Convert TSV to CSV
We turn TSV into CSV right in your browser — the file never goes to a server.
What you will lose
Nothing important: the target format does everything the source does.
How they differ
| TSV | CSV | |
|---|---|---|
| Nesting | no | no |
| Value types | no | no |
| Comments | no | no |
| Released | 1993 | 1972 |
| Author | IANA | IBM |
TSV
Good at
- Separated by tabs, and tabs are rare inside real text
- Fewer reasons to quote a field than in CSV
- Read by Excel, R and almost any database export
Awkward about
- Tabs are invisible: a broken file looks exactly like a good one
- No nesting, same as CSV
- Editors like to replace tabs with spaces and break the file
Use it when
- The data contains commas and CSV falls apart because of them
- An export from a database or a research tool
- The file is going into R, pandas or Excel
CSV
Good at
- Opens in anything, from Excel to a plain text editor
- Lands in a spreadsheet without a line of code
- Weighs exactly what the data weighs
Awkward about
- No single standard: quotes, commas and line breaks are read differently everywhere
- No nesting — an object inside an object has to be flattened
- A number, a boolean and an empty cell look the same as text
Use it when
- An export for a spreadsheet or a report
- Exchange between systems that agreed on a separator
- The data is flat: rows and columns, nothing nested
Common questions
- Does the file get uploaded to a server?
- No. TSV → CSV runs right in your browser and the file never leaves your device. It only goes to a server if the browser cannot cope — and then we delete it within a couple of hours.
- Is nesting preserved?
- No. CSV is a flat table, so anything nested is spread into columns with compound names.
- Can I get the original quality back afterwards?
- Yes, CSV supports lossless compression, so you can go back to the original.
- How many files, and how large?
- Up to 20 files at a time, 20 MB each. No sign-up, no watermarks.