Convert GeoPackage to Shapefile

GeoPackage to Shapefile: why convert

GeoPackage is the default format in QGIS and holds a whole project in one file: many layers, any coordinate system and long field names. Clients, agencies and older software still often ask for shapefiles. This converter opens the .gpkg in your browser and writes every vector layer as a shapefile set with .shp, .shx, .dbf, .prj and .cpg files, packed in one .zip. Layers that mix geometry types are split into one shapefile per type, and after converting the page lists the field names that had to be shortened to fit the 10-character limit of the .dbf table. Tables without geometry are skipped. The conversion is done by GDAL, the library QGIS itself uses, and the GeoPackage never leaves your computer.

How to convert GeoPackage to Shapefile

1. Drop your .gpkg file in the box, or click to choose it.
2. Check the list of layers and the map, and optionally choose an output coordinate system.
3. Click Convert to Shapefile and download the .zip with all shapefiles.

What changes when you convert

One shapefile set per layer and geometry type

A shapefile holds one layer with one geometry type. Each layer of the GeoPackage therefore becomes its own shapefile named after the layer, such as roads_lines.shp. A layer with the generic type Geometry that mixes lines and polygons gives two, for example paths_and_parks_lines.shp and paths_and_parks_polygons.shp. Multi-part features go with their type.

Field names are cut to 10 characters

GeoPackage allows long field names; the .dbf table of a shapefile does not. GDAL cuts names to 10 characters and keeps them unique, so year_completed becomes year_compl. The message after converting lists every name that changed, so you can tell the recipient or rename the fields in QGIS first.

Values that a .dbf cannot hold

Text longer than 254 characters is cut off. Date-and-time fields are written as text, because a .dbf date has no time of day. Very large numbers can lose precision in the fixed-width number fields of the .dbf.

Coordinate system and encoding

Each layer's coordinate system is written to a .prj file, so the shapefile lands in the same place in ArcGIS or QGIS. You can also reproject on the way by entering an EPSG code. Text is written as UTF-8, and a .cpg file says so.

What is left out

Attribute tables without geometry, empty layers, raster tiles and QGIS styles or projects stored in the GeoPackage are not converted; the page names the skipped tables. A shapefile's .shp and .dbf files are limited to 2 GB each, so very large layers may need to be split.