CSV vs TSV: differences and when to use each

CSV and TSV solve the same problem—storing a table as plain text—by choosing a different character to separate columns. The CSV vs TSV decision looks trivial, yet it drives real friction the moment a value contains the delimiter. Knowing how each behaves saves you from corrupted columns and mysterious import errors.

The core difference

CSV uses a comma between fields. TSV uses a tab. That single choice cascades into everything else. Commas appear inside real data constantly—prices, addresses, sentences—so CSV needs a quoting mechanism to protect them. Tabs almost never appear inside a value, so TSV usually needs no quoting at all and the raw file stays clean and aligned when viewed in a monospace editor. Everything else about the two formats is essentially the same.

Where TSV wins

TSV is the friendlier format for humans and for clipboards. When you copy a block of cells out of a spreadsheet the result is tab-separated, because tabs unambiguously mark the gaps between cells. Pasting that into a text editor gives you something readable that lines up. Because quoting is almost never triggered, TSV is also pleasant to edit by hand without worrying about escaping. For quick interchange between a spreadsheet and a script, TSV is often the path of least resistance.

Where CSV wins

CSV is the lingua franca. Almost every importer, database loader, BI tool and API that accepts tabular text accepts CSV first and the format has a formal specification in RFC 4180 that defines exactly how quoting works. That ubiquity is why data usually ends up as CSV by the time it crosses a system boundary. The price is the quoting machinery, which is worth understanding before you trust a file—the CSV quoting and escaping guide covers the rules in full.

Converting between them

Because spreadsheets produce TSV while importers expect CSV, converting is an everyday task rather than an edge case. The danger in a naive find-and-replace of tabs for commas is that it corrupts any value already containing a comma. A proper converter parses the structure first, then re-serialises with correct quoting. The TSV to CSV converter does this in your browser and works in both directions, so a clipboard paste becomes a clean import-ready file without manual escaping. When the destination is an API rather than a spreadsheet, the CSV ⇄ JSON converter takes it the rest of the way.

Frequently asked questions

Is TSV better than CSV?
Neither wins outright. TSV is cleaner because tabs rarely appear in data, while CSV is more widely supported. Choose by what your tooling reads natively.

Why does copying from Excel give me tabs?
Spreadsheets copy cells as tab-separated text, which is TSV. Pasting it where CSV is expected misaligns the columns, which is why TSV to CSV conversion is so common.

Bottom line

CSV vs TSV is a choice of delimiter with knock-on effects: CSV is universal but needs quoting, TSV is clean but less widely accepted. Keep your canonical file in whatever your tools read natively, convert at the boundary with the TSV to CSV converter and the two formats stop being a source of broken columns.