Convert TSV to JSON
We turn TSV into JSON 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 | JSON | |
|---|---|---|
| Nesting | no | no |
| Value types | no | no |
| Comments | no | no |
| Released | 1993 | 2001 |
| Author | IANA | Douglas Crockford |
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
JSON
Good at
- Nesting of any depth
- Numbers, strings, lists and null are told apart
- Read by everything that talks over a network
Awkward about
- No comments — nowhere to explain what a field means
- One stray comma breaks the whole file
- Harder for a human to read than YAML: braces and quotes
Use it when
- Exchange between programs and APIs
- The data is nested: objects inside objects
- You need a format that does not argue about what a number is
Common questions
- Does the file get uploaded to a server?
- No. TSV → JSON 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?
- Yes, JSON stores objects inside objects, so the structure arrives as it is.
- Can I get the original quality back afterwards?
- Yes, JSON 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.