Friendly way to read Samsung's built-in Messages app's XML backup

I have an old Samsung Galaxy S7 running Android 8. I am using what seems to be the built-in SMS app, called "Messages," the icon is I used this app's Backup feature to create an XML file. I uploaded it to my Windows laptop, but when I try to open it, I see raw XML or I get an error message (from Excel and OpenOffice--both Calc and Writer). Calc says "General input/output error." Excel says "This XML file cannot be opened because of an error." The question is, how can I open this file and get a human-friendly display? (I suppose I could use a standalone SMS backup/restore app, but I prefer to minimize the contents of my device.) Thanks!