diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 975b200..5faae65 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -16,6 +16,11 @@ dependencies = [
 dev = [
     "pytest>=8",
 ]
+convert = [
+    "uproot>=5.3",
+    "awkward>=2.6",
+    "polars>=1.0",
+]
 
 [project.scripts]
 giant = "giant.cli:app"
diff --git a/scripts/steps_to_parquet.py b/scripts/steps_to_parquet.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..61f3e14
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/steps_to_parquet.py
@@ -0,0 +1,116 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
+"""Convert the Steps tree from a ROOT file to Parquet.
+
+Usage:
+    uv run python steps_to_parquet.py input.root
+    uv run python steps_to_parquet.py input.root -o output.parquet
+    uv run python steps_to_parquet.py input.root --batch-size "200 MB" --tree Hits
+"""
+
+import argparse
+from pathlib import Path
+
+import awkward as ak
+import polars as pl
+import uproot
+
+
+def _batch_to_polars(batch: ak.Array) -> pl.DataFrame:
+    """Convert one awkward-array batch to a Polars DataFrame.
+
+    Flat numeric/string fields are converted via numpy; variable-length fields
+    (like child_track_ids) fall back to Python lists so polars stores them as
+    List columns — a type parquet understands natively.
+    """
+    col_dict: dict = {}
+    for field in ak.fields(batch):
+        arr = batch[field]
+        if arr.ndim == 1 and not isinstance(arr.layout, ak.contents.ListOffsetArray):
+            col_dict[field] = ak.to_numpy(arr)
+        else:
+            col_dict[field] = ak.to_list(arr)
+    return pl.DataFrame(col_dict)
+
+
+def convert_steps_to_parquet(
+    root_path: str | Path,
+    output_path: str | Path | None = None,
+    batch_size: str = "100 MB",
+    tree_name: str = "Steps",
+    compression: str = "snappy",
+) -> Path:
+    """Read *tree_name* from *root_path* and write it to a Parquet file.
+
+    Reads in batches of *batch_size* so that peak ROOT-deserialization memory
+    stays bounded. All batches are collected as Polars DataFrames and written
+    in a single pass at the end (Polars' parquet writer does not support
+    row-group appending without pyarrow).
+
+    Parameters
+    ----------
+    root_path:   Input ROOT file.
+    output_path: Output Parquet file. Defaults to *root_path* with .parquet suffix.
+    batch_size:  Uproot read batch size — an uproot size string ("100 MB") or
+                 integer row count (500_000).
+    tree_name:   Name of the TTree inside the ROOT file.
+    compression: Parquet compression codec (snappy | lz4 | zstd | gzip | none).
+    """
+    root_path = Path(root_path)
+    if output_path is None:
+        output_path = root_path.with_suffix(".parquet")
+    else:
+        output_path = Path(output_path)
+
+    with uproot.open(root_path) as f:
+        tree = f[tree_name]
+        n_entries = tree.num_entries
+        print(f"Reading '{tree_name}' from {root_path.name}  ({n_entries} entries)")
+
+        batches: list[pl.DataFrame] = []
+        rows_done = 0
+        for batch in tree.iterate(library="ak", step_size=batch_size):
+            batches.append(_batch_to_polars(batch))
+            rows_done += len(batch)
+            print(f"  {rows_done:,} / {n_entries:,} rows read", end="\r", flush=True)
+
+    print(f"\nWriting {output_path} …", end=" ", flush=True)
+    pl.concat(batches).write_parquet(output_path, compression=compression)
+    print(f"done  ({output_path.stat().st_size / 1e6:.1f} MB)")
+    return output_path
+
+
+def main() -> None:
+    parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(
+        description="Convert a Steps (or any flat+jagged) tree in a ROOT file to Parquet."
+    )
+    parser.add_argument("root_file", help="Input ROOT file")
+    parser.add_argument(
+        "-o", "--output", help="Output Parquet file (default: <input>.parquet)"
+    )
+    parser.add_argument(
+        "--batch-size",
+        default="100 MB",
+        help="Uproot read batch size (default: '100 MB').  E.g. '50 MB', '500000' (rows).",
+    )
+    parser.add_argument(
+        "--tree", default="Steps", help="Tree name inside the ROOT file (default: Steps)"
+    )
+    parser.add_argument(
+        "--compression",
+        default="snappy",
+        choices=["snappy", "lz4", "zstd", "gzip", "none"],
+        help="Parquet compression codec (default: snappy)",
+    )
+    args = parser.parse_args()
+
+    convert_steps_to_parquet(
+        args.root_file,
+        output_path=args.output,
+        batch_size=args.batch_size,
+        tree_name=args.tree,
+        compression=None if args.compression == "none" else args.compression,
+    )
+
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    main()