TSV ↔ CSV Converter
Paste tab-separated (TSV) data, copied straight out of a spreadsheet, for example, to convert it to comma-separated (CSV) with proper quoting, or paste CSV to convert it back to TSV. Fields that contain the target delimiter, quotes, or newlines are automatically re-quoted or un-quoted as needed. Everything runs locally in your browser.
Reviewed by Vincenzo Manto, Founder & Lead Developer · Last updated September 27, 2026
How it works
- 1
Choose the conversion direction: TSV → CSV or CSV → TSV.
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Paste your data (e.g. copied from a spreadsheet) or drop a .tsv/.csv file.
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The converted output updates instantly, with fields quoted or unquoted as needed.
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Copy the result or download it as a .csv or .tsv file.
Why convert between TSV and CSV?
Copying a range of cells out of a spreadsheet onto the clipboard usually produces TSV, while most import tools, APIs, and scripts expect CSV. This tool bridges that gap in one paste, applying the correct CSV quoting rules automatically instead of leaving you to escape commas and quotes by hand.
A note on TSV's limitations
Unlike CSV, TSV was never standardized with a quoting mechanism, so a genuinely embedded tab or newline inside a value cannot be represented losslessly as plain TSV. This tool is upfront about that: converting CSV → TSV flattens such characters to a space rather than silently producing a corrupt file.
Frequently asked questions
What's the actual difference between TSV and CSV?
Both are plain-text tabular formats; TSV separates fields with a tab character and CSV separates them with a comma. CSV also has a standard quoting convention (RFC 4180) for fields that contain the delimiter, quotes, or newlines, which TSV does not universally share.
Will a comma inside my TSV data break the CSV output?
No. When converting TSV → CSV, any field containing a comma, a double quote, or a newline is automatically wrapped in double quotes (with quotes doubled) so the resulting CSV stays valid.
What happens to a CSV field with an embedded tab or newline when converting to TSV?
This is the one lossy case: plain TSV has no standard way to escape an embedded tab or newline inside a field, so the converter replaces it with a single space when converting CSV → TSV. If your data relies on such embedded characters, keep it as CSV.
Does it handle quoted CSV fields correctly when going back to TSV?
Yes. Quoted CSV fields (including doubled quotes like ""hi"") are correctly un-escaped to their plain text before being written out as tab-separated fields.
Is my data uploaded anywhere?
No. The conversion runs entirely in your browser with plain JavaScript, so nothing is sent to a server.