# Silurus ooxml

Hacker Approved page: https://hackerapproved.com/p/silurus-ooxml/

7 people recommended Silurus ooxml in Hacker News comments, 3 had mixed feelings and 14 criticized it, November 2025 to October 2026. It was recommended in 4 of 12 months, in 4 threads. It does not meet the Hacker Approved badge rule.

6 of the 7 people who recommend it commented in one thread, “Silurus/ooxml: Pixel-faithful Office documents, rendered in the browser”.

**Verdict:** More people criticize it than recommend it. Renders Office XML files in the browser with fast loading and readable layouts. Critics say it often fails on real-world documents.

Summary written by Claude from the comments below.

## What people warn about

- Fails on real-world documents (6 comments in the sample): "it probably gets all the halucinated assets correctly and any real world documents wrong" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48437563)) "it failed on all of them how was this project even tested for proper compliance" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48438877)) "it doesn’t seem to be replicating documents all too well" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48439676))
- Criticizes the OOXML format itself (5 comments in the sample): "OOXML is a terrible format, significantly overcomplicated and implemented by MS Office in such a way as to make alternative implementations fully compatible with it…" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47632394)) "Too bad the OOXML format, itself, has MS-proprietary binary blobs built into the specification as part of the format." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46973248)) "there is no incentive for them to make it actually easy to build competing editors off their specification" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46969187))

## Why people recommend it

- Fast browser rendering of Office files (2 comments in the sample): "the rendered demo for all the file types appear to render flawlessly and load instantly on page load" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48437762)) "Rendering Office XML directly to Canvas is clever" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48440661))
- Readable layouts and working previews (2 comments in the sample): "The rendering does not seem to actually be pixel-perfect, but all were quite readable with a good layout" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48437845)) "the XLSX preview BLEW my mind considering this was AI coded" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48438317))
- Works for claimed feature parity (2 comments in the sample): "It seems to work fine for the feature parity they claim." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48439430)) "they are all working for me" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46994639))

## The badge

A product earns the Hacker Approved badge when at least 10 people recommend it, recommenders outnumber critics at least 2 to 1 (mixed feelings count toward neither side), it was recommended in at least 4 of the 12 months and in at least 5 different threads, and no single thread supplies more than half of the people who recommend it. Health and money products are never badged.

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Silurus ooxml", https://hackerapproved.com/p/silurus-ooxml/ (7 recommend, 3 mixed, 14 criticize; Hacker News comments, November 2025 to October 2026).

Counts updated 2 Nov 2026, with data through October 31, 2026.