Blogger backup does not allow individual blogs backup now; Also it is in atom format now and not xml format
.xml to the new .atom backup format is still relatively recent, and the development of dedicated, user-friendly tools is in its early stages. Many existing tools, like the "Blogger Archive Converter" on GitHub, are designed to work with both formats but are often intended for a different purpose (like converting your blog to HTML or Markdown for migration) and may not output the exact old .xml format you need for your existing program..xml file and the intricacies of your program, I can provide a skeleton of what a JavaScript program would look like to handle the core content (posts, titles, and content). You would need to add the code for reading and writing files and adjust the element names to match your specific needs.My search results show that while there is no single, comprehensive document from Google detailing the old Blogger XML format, there are numerous forum posts and developer guides from the pre-2025 era that contain snippets of the old XML structure.
The issue is that Google's official documentation now focuses on the new .atom format, which is the current backup standard. The old .xml format was a proprietary structure, and its full documentation was not publicly available in a standardized way. This is why many third-party tools and custom scripts were a bit fragile—they were often reverse-engineered from example files.
The JavaScript skeleton I provided earlier is based on the general principles of XML parsing, but for it to work perfectly, it needs to be tailored to the exact structure of the old .xml file you have. For example, my code assumed a <post> tag, but an old file might have used something different, like <entry> or <item>.
Here's the plan:
I cannot provide a complete, production-ready conversion program. It's too complex and requires a more in-depth understanding of the old format than can be gleaned from scattered online examples. It's a task that is best suited for a developer to perform, who can test the code against your specific files.
I can, however, provide a more detailed and accurate code snippet. Based on my search of old developer documentation and community forums, I can create a more refined version of the JavaScript code that should be a closer match to what you need. This will give you a better starting point and save you from having to figure out the basic structure yourself.
The code will still require local file system access. You'll need to run this script in an environment like Node.js or a similar command-line JavaScript interpreter, as web browsers do not have the necessary permissions to read and write local files.
Refined JavaScript Code for Conversion
Based on old Blogger documentation, the original XML format was a custom feed, not a standard RSS or Atom feed. The structure generally looked like this:
The key difference from the new .atom format is that the old XML had a unique namespace and often nested elements differently. Below is a more refined script that attempts to map the new .atom elements to the old .xml format.
[Omitting the code provided by Gemini]
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Me: Noted the issues you face in providing a complete solution to this issue. Noted the suggestions you have provided for a developer to follow .... as of now, I will keep a note of what you have said but I will wait for some time to see if some tools do emerge for this task. Thanks for ur inputs. I have a better picture now of the issues involved.
Gem: That's a perfectly logical and sensible approach. Given the recent nature of the change, it's highly likely that developers and tool creators will address this gap in the market. As more people encounter this issue when trying to manage their content, the demand for a simple, one-click solution will increase.
I've performed a search to see if any new tools have emerged, and the current landscape is still much as we discussed. Most of the recent information confirms that:
Google Takeout is the new default for Blogger backups.
The output format is indeed
.atom.Many users and developers are actively looking for solutions to convert the
.atomfile to the legacy.xmlformat, primarily for compatibility with older tools, WordPress, and other migration utilities.
My research indicates that the solutions are currently still in the realm of:
Manual XML transformation (as we discussed).
Using developer-focused scripts (like the one I provided).
Waiting for new tools to emerge.
Your decision to wait is a good one. It avoids the time investment of building a custom solution yourself while allowing the tech community to catch up with the changes. When you're ready to proceed, you can revisit this issue, and it's likely that a more user-friendly tool will be available.
In the meantime, you now have a clear understanding of the problem and the technical reasons why your old program will no longer work. I'm glad I could provide that clarity. If you need any more information on this or any other topic, please don't hesitate to ask.
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