Convert PowerPoint 97–2003 to PowerPoint (PPTX)
Free online converter for PowerPoint 97–2003 files. Office Open XML presentation. Nothing to install, no watermark, and every file is deleted automatically.
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Upload a PowerPoint 97–2003 file to convert it to PowerPoint (PPTX). Up to 3 files at once, 100 MB each.
Free · up to 3 files · 100 MB each · files deleted automatically after 1 hour.
About PPT and PPTX
PowerPoint 97–2003 .ppt
PowerPoint's pre-2007 binary format, still found in older archives and superseded by PPTX.
Good for
- Opens in very old versions of PowerPoint
- Common in long-lived presentation archives
Trade-offs
- Binary and proprietary
- Larger than the equivalent PPTX
- Missing every feature added since 2007
application/vnd.ms-powerpoint
PowerPoint (PPTX) .pptx
PowerPoint's modern format — zipped XML holding slides, layouts, media and transitions.
Good for
- Fully editable slides, layouts and speaker notes
- Carries embedded media and transitions
- The default for presentations nearly everywhere
Trade-offs
- Fonts and layout shift on machines without the same typefaces
- Large once video and images are embedded
- Animations rarely survive conversion to anything else
application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.presentationml.presentation
PPT and PPTX side by side
| PPT | PPTX | |
|---|---|---|
| Compression | Binary | Zipped XML |
| Animation | Yes — slide transitions | Yes — slide transitions |
| Typically used for | Legacy presentations | Presentations still being edited |
What changes when you convert PPT to PPTX
Rendered by LibreOffice
The conversion runs through headless LibreOffice — the same engine behind the desktop suite, not a lookalike parser. It handles ordinary documents faithfully. Where it can drift is on the elaborate: a document leaning on fonts the server does not have will have them substituted, and the substitute rarely occupies exactly the same width, so line and page breaks can move. Heavily designed layouts are worth checking against the original.
PPT is the pre-2007 binary format
Microsoft replaced PPT with its XML-based successor in Office 2007, and support has been quietly eroding since — recent versions of Office block these files by default on security grounds, because the old binary format can carry macros in ways that are hard to inspect. Converting is usually the right move for anything you intend to keep. Macros are not carried across.
Two suites, two ideas of the same document
PPT and PPTX are the native formats of different office suites, and they do not model documents identically. The text, structure and ordinary formatting come across cleanly. The margins are where care is needed: macros do not transfer, tracked changes and comments can be flattened, and features with no counterpart on the other side are approximated. Read the result before sending it on.
Speaker notes and embedded media
Slides carry more than what is projected. Speaker notes usually survive into another presentation format and vanish into anything flatter. Embedded video and audio are the fragile part — they are stored by reference or in a suite-specific way, and are the most common thing to find missing after a conversion. Check any deck that relies on them before presenting from the result.