TSV to CSV Converter
Convert TSV to CSV and CSV to TSV with auto-delimiter detection, RFC 4180 escaping, and Excel UTF-8 BOM. Your work stays on this device whenever possible.
How to use TSV to CSV Converter
- Paste rows into "Input Data", or drop a .tsv, .csv, .txt or .tab file on the dashed zone; a name ending in .csv switches to CSV to TSV and anything else to TSV to CSV.
- Set "Conversion Mode" to "TSV to CSV (Tab to Comma)", "CSV to TSV (Comma to Tab)" or "Custom Delimiters", which reveals "Input Delimiter" and "Output Delimiter" lists (Tab, Comma, Semicolon, Pipe, Space).
- Press "Auto-Detect Delimiter" to scan the first ten lines and set the mode for you.
- Tick "Trim whitespace from values", "Skip blank lines" or "Quote every cell (RFC 4180 strict)" as needed; "Excel UTF-8 BOM" affects only the download.
- Press "Convert Data" (or "Load Sample TSV"), check the four counters and the paged grid with its filter box, then choose "Copy Result" or "Download File".
Worked example
Type two lines separated by Tab: Item then Note, and Pen then blue, fine. With TSV to CSV, the output box shows Item,Note on the first line and Pen,"blue, fine" on the second, because the comma inside the second cell forces quotes. The counters read Total Rows 2 and Columns 2, and Download File would save converted-data.csv.
When to use this tool
- Converting a table copied from a spreadsheet into a CSV that a database import accepts.
- Switching a semicolon-separated export to commas using the custom delimiters.
- Searching a pasted data set with the grid filter before deciding whether to export it.
Important limitations
Assumes tabular data where each record contains consistent column delimiters. The Advanced options panel auto-detects file encoding (UTF-16LE/BE, Windows-1252, BOM), reports ragged rows by line number, and can trim, dedupe, and drop empty columns, but does not auto-repair rows with unquoted embedded newlines.
Comparing alternatives
Other options for tsv to csv converter include ConvertCSV, OnlineTSVTools, TableConvert, CodeBeautify.
ToolkitPoint is not affiliated with those services.
Frequently asked questions
Are quoted fields with delimiters or line breaks kept intact?
Yes on input: a quoted field may contain the delimiter, doubled quotes and line breaks. On output, any cell holding the output delimiter, a quote mark or a line break is wrapped in quotes with inner quotes doubled.
Which line endings does the output use?
CRLF between rows, Windows style, with no final trailing break. Excel accepts it, but some Unix tools display a stray carriage return that you may need to strip.
Why did one stray quote swallow much of my data?
A double quote anywhere in a field, even in the middle like 12" ruler, is treated as opening a quoted section, so following lines can merge into one cell until another quote appears. Double or remove such quotes beforehand.
Does the BOM setting affect copying?
No. The BOM is added only to the downloaded file, which stops Excel garbling accented text. The output box and "Copy Result" never contain it.
Are ragged rows repaired?
Not automatically repaired, but the Advanced options panel now reports every ragged row by line number with its expected and found column counts, and lets you drop empty columns, rename/reorder columns, and remove duplicate rows before exporting.