but... this fork update PHPExcel to correct work in PHP 7.3 and correct reading XLS files from 1C 7.7
install with composer
composer require --prefer-dist den2016/phpexcel
PHPExcel last version, 1.8.1, was released in 2015. The project was officially deprecated in 2017 and permanently archived in 2019.
The project has not be maintained for years and must not be used anymore. All users must migrate to its direct successor PhpSpreadsheet, or another alternative.
PHPExcel is licensed under LGPL (GNU LESSER GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE)