xlrd.biffh.XLRDError: Excel xlsx file; not supported [Fixed]

# xlrd.biffh.XLRDError: Excel xlsx file; not supported [Fixed]

The error "xlrd.biffh.XLRDError: Excel xlsx file; not supported" occurs because the package xlrd now only supports .xls files.

To solve the error, upgrade your version of pandas, install the openpyxl module and use it to read excel files instead.

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File "C:\python\lib\site-packages\xlrd\__init__.py", line 174, in open_workbook
  raise XLRDError(FILE_FORMAT_DESCRIPTIONS[file_format]+'; not supported')

xlrd.biffh.XLRDError: Excel xlsx file; not supported

As shown in the docs, the xlrd library will no longer read anything other than .xls files.

# Update pandas and install openpyxl

To resolve the issue:

1. Open your terminal and upgrade the version of your pandas module.

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pip install pandas --upgrade
pip3 install pandas --upgrade

python -m pip install pandas --upgrade
python3 -m pip install pandas --upgrade
py -m pip install pandas --upgrade

# 👇️ For Jupyter Notebook
!pip install pandas --upgrade

2. Install the openpyxl module.

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pip install openpyxl --upgrade
pip3 install openpyxl --upgrade

python -m pip install openpyxl --upgrade
python3 -m pip install openpyxl --upgrade
py -m pip install openpyxl --upgrade

# 👇️ For Jupyter Notebook
!pip install openpyxl --upgrade

3. Explicitly set the engine keyword argument to openpyxl in the call to the read_excel() method.

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import pandas as pd

df = pd.read_excel(
    'example.xlsx',
    engine='openpyxl'
)

print(df)

The code sample assumes that you have an example.xlsx file in the same directory.

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   Name     Salary
0  Alice    100
1  Bobby    75
2  Carl     150

Note that openpyxl does not support the old .xls file format.

# Reading a .xls file

If you need to read a .xls file, you have to use xlrd instead. Alternatively, you can convert the file to .xlsx.

Assuming you have a file called another.xls, you can set the engine to xlrd to read it.

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import pandas as pd

df = pd.read_excel(
    'another.xls',
    engine='xlrd'
)

print(df)

If the suggestion of upgrading pandas and using openpyxl didn't work, you could try to downgrade xlrd to the last version that supports reading .xlsx files.

More recent versions of pandas also throw an error if you have version 1.X of xlrd installed.

# Downgrading to version 1.X of xlrd (NOT RECOMMENDED)

If you are OK with the security risks of using xlrd version 1.X, run the following command.

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pip uninstall xlrd
pip install xlrd==1.2.0

pip3 uninstall xlrd
pip3 install xlrd==1.2.0

If you get an error that ImportError: Pandas requires version '2.X' or newer of 'xlrd' (version '1.2.0' currently installed), upgrade your version of xlrd and pandas and use the openpyxl package to read .xlsx files instead.

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pip install pandas xlrd --upgrade
pip3 install pandas xlrd --upgrade

python -m pip install pandas xlrd --upgrade
python3 -m pip install pandas xlrd --upgrade
py -m pip install pandas xlrd --upgrade

# 👇️ For Jupyter Notebook
!pip install pandas xlrd --upgrade

If you don't have openpyxl installed, run the following command.

Copied!
pip install openpyxl --upgrade
pip3 install openpyxl --upgrade

python -m pip install openpyxl --upgrade
python3 -m pip install openpyxl --upgrade
py -m pip install openpyxl --upgrade

# 👇️ For Jupyter Notebook
!pip install openpyxl --upgrade

# Set the engine keyword argument to openpyxl

Explicitly set the engine keyword argument to openpyxl in the call to the pandas.read_excel() method.

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import pandas as pd

df = pd.read_excel(
    'example.xlsx',
    engine='openpyxl'
)

print(df)

# Make sure your file has the correct extension

Files with .xls and .xlsx extensions are distinct.

If a file has a .xlsx extension, then it might contain executable scripts.

The xlrd library no longer supports files with .xlsx extensions because of the security implications around reading files that might contain executable scripts.

The openpyxl module should be used to read files with .xlsx extension.

Copied!
import pandas as pd

df = pd.read_excel(
    'example.xlsx',
    engine='openpyxl'
)

print(df)

On the other hand, the openpyxl module doesn't support files with .xls extension.

If you need to read a file with a .xls extension, use the xlrd module instead.

Copied!
import pandas as pd

df = pd.read_excel(
    'another.xls',
    engine='xlrd'
)

print(df)

Make sure the file you are trying to read hasn't been named using the wrong extension (.xlsx vs .xls).

# Conclusion

To solve the error error "xlrd.biffh.XLRDError: Excel xlsx file; not supported":

1. Upgrade your version of the pandas module.
2. Install the openpyxl module.
3. Explicitly set the engine keyword argument to openpyxl in the call to the pandas.read_excel() method.