diff --git a/src/markitdown/_markitdown.py b/src/markitdown/_markitdown.py
index 789c1e5..9ca5d67 100644
--- a/src/markitdown/_markitdown.py
+++ b/src/markitdown/_markitdown.py
@@ -93,9 +93,15 @@ def convert_a(self, el: Any, text: str, convert_as_inline: bool):
         if href:
             try:
                 parsed_url = urlparse(href)  # type: ignore
-                if parsed_url.scheme and parsed_url.scheme.lower() not in ["http", "https", "file"]:  # type: ignore
+                if parsed_url.scheme and parsed_url.scheme.lower() not in [
+                    "http",
+                    "https",
+                    "file",
+                ]:  # type: ignore
                     return "%s%s%s" % (prefix, text, suffix)
-                href = urlunparse(parsed_url._replace(path=quote(unquote(parsed_url.path))))  # type: ignore
+                href = urlunparse(
+                    parsed_url._replace(path=quote(unquote(parsed_url.path)))
+                )  # type: ignore
             except ValueError:  # It's not clear if this ever gets thrown
                 return "%s%s%s" % (prefix, text, suffix)
 
@@ -718,7 +724,20 @@ class XlsxConverter(HtmlConverter):
     Converts XLSX files to Markdown, with each sheet presented as a separate Markdown table.
     """
 
-    def convert(self, local_path, **kwargs) -> Union[None, DocumentConverterResult]:
+    def _clean_colname(self, colname: Any) -> Any:
+        # Remove Pandas header placeholders
+        if isinstance(colname, str) and colname.startswith("Unnamed:"):
+            return None
+        return colname
+
+    def convert(
+        self,
+        local_path,
+        na_rep: Any = "",
+        drop_empty_cols: bool = False,
+        drop_empty_rows: bool = False,
+        **kwargs,
+    ) -> Union[None, DocumentConverterResult]:
         # Bail if not a XLSX
         extension = kwargs.get("file_extension", "")
         if extension.lower() != ".xlsx":
@@ -726,9 +745,22 @@ def convert(self, local_path, **kwargs) -> Union[None, DocumentConverterResult]:
 
         sheets = pd.read_excel(local_path, sheet_name=None)
         md_content = ""
-        for s in sheets:
-            md_content += f"## {s}\n"
-            html_content = sheets[s].to_html(index=False)
+        for name, sheet in sheets.items():
+            md_content += f"## {name}\n"
+            sheet = sheet.rename(columns=lambda col: self._clean_colname(col))
+
+            if drop_empty_cols:
+                # also consider headers to be part of the column
+                sheet = sheet.loc[:, sheet.notna().any() | sheet.columns.notna()]
+
+            if drop_empty_rows:
+                sheet = sheet.dropna(axis=0, how="all")
+
+            # convert remaining NaN's to empty string
+            # because .to_html(na_rep="") does not apply to headers
+            sheet.columns = sheet.columns.fillna(na_rep)
+
+            html_content = sheet.to_html(index=False, na_rep=na_rep)
             md_content += self._convert(html_content).text_content.strip() + "\n\n"
 
         return DocumentConverterResult(
@@ -870,7 +902,9 @@ def _get_metadata(self, local_path):
         else:
             try:
                 result = subprocess.run(
-                    [exiftool, "-json", local_path], capture_output=True, text=True
+                    [exiftool, "-json", local_path],
+                    capture_output=True,
+                    text=True,
                 ).stdout
                 return json.loads(result)[0]
             except Exception:
diff --git a/tests/test_files/test.xlsx b/tests/test_files/test.xlsx
index 3a41e17..9153d52 100644
Binary files a/tests/test_files/test.xlsx and b/tests/test_files/test.xlsx differ
diff --git a/tests/test_markitdown.py b/tests/test_markitdown.py
index 4a981bd..1eefba1 100644
--- a/tests/test_markitdown.py
+++ b/tests/test_markitdown.py
@@ -54,6 +54,9 @@
     "affc7dad-52dc-4b98-9b5d-51e65d8a8ad0",
 ]
 
+XLSX_TEST_EXCLUDES = ["Unnamed:", "NaN"]
+
+
 DOCX_TEST_STRINGS = [
     "314b0a30-5b04-470b-b9f7-eed2c2bec74a",
     "49e168b7-d2ae-407f-a055-2167576f39a1",
@@ -174,7 +177,7 @@ def test_markitdown_local() -> None:
 
     # Test XLSX processing
     result = markitdown.convert(os.path.join(TEST_FILES_DIR, "test.xlsx"))
-    validate_strings(result, XLSX_TEST_STRINGS)
+    validate_strings(result, XLSX_TEST_STRINGS, XLSX_TEST_EXCLUDES)
 
     # Test DOCX processing
     result = markitdown.convert(os.path.join(TEST_FILES_DIR, "test.docx"))