Convert GeoPackage to Shapefile Online — Free GIS Converter

Convert GeoPackage files to Shapefile — the most universally accepted GIS interchange format — for use in ArcGIS Desktop, Tableau, AutoCAD Civil 3D, and government data portals that haven't yet adopted modern formats.

Why convert GeoPackage to Shapefile?

GeoPackage is technically superior to Shapefile in almost every measurable way — no field name truncation, no 2 GB limit, no single-geometry-type restriction — but legacy software and institutional workflows still widely require Shapefile. ArcGIS Desktop (versions prior to Pro), Tableau's spatial import, many state and federal government data submission portals, and numerous AutoCAD-adjacent tools either require or strongly prefer Shapefile. If you've produced analysis outputs in QGIS as a GPKG and need to deliver them to a client running ArcGIS Desktop, converting to Shapefile is still a practical necessity.

This conversion does involve trade-offs: field names longer than 10 characters will be truncated, and each geometry type in your GPKG layer must become a separate Shapefile.

Why use geodata.plus

• Free tier: convert up to 3 files per month at no cost
• Automatic CRS detection and preservation (or reprojection to any EPSG)
• Field name truncation handled transparently with collision resolution
• Output delivered as a single .zip with all required Shapefile components
• Browser-based — no ArcGIS, QGIS, or ogr2ogr required
• Encrypted upload (TLS); files stored in Cloudflare R2, automatically deleted after 2 days (free) or 7 days (Pro)

How it works

1. Upload your GeoPackage file to geodata.plus
2. geodata.plus reads the selected layer and detects CRS and geometry type
3. Select Shapefile as the output format; optionally reproject to a different CRS
4. Download a .zip containing .shp, .shx, .dbf, and .prj files

GeoPackage format

GeoPackage is an OGC open standard built on SQLite, designed as a modern single-file replacement for Shapefile. It supports multiple layers, any coordinate reference system, and all standard geometry types with no practical file size limit. It is the default export format in QGIS 3.x and natively supported in ArcGIS Pro.

| Property | Value | |---|---| | Extension | .gpkg | | Type | Vector (and raster), single-file SQLite | | Coordinate system | Any CRS | | Geometry types | Point, LineString, Polygon, Multi* variants, GeometryCollection | | Common software | QGIS, ArcGIS Pro, GDAL, mobile GIS, offline workflows |

Shapefile format

Shapefile is a multi-file vector format developed by Esri that has been the dominant GIS interchange standard for over three decades. Despite known limitations — 10-character field names, 2 GB file size cap, no datetime type, single geometry type per file — it remains universally accepted across GIS, CAD, and business intelligence tools.

| Property | Value | |---|---| | Extension | .shp + .shx + .dbf + .prj (delivered as .zip) | | Type | Vector, multi-file | | Coordinate system | Any CRS (defined in .prj) | | Geometry types | Point, Polyline, Polygon (one type per file) | | Common software | ArcGIS, QGIS, Tableau, AutoCAD Civil 3D, government portals |

Frequently asked questions

GeoPackage supports field names longer than 10 characters — what happens to them? Shapefile's .dbf component limits field names to 10 characters. During conversion, geodata.plus truncates any longer field names and adds a numeric suffix if two truncated names would collide (e.g., land_cover_type becomes land_cover_ and a competing land_cover_class becomes land_cove_1). The original field names are available as a .cpg-adjacent metadata file if you need a mapping reference.

My GeoPackage layer has GeometryCollection or mixed types — how does the Shapefile output handle this? Shapefile requires a single geometry type per file. geodata.plus separates features by geometry type and produces multiple Shapefiles (e.g., output_Point.shp, output_Polygon.shp) bundled in the same ZIP archive. If your data contains Multi* variants (MultiPolygon, MultiLineString), those are written to the same file as their single-part equivalents.

Does the Shapefile preserve the coordinate reference system from the GeoPackage? Yes. The CRS is written to the .prj file using the WKT CRS definition, preserving whatever projection your GeoPackage uses. If you need a different CRS for the Shapefile output (for example, your GPKG is in EPSG:4326 but the recipient requires EPSG:2263 for New York State Plane), use the reprojection option during conversion.