Markdown & Convert
CSV ↔ TSV Converter
Convert between comma- and tab-separated values per RFC 4180.
Direction
CSV input
TSV output
name role note Smith, John eng Joined 2024 Ada math
About this tool
Convert CSV to TSV (for pasting into Excel / Sheets) or TSV to CSV. Handles quoted fields with embedded commas, tabs, quotes and newlines. Auto-detects the source delimiter; you can override if detection guesses wrong.
FAQs
Which dialect of CSV?
RFC 4180 by default - fields quoted with double quotes, embedded quotes escaped by doubling (""). Newline between rows can be CR, LF, or CRLF.
When should I prefer TSV?
When fields contain commas (addresses, prose) - tabs almost never appear in real data, so quoting becomes unnecessary. TSV also pastes directly into spreadsheets without an import wizard.
Are embedded newlines supported?
Yes for CSV - a quoted field can contain newlines. TSV technically forbids embedded newlines, so they're escaped to \n on conversion to TSV.
Is the encoding UTF-8?
Yes. If you paste from Excel the source may be Windows-1252 or UTF-8 with a BOM - the converter strips the BOM and assumes UTF-8 from there.
What if my CSV uses semicolons (European Excel)?
The auto-detector recognises ';' and '|' as alternatives. You can also override the input delimiter from a dropdown.