Export SQL Server TEXT / NTEXT / VARCHAR(MAX) / NVARCHAR(MAX) to XML files

Want to batch export SQL Server [TEXT, NTEXT, VARCHAR(MAX), NVARCHAR(MAX)] (CLOB) to XML files ?

Try Withdata DBBlobEditor, a SQL Server [TEXT, NTEXT, VARCHAR(MAX), NVARCHAR(MAX)] (CLOB) editor, Bulk export SQL Server [TEXT, NTEXT, VARCHAR(MAX), NVARCHAR(MAX)] (CLOB) to XML files, East and Fast.

• Can run in GUI mode, just a few mouse clicks.
• Can run in Command line, for Scheduled Tasks and Streams.
• Support Windows, Linux, and macOS.

Download Withdata DBBlobEditor
Windows 64 bit
Windows 32 bit
Linux .deb (For Debian, Ubuntu) 64 bit
Linux .rpm (For Red Hat, Fedora, SUSE) 64 bit
MacOS 64 bit

Batch extract XML files from SQL Server [TEXT, NTEXT, VARCHAR(MAX), NVARCHAR(MAX)] (CLOB) column

Run DBBlobEditor, login to SQL Server.

Click “Start New Task – Export LOB To Files” at task dialog.

then show the wizard.

1. Configure export settings.

2. Bulk export SQL Server [TEXT, NTEXT, VARCHAR(MAX), NVARCHAR(MAX)] (CLOB) to XML files.

then you can see exporting results

---

More about SQL Server [TEXT, NTEXT, VARCHAR(MAX), NVARCHAR(MAX)] (CLOB) exporter

SQL Server → XML reference

Type mapping

Value kind	in SQL Server	in XML
Int	int	<int>1234</int>
Bigint	bigint	<bigint>9007199254740993</bigint>
Decimal	decimal(p,s)	<decimal>1234.56</decimal>
Float	float	<float>1.234e10</float>
Text	nvarchar(n)	<char>text</char>
Long text	nvarchar(max)	<text>multi-line text</text> (entities for &amp; &lt;)
Date	date	<date>2026-09-18</date> (xs:date with an XSD)
Datetime	datetime2	<datetime>2026-09-18T14:30:00Z</datetime> (xs:dateTime)
Binary	varbinary(max)	<blob>base64...</blob> (xs:base64Binary)
Boolean	bit	<bool>true</bool>
JSON	nvarchar(max)	escaped inside an element, or its own sub-tree

Dialect differences

SQL Server is a database server and XML is a file format, so the gap is wider than a dialect difference - the rows below are where values and structure stop lining up.

Property	in SQL Server	in XML
port	1433	—
identifiers	[square brackets]	Attribute values in quotes; entities (& < >) for ...
row limit	SELECT TOP n	—
dates	datetime, datetime2, date, time	Text (xs:date / xs:dateTime when an XSD is in play)
long text	nvarchar(max)	—
binary	varbinary(max)	base64Binary / hexBinary inside text
separator	—	Tags, not delimiters
encoding	—	Declared in the XML declaration
typing	—	None in the markup itself
shape	Tables of rows and columns	Arbitrary tree
ceiling	—	Whole document is usually parsed into memory

Command line

Side	Command
SQL Server	bcp
SQL Server (load)	bcp, or BULK INSERT

Convert your data online, free

Free in-browser converters for CSV, Excel, JSON, XML and SQL: Withdata Online Data Conversion. Large files, batch conversion or scheduling? See the offline desktop apps, or browse all data conversion tools.