What is a Peppol invoice?

Peppol is the European network used by businesses and public authorities to exchange electronic invoices. A Peppol invoice is an XML file that follows the Peppol BIS Billing 3.0 specification – a structured format built on the OASIS UBL 2.1 standard.

Unlike a PDF, the file isn’t designed to be read by humans. It’s structured data: the supplier, customer, line items, VAT breakdown, and payment details all live in machine-readable fields. That’s what makes Peppol fast for accounting systems to process – and also why you can’t just double-click the file to see what’s in it.

This viewer takes a Peppol XML file and renders it as a normal-looking invoice, the way a person would expect to see it.

When you might need this

• You received a Peppol invoice from a supplier and want to check the details before forwarding it to your accountant
• You’re testing your invoicing setup and want to confirm the file you’re about to send looks right
• You’re a developer debugging Peppol output from an ERP or e-invoicing platform
• You’re an accountant receiving structured invoices for the first time and want to see what’s actually inside the XML

What the viewer shows

The viewer extracts and displays everything that matters on a typical invoice:

• Invoice number, issue date, due date, and tax point date
• Supplier and customer – name, address, VAT ID, registration number, contact details
• All line items with quantities, unit prices, and VAT rates
• Subtotal, VAT breakdown by rate, and total payable
• Payment details – IBAN, BIC, payment reference, payment terms
• Embedded attachments referenced in the invoice
• Technical metadata – format detected, customization ID, profile ID
• The raw XML, in case you need to inspect it directly

You can also print the rendered invoice as a clean PDF using your browser’s print dialog. The toolbar and CTA card are hidden automatically in print view.

Is it safe to view invoices here?

Yes. The XML never leaves your browser. The parsing happens entirely client-side in JavaScript – there’s no upload, no server processing, no logging, no analytics on the file content. You can verify this yourself: open your browser’s developer tools, switch to the Network tab, then drop in your XML. You won’t see any outbound request carrying the file data.

This matters because invoices contain commercially sensitive data: prices, customer names, payment terms, bank account numbers. Uploading them to a random web tool is something most accountants are right to be cautious about.

Frequently asked questions

What’s the difference between Peppol and UBL?

UBL (Universal Business Language) is the underlying XML standard. Peppol BIS 3.0 is a specific customization of UBL – it defines exactly which fields must be present, which codes can be used, and how parties identify themselves on the Peppol network. Every Peppol BIS invoice is a UBL invoice, but not every UBL invoice is Peppol-compliant.

This viewer handles both. If your file is plain UBL without the Peppol customization marker, it still opens – it just won’t show the “Peppol BIS 3.0” badge.

Does this validate the invoice against Peppol BIS rules?

No. This is a viewer, not a validator. It displays what’s in the file but doesn’t check whether the file is fully compliant with the Peppol BIS Billing 3.0 business rules. For rule validation, use a dedicated tool like the official Peppol validator or your access point provider’s validation service.

What file types can I open?

XML is the standard extension for Peppol and UBL files. Files up to 5 MB are supported. Peppol invoices are almost always well under that – typically a few kilobytes.

Can I edit the invoice here?

No. This viewer is read-only by design. If you need to change a Peppol invoice, edit it in the source system that generated it and re-export the XML.

Why isn’t my file opening?

A few common reasons:

• The file is malformed XML: a closing tag is missing, or the encoding is broken. The viewer will tell you if it can’t parse the file.
• The file is in a format we don’t yet support: for example, CII (Cross Industry Invoice) or ZUGFeRD (PDF/A with embedded CII XML). Those use a different schema.
• The file is larger than 5 MB.

Do I need a Peppol account or access point to use this?

No. You just need the XML file itself. This tool is independent of the Peppol network.

Is there an API?

Not currently. The viewer is a browser-only tool. If you need programmatic Peppol parsing, libraries like phive (Java) or helger/peppol-commons handle this well.

About this tool

This viewer is built and maintained by Verifical – a document exchange platform for accountants and their business clients. We built it because we needed something simple, private, and reliable for our own users.

If you receive e-invoices regularly and find yourself opening files like this often, Verifical can extract, archive, and export them to your accounting software automatically — so you stop looking at XML and start looking at clean data. See how Verifical works →