Free online TSV to XLSX converter

A spreadsheet application may require XLSX for formulas, multiple worksheets, or compatibility with Microsoft Excel. Converting a TSV file also lets recipients edit and format the data without importing tab-separated text manually.

TSV, or Tab-Separated Values, stores tabular data as plain text: each line normally represents a row, and tab characters separate fields. Database exports, statistical software, command-line tools, laboratory instruments, and spreadsheet applications commonly produce TSV files. TSV is small and readable, but it does not store formatting, formulas, worksheets, charts, comments, or other workbook metadata.

What the XLSX format is

XLSX is the Office Open XML workbook format used by Microsoft Excel and supported by LibreOffice Calc, Google Sheets, and other spreadsheet applications. An XLSX file is a ZIP package containing structured XML and related files. It can contain multiple worksheets, cell formatting, formulas, filters, tables, charts, data validation, and other workbook features, although feature support can vary between applications.

How to convert a TSV file

Using Microsoft Excel

1. Open Excel and choose File → Open. Select the .tsv file; choose an option such as All Files if it is not visible.
2. In the text import dialog, choose the file's encoding, usually UTF-8, select Delimited, and set the delimiter to Tab. Disable other delimiters unless the file uses them.
3. Check the preview, then set sensitive columns such as postal codes, product IDs, and long identifiers to Text so Excel does not remove leading zeros or round values.
4. Finish the import and choose File → Save As.
5. Select Excel Workbook (*.xlsx), save the file, and accept any format confirmation.

Excel versions with the modern import interface may use Data → From Text/CSV instead. Select the TSV delimiter and encoding in that preview, load the data, then save the workbook as XLSX.

Using LibreOffice Calc

1. Open Calc and choose File → Open, then select the TSV file.
2. In the import dialog, choose the correct character set, usually UTF-8, select Separated by, and enable Tab only unless another separator is present.
3. Review the preview and assign text format to columns containing leading zeros, identifiers, or values that must not become dates or numbers.
4. Choose File → Save As, select Excel 2007–365 (*.xlsx), and accept the format confirmation if requested.

Using the built-in online converter

You can convert the file for free on 101convert.com without installing software. Upload the TSV file, choose XLSX as the output format, start the conversion, and download the resulting workbook. Review the downloaded file locally; do not upload confidential or regulated data unless the service's handling and retention terms are acceptable.

Using Python for repeatable conversions

Install the required packages with pip install pandas openpyxl, then run:

import pandas as pd

df = pd.read_csv("input.tsv", sep="\t", dtype=str, encoding="utf-8")
df.to_excel("output.xlsx", index=False, engine="openpyxl")

dtype=str preserves values such as 00127 as text, but it also prevents pandas from assigning numeric and date types. Remove it or specify types per column when those data types are required. Change encoding when the source uses another character set.

Quality and compatibility checks

• TSV has no workbook structure to preserve. Conversion normally creates one worksheet and cannot recover formatting, formulas, charts, comments, or multiple sheets absent from the source.
• Verify the delimiter and encoding before saving. A wrong delimiter can put an entire row in one cell or split fields incorrectly; a wrong encoding can corrupt non-ASCII characters.
• Inspect dates, decimal and thousands separators, currencies, percentages, negative numbers, leading zeros, and long numeric identifiers. Spreadsheet software may reinterpret plain-text values during import.
• Tabs and line breaks inside a field must be quoted or escaped according to the convention used by the exporting program. Malformed quoting can shift subsequent fields into the wrong columns.
• TSV does not define formula semantics. Values beginning with = may be interpreted as formulas by some import or spreadsheet workflows; treat files from untrusted sources cautiously and verify formulas before enabling or distributing them.
• An XLSX worksheet supports up to 1,048,576 rows and 16,384 columns. A larger TSV must be split or processed in a database or another large-data format.
• After conversion, open the XLSX in the target application and check formulas, date display, character rendering, column counts, and row counts. Different spreadsheet programs may not reproduce every workbook feature identically.