statfile.tools

Convert .dta to .sav

Drop a Stata .dta file below to get a native SPSS .sav file — labels, value labels, and dates translated correctly between the formats. Everything runs on your device.

Drop your file here, or browse

Stata .dta file

Processed on your device — never uploaded

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About converting .dta to SPSS

Handing a Stata dataset to an SPSS user usually means either a lossy CSV or asking them to install extra software. This converter writes a genuine .sav file that SPSS opens directly, and it keeps the parts of the file that make a dataset usable: variable labels appear in SPSS's Variable View, Stata value labels become SPSS value labels, and date variables are re-based from Stata's 1960 epoch to the SPSS date system so no date shifts by so much as a day.

Some differences between the formats are handled automatically and reported after conversion. SPSS stores long variable names through a compatibility layer of 8-character short names, which the converter generates for you while preserving the full names. Strings longer than 255 bytes are written using SPSS's very-long-string mechanism, so open-ended survey responses arrive intact. Stata's extended missing values (.a through .z) all become SPSS system-missing, and trailing spaces on text values are not preserved because SPSS pads strings with spaces by design.

The output is a standard uncompressed .sav readable by SPSS, PSPP (the free SPSS alternative), R's haven, and pyreadstat. As with every statfile.tools tool, the file is parsed and rewritten locally in your browser — nothing is uploaded, so restricted-use data stays on your machine.

How to convert .dta to .sav

  1. 1

    Drag your .dta file onto the box above (or click to browse). It is read locally — nothing is uploaded.

  2. 2

    Choose how labels and dates should appear. Labels, value labels, and dates convert automatically; anything that needed adjusting is reported after the conversion.

  3. 3

    Click convert and your .sav file downloads instantly.

Frequently asked questions

Will SPSS open the converted file directly?+

Yes. The converter writes a standard .sav file that opens in SPSS and in PSPP, R (haven), and Python (pyreadstat). Labels and dates appear as they did in Stata.

What happens to Stata's extended missing values (.a to .z)?+

SPSS has no direct equivalent of Stata's 27 extended missing codes, so all of them become SPSS system-missing values. If you need to distinguish them, recode them to regular values in Stata before converting.

Are long text variables preserved?+

Yes. Stata strings and strL values longer than SPSS's basic 255-byte string are written using SPSS's very-long-string mechanism, the same one SPSS itself uses, so long open-ended answers survive.

Is anything uploaded?+

No. Both the parsing of the .dta file and the writing of the .sav file happen in your browser. The data never leaves your device.

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