Convert mysqldump to SQL Server

Upload a .sql file and get back a SQL Server SQL script you can load straight into your database. Types are preserved rather than flattened to text. Free, no registration, up to 10MB.

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CSV, Excel, SQLite, SQL, DBF (max 10 MB)

How your data is typed in SQL Server

Generated from the converter's own SQL Server type mapping — this is what it actually emits, not an example.

Your dataSQL Server type
Whole numberBIGINT
Decimal (money)DECIMAL(10,2)
Floating pointFLOAT
True / falseBIT
DateDATE
Date and timeDATETIME2
Short textNVARCHAR(255)
Long textNVARCHAR(MAX)
Binary dataVARBINARY(MAX)

Working from a mysqldump file

mysqldump writes a plain-text .sql file with a very consistent shape, which makes it one of the easiest dumps to read: its own syntax announces the dialect, and its rows are inline rather than in a separate archive.

  • Every mysqldump file contains ENGINE=InnoDB or AUTO_INCREMENT, which is exactly what the dialect detection looks for, so backtick-quoted identifiers and MySQL types parse without you choosing anything.
  • mysqldump packs many rows into one extended INSERT by default, and each tuple in it becomes a row, so there is no need to dump again with --skip-extended-insert.
  • The file is decoded as UTF-8 with unreadable bytes replaced, so a legacy latin1 dump arrives with damaged accented text. Dump with --default-character-set=utf8mb4, or run the file through iconv first.
  • mysqldump --tab is not a dump at all: the schema goes to a .sql file and the rows to headerless tab-separated .txt files. Neither half is convertible on its own, and the data files have no header row to name their columns, so dump again without --tab.

How names and bytes are written

mssql is the short name the drivers use - the ODBC DSN, SQLAlchemy's mssql+pyodbc, the container image. What it produces is ordinary T-SQL text, and the details worth checking before you run it are how it writes names and how it writes raw bytes.

  • Identifiers are wrapped in square brackets rather than double quotes, and a bracket inside a source name is turned into an underscore before the wrapping goes on: a column named Order]Date is created as [Order_Date], so a bracket in your data can never close a name early.
  • The identifier cap is 128 characters, high enough that almost every source name survives untouched - one that Oracle would have to cut at 30 arrives here whole.
  • Binary columns are VARBINARY(MAX) and their values are written as bare 0x hex literals, with no quotes around them and no conversion function wrapped over them.

Reading mysqldump

  • Parsed with a real SQL parser, not regular expressions, so a value containing a closing parenthesis or a semicolon cannot split a row in half.
  • CREATE TABLE types, primary keys, NOT NULL and AUTO_INCREMENT are all read from the dump.
  • The source dialect is detected from the dump itself — MySQL, PostgreSQL and SQL Server dumps all parse.

Writing SQL Server

  • String literals carry the N prefix, so non-ASCII text survives whatever collation the database uses.
  • Timestamps become DATETIME2. T-SQL’s TIMESTAMP is a row-version counter, not a point in time.
  • Identity columns are wrapped in SET IDENTITY_INSERT so explicit key values load.
  • Statements are separated with GO in batches.

What you get

A ZIP containing dump.sql, plus a README with the exact command to load it. If anything about your data needed a judgement call, a _warnings.txt explains it.

Load this dump into SQL Server:

  sqlcmd -S HOST -U USER -P PASSWORD -d DATABASE -i dump.sql

Notes:

  - Text columns are NVARCHAR and literals carry the N prefix, so
    non-ASCII data survives regardless of database collation.
  - Timestamps are DATETIME2. T-SQL's TIMESTAMP type is a row
    version, not a point in time.

Questions

Is converting mysqldump to SQL Server free?
Yes. Files up to 10MB convert free with no account. There is a limit of five conversions per day per IP address.
Will my mysqldump data keep its types in SQL Server?
Yes — that is the point. Whole numbers, decimals, dates and booleans are mapped to real SQL Server types rather than everything becoming text. The mapping table above shows exactly what you get.
Do you store my file?
No. The file is written to a temporary directory, converted, and the directory is deleted as soon as your download has been sent.

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