Free online TSV to CSV converter

A database importer, CRM, or reporting system may accept comma-delimited files but reject a tab-delimited export. The conversion changes the field separator while retaining the table’s rows and columns.

What TSV files contain

TSV (tab-separated values) is plain text: tab characters separate fields and line breaks normally separate records. It is commonly exported by database query tools, scientific and genomics software, command-line utilities, and spreadsheets; filenames usually use .tsv or .tab.

TSV is a delimited-text convention rather than a workbook format. A simple TSV file cannot contain an unescaped tab or line break inside a field, and applications differ in how they represent quoted or multiline values.

What CSV files contain

CSV (comma-separated values) represents a table with commas between fields. It is widely accepted by spreadsheet software, databases, contact importers, accounting systems, CRM platforms, and data-exchange tools.

CSV uses double quotes to protect fields that contain commas, quotes, or line breaks. For example, the TSV value Paris, France must be written as "Paris, France" in CSV; an embedded quote is written twice, as in "She said ""yes""".

Convert the file

Upload the .tsv file to the converter on 101convert.com, choose CSV, convert it, and download the result. This avoids installing software and is suitable when the TSV is a single text table.

In LibreOffice Calc, open the file and confirm that the text-import dialog uses Tab as the separator. Select File → Save As, choose Text CSV (.csv), enable Edit filter settings, then set the field delimiter to a comma and the text delimiter to a double quote.

In Microsoft Excel, open the TSV and verify that the data appears in separate columns. Select File → Save As and choose CSV UTF-8 (Comma delimited) (*.csv); this is usually the safest Excel option for accented characters and non-Latin text. Excel exports only the active worksheet to CSV, so save each sheet separately when a workbook contains multiple tables.

For automation, Python’s csv module writes required CSV quotes instead of merely replacing tabs:

python3 -c 'import csv,sys; csv.writer(sys.stdout, lineterminator="\n").writerows(csv.reader(sys.stdin, delimiter="\t"))' < input.tsv > output.csv

Use python instead of python3 where that is the installed command. This assumes the source uses CSV-style double-quote escaping; inspect or document nonstandard TSV exports before batch conversion.

Check compatibility

Do not use tr, search-and-replace, or a text editor to replace tabs with commas. Those methods fail to quote comma-containing fields correctly and can corrupt quoted or multiline records.

CSV does not preserve spreadsheet formatting, formulas, multiple sheets, comments, data validation, or cell types. Spreadsheet programs can also change values while opening a TSV, especially leading-zero identifiers, long numbers, dates, and codes such as 01-02; use the converter or a scripted text conversion when those values must remain unchanged.

Confirm the recipient’s requirements for UTF-8 encoding, a comma delimiter, and a header row. Some regional spreadsheet settings expect semicolons instead of commas; a file that opens as one column may be correct CSV but use a different delimiter than the receiving application expects.

Open the output in a text editor or import preview to verify the column count, quoted values, and header names. Treat data beginning with =, +, -, or @ cautiously when the CSV will be opened in a spreadsheet, because it may be interpreted as a formula.