twineconvert

free · in-browser · no upload

BibTeX to RIS
Converter

Drop your BibTeX file. We'll convert it to RIS right here in your browser, your file never leaves your device.

or drop your file

Select your file here to get started

or drop your file here.

Accepts .bib, .bibtex

nothing uploaded no file size cap no signup

How it works

Three steps. No upload, no signup.

  1. 1

    Drop your file

    Click the dropzone above or drag a BibTeX from your desktop. Files of any size, there's no upload, so there's no upload limit.

  2. 2

    Convert in your browser

    The conversion runs entirely in this tab using JavaScript and WebAssembly. Your file never touches our servers, we don't have any.

  3. 3

    Download

    Get your RIS the moment the conversion finishes. Convert another, or close the tab.

Files stay on your device

Your file is never uploaded. The entire conversion runs in your browser using WebAssembly. We can't see what you convert because we have no server to see it.

No file size limit

Server converters cap free users at 1-2 GB and gate larger files behind a paid plan. Since nothing uploads, our limit is whatever your browser can handle.

Free, no signup, no ads on conversions

No account required. No watermark on the output. No queue. Drop a file, get a converted file.

Why convert BibTeX → RIS

What this conversion is actually for

RIS is the import format for EndNote, Reference Manager, RefWorks, and Zotero. If a collaborator uses one of those instead of a BibTeX-native tool, RIS is how you hand off your library so they can import it cleanly with authors, journals, and DOIs intact.

A real example

You manage references in JabRef (BibTeX). Your co-author uses EndNote and needs your 60 sources. Export `.bib`, convert to RIS here, send it, they do File → Import → Reference Manager (RIS) and your library lands in EndNote with fields mapped.

Troubleshooting

Conference papers lost their venue/booktitle in EndNote.

BibTeX `booktitle` maps to RIS `T2` (secondary title), which our converter emits. If EndNote still shows it blank, check EndNote's RIS import filter maps T2 → 'Secondary Title' for the Conference Paper reference type (Edit → Import Filters).

Accented author names look wrong after import.

We decode LaTeX accent macros (`\'a` → á) to real Unicode before writing RIS. If they still look off, the reference manager may be importing the RIS as the wrong character encoding, set the import to UTF-8.

Formats involved

About BibTeX and RIS

BibTeX, BibTeX bibliography

BibTeX is the de facto bibliography format for LaTeX since 1985, plain-text entries like @article{key, author={...}, title={...}, journal={...}, year={2024}}. Used by every academic publisher's LaTeX template and supported as an import/export format by Zotero, Mendeley, EndNote, and Papers. Strengths: trivially diff-able in git, scriptable, tooling-rich. Weakness: there's no single canonical spec, so different parsers handle edge cases (special characters, cross-references, @string macros) inconsistently.

How to open

Any text editor (the format is plain text). Reference managers like Zotero, Mendeley, JabRef, BibDesk all read and write it natively.

Full BibTeX format guide →
RIS, Research Information Systems

RIS is a tagged citation format from Research Information Systems (the Reference Manager company), now an industry-standard interchange. Two-letter tags (TY=type, AU=author, TI=title, JO=journal, etc.), one per line, records terminated by ER. Most academic databases (PubMed, Web of Science, JSTOR, Scopus) export to RIS. Reference managers all import and export it.

How to open

Zotero, Mendeley, EndNote, Papers, RefWorks, Citavi, every modern reference manager. Plain text in any editor.

Full RIS format guide →

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FAQ

Common questions

Is this BibTeX → RIS converter really free?

Yes. No signup, no watermark, no daily file count limit. Every conversion runs in your browser, your file never touches our servers because there are no servers.

Where does my file go when I convert it?

Nowhere. The conversion runs entirely in your browser using JavaScript and WebAssembly. Your file is never uploaded to our servers. We don't have any servers handling files, there's nothing for us to log, store, or accidentally leak.

What's the maximum file size?

Whatever your browser can hold in memory. Practically, this means a few hundred MB on most computers, significantly larger than the 1-2 GB caps that server-upload converters charge for. Very large files (multi-GB) may require closing other browser tabs first.

Why convert BibTeX to RIS?

Academic citations in LaTeX papers; reference-manager export. Citation interchange between databases and reference managers. The most common reason to convert is compatibility, RIS works in places where BibTeX doesn't, or vice versa.

How do I open a BibTeX file in the first place?

Any text editor (the format is plain text). Reference managers like Zotero, Mendeley, JabRef, BibDesk all read and write it natively.

Does this work offline?

Once the page is loaded, the conversion itself runs entirely offline. The first time you use a tool, your browser downloads the conversion library (a one-time cache). If you reload while offline, the page won't load, but you can install the site as a Progressive Web App for full offline use.

Can I convert multiple files at once?

Single file at a time for now. Batch conversion is on the roadmap, for now, drop one file, download the result, then convert the next.