What is a POT file?
POT stands for PowerPoint 97 to 2003 template. It was created by Microsoft and first released in 1997. A POT holds a slide design: masters, layouts, colours, fonts and sometimes a few sample slides. Opening it in PowerPoint starts a new presentation with that design and leaves the template unchanged.
| Type | presentation |
|---|---|
| Compression | Lossless |
| In a browser | opens in PowerPoint, where it starts a new presentation with its design; LibreOffice Impress opens it too |
| Common uses | company slide designs from older versions of PowerPoint |
| MIME type | application/vnd.ms-powerpoint |
How to open a POT file
Whether a POT file opens with a double click depends on the device. Here is what works on each, without buying software:
| Windows | PowerPoint or the free LibreOffice Impress opens PPT, PPTX and ODP. |
|---|---|
| Mac | Keynote opens PPT and PPTX; LibreOffice Impress opens ODP. |
| iPhone and iPad | Keynote and the PowerPoint app open PPT and PPTX; ODP needs an app such as Collabora Office. |
| Android | Google Slides and the PowerPoint app open PPT and PPTX; ODP needs an app such as Collabora Office. |
| Web browser | POT opens in PowerPoint, where it starts a new presentation with its design; LibreOffice Impress opens it too. |
POT compared with other presentation formats
How POT stacks up against the formats people most often convert it to or from:
| Format | Compression | Usually contains | Released | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| POT | Lossless | slide masters, layouts, colours, fonts and sometimes sample slides | 1997 | company slide designs from older versions of PowerPoint |
| PPTX | Lossless | slides with text, images, charts, animations and speaker notes | 2007 | presentations for work, school and conferences |
| PPT | Lossless | slides with text, images and animations in a binary file | 1997 | older presentations and slide decks from legacy systems |
| ODP | Lossless | slides with text, images and transitions in a ZIP of XML files | 2005 | presentations made in LibreOffice and OpenOffice |
| Either | 1993 | documents, forms, invoices and print-ready files |
How to use the POT converter
- Choose the format you want in the Convert to menu.
- Drop your POT files on the box, or press Choose POT files. Several files can go in at once.
- Adjust the settings if you need to; the defaults suit most people.
- Press Convert and save each file with its Download button. The file is converted on our server and deleted as soon as the result is sent back.
Tips for converting POT files
Converting a POT file keeps every slide and its text: what can change is fonts, effects and animations, where formats do not match feature for feature. A few habits keep the result close to the original.
- Keep the original presentation; a PDF cannot play animations, transitions or video.
- Unhide the slides you want included; hidden slides are left out, as they are when you present.
- Embed fonts in PowerPoint so unusual typefaces look the same in the PDF.
- Compress large photos in the deck to keep the file under the size limit and the PDF easy to email.
- Speaker notes are not included in a PDF of the slides; export notes separately if you need them.
Convert POT files from the command line
LibreOffice does the same on your own computer, without opening a window:
soffice --headless --convert-to pdf input.potConverting on your own computer keeps the file entirely local, which is worth it for very large or very sensitive documents. For everything else, the converter on this page does it without installing anything.
POT converter FAQ
What is a POT file?
POT stands for PowerPoint 97 to 2003 template, a presentation format created by Microsoft in 1997. A POT holds a slide design: masters, layouts, colours, fonts and sometimes a few sample slides. Opening it in PowerPoint starts a new presentation with that design and leaves the template unchanged.
How do I open a POT file?
POT opens in PowerPoint, where it starts a new presentation with its design; LibreOffice Impress opens it too. If the program you need will not open it, convert it to a more widely supported format above.
What is the most common POT conversion?
POT to PDF is the conversion people search for most. The POT is opened by LibreOffice, the open-source office suite, on our conversion server and exported to PDF with its layout: one page per slide, with the text, images, shapes and charts as they appear on the slide.
Does converting POT files here upload them?
Yes. POT conversions need LibreOffice and MuPDF, open-source programs that cannot run in a browser, so they run on our conversion server. The file is uploaded, converted, and deleted together with the result as soon as the result has been sent back to you. Nothing is kept.
Is the POT converter free?
Yes. There is no sign-up and no watermark. Conversions that use our server accept files up to 25 MB, with a fair-use limit per hour. The site is supported by advertising.
Can I convert POT files on iPhone or Android?
Yes. Open this page in Safari on iPhone and iPad, or in Chrome on Android, choose your POT files and download the results to your Downloads folder.
Can I convert several POT files at once?
Yes. Drop as many as you like; they are converted one after another, each with its own download button.