance of existing systems or one-off .xls parsing tasks.

[View on SkillFed](https://skillfed.io/packages/xlrd) · [View on PyPI](https://pypi.org/project/xlrd/)