Convert YAML to CSV
We turn YAML into CSV right in your browser — the file never goes to a server.
What you will lose
- Nested objects have to be flattened: a table has no room for an object inside an object.
- Numbers, booleans and empty values become plain text, and turning them back is guesswork.
- Comments are dropped: there is nowhere to put them.
How they differ
| YAML | CSV | |
|---|---|---|
| Nesting | no | no |
| Value types | no | no |
| Comments | no | no |
| Released | 2001 | 1972 |
| Author | Clark Evans, Ingy döt Net, Oren Ben-Kiki | IBM |
YAML
Good at
- Reads like prose: indentation instead of braces
- Comments — the only one of the three that has them
- Nesting and types, same as JSON
Awkward about
- Indentation carries meaning: one space changes it
- Unquoted yes and no behave in surprising ways
- Parsing is heavier and slower than JSON
Use it when
- A configuration file edited by hand
- You need notes sitting next to the values
- The data is nested and a human will read it
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. YAML → 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.