How are quoted fields handled?

The parser follows RFC 4180, so quoted fields, commas inside quotes and doubled quotes are read correctly before being re-joined with tabs.

Why convert CSV to TSV at all?

TSV pastes more reliably into spreadsheets and many command-line tools, because tabs rarely appear inside data while commas often do. It avoids the quoting and comma-collision issues CSV can have.

Does TSV need quotes around fields?

No. TSV has no quoting mechanism — fields are simply separated by tabs. That is why any tab or newline inside a value is replaced with a space during conversion.

Is my data uploaded anywhere?

No. Conversion happens entirely in your browser with JavaScript, so your data never leaves your device.

CSV to TSV Converter

Q: What happens to tabs or newlines inside a cell?

TSV has no quoting mechanism, so any tab or line break inside a value is collapsed to a single space to keep the columns aligned.

This tool converts comma-separated values (CSV) into tab-separated values (TSV) that paste cleanly into Excel, Google Sheets, databases and command-line tools. TSV is often more reliable than CSV because tabs rarely occur inside data, so columns line up without quoting tricks.

How it works

The CSV is read by an RFC 4180-aware parser that correctly handles quoted fields, commas inside quotes, doubled quotes ("") and both LF and CRLF line endings. Each parsed row is then re-joined with tab characters. Because TSV has no quoting mechanism, any tab or line break inside a value is collapsed to a single space so the columns stay aligned. You can also pick a different input delimiter if your source uses semicolons or pipes.

Example

Given this CSV with a quoted field containing a comma:

name,role,city
Ada,Engineer,London
"Bao, Jr.",Designer,Hanoi

it produces (tabs shown as →):

name→role→city
Ada→Engineer→London
Bao, Jr.→Designer→Hanoi

The comma inside “Bao, Jr.” is preserved as part of the value, and the quotes are dropped because TSV does not need them. The parser follows the RFC 4180 standard, so quoted fields, commas inside quotes and doubled quotes are all handled before the data is re-joined with tabs.

Everything runs locally in your browser — nothing is uploaded, which makes it safe for confidential spreadsheets and exports.