Tools / File / CSV to TSV Converter
Client-side

CSV to TSV Converter

Swap commas for tabs without tearing quoted fields apart, and without uploading anything.

What it does

  • Quote-aware parsing keeps "Boston, MA" in one column
  • Removes CSV quotes that TSV no longer needs
  • UTF-8 output, input BOM removed
  • No upload, no sign-up, works offline after first load

Drop your file here or click to browse

TSV or CSV file

Convert CSV Files to TSV. Browser-Based

Drop a comma-separated .csv and download a tab-separated .tsv where every quoted value stays in its own column. A real CSV parser, written in Rust and compiled to WebAssembly, runs in your browser, so the file is never uploaded. Going the other way? Use the TSV to CSV converter, or the two-way TSV / CSV converter.

How to convert CSV to TSV

  1. Drop your .csv file onto the drop zone, or click to pick it.
  2. The page is locked to the CSV to TSV direction, so there are no options to set.
  3. Download the result. contacts.csv becomes contacts.tsv.

What the conversion does

Replacing commas with tabs using sed 's/,/\t/g' or a text editor breaks every quoted value that contains a comma, such as addresses, descriptions or prices written with a decimal comma. This converter reads the CSV the way a spreadsheet does, tracking which commas sit inside quotes.

  • Quoted commas — "Boston, MA" becomes the single TSV field Boston, MA, without the quotes TSV does not need.
  • Doubled quotes — a CSV value like "12"" pipe" is read as 12" pipe. Because it still contains a quote, it is written quoted in the TSV so that a parser reads it back identically.
  • Tabs or line breaks inside a value — the field is kept intact and wrapped in double quotes in the TSV rather than being split or altered. Tools that read TSV with quote support, like pandas or a spreadsheet import, read it back correctly. Strict tab-only tools such as cut do not understand quotes, so clean those values first if you rely on them.
  • Everything else — copied as is. No type detection, no number reformatting, no column or row reordering. The header row stays first.

Output format

The TSV is UTF-8 without a byte order mark, with LF line endings. A BOM at the start of the CSV (Excel adds one to "CSV UTF-8" files) is removed so it does not end up inside the first column name. The input must be UTF-8: a CSV saved in an older ANSI encoding will have its accented characters replaced, so re-save it as UTF-8 first.

When TSV is the better choice

TSV avoids most quoting, because tabs rarely occur in real values. That makes it easier to process with cut, awk and sort, the expected input for bioinformatics formats and many machine learning datasets, and the format a spreadsheet uses when you paste data. Keep CSV when the destination is a CRM, an e-commerce import or an API, since CSV is the more widely accepted default. If your goal is structured records rather than a different separator, the CSV to JSON converter may fit better.

If the conversion fails

The parser expects commas as separators and the same number of fields on every row. A semicolon-separated CSV (the default export of Excel in French or German settings) is not supported, and a row with a missing or extra field triggers "Conversion failed." rather than a TSV with shifted columns. To find the faulty row, open the file in the CSV viewer.

Why convert CSV to TSV in your browser?

CSV exports are where structured personal data travels: CRM dumps, newsletter lists, order histories, HR extracts and financial records. Upload-based converters receive every row. Here the file is read and written in your tab, with zero network requests for processing, which you can verify in the DevTools Network panel or by converting offline after the first load. There is no fixed size cap, no row limit and no sign-up.

Frequently asked questions

Will quoted fields with commas inside be preserved?
Yes. A value such as "Boston, MA" stays in a single column, without its surrounding quotes, because TSV does not need them.
Does the TSV ever contain quotes?
Only when a value contains a tab, a double quote or a line break. Those fields are quoted so the TSV can be read back without losing data.
Does the conversion change my data?
No. Every value is kept exactly. Only the separator and the quoting change.
Can I convert a semicolon-separated CSV?
Not yet. The converter expects commas. Re-export the file with commas as separators, then convert it.
Can Excel or Google Sheets open the TSV?
Yes. Both import tab-separated text, and pasting its content into a sheet splits it into columns.

Related: convert TSV to CSV, the two-way TSV / CSV converter, and the CSV viewer and editor.