TSV to CSV Converter - Quote-Aware, No Upload

Use TSV to CSV

Converts TSV into CSV in this tab. Configuration files routinely hold hostnames, keys and credentials, so nothing here is sent anywhere.

TSV

Values are never retyped as numbers or booleansGuessing types is how a converter turns a postcode of 0123 into 123, or a literal string of false into a boolean. Values are carried across as they were written, and casting is left to you where it matters.

CSV

Paste your text, then convert.

The converted output will appear here.

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About TSV to CSV

Converting the other way - tabs to commas - has the opposite risk profile, and it is the more dangerous direction. Going from CSV to TSV, the worry is a comma hiding inside a field. Going from TSV to CSV, the worry is that fields which needed no protection at all suddenly do: any value containing a comma was perfectly safe in a tab-separated file and becomes ambiguous the moment commas are the separator. Since text is full of commas - addresses, descriptions, anything written in sentences - this affects far more rows than the reverse conversion does. The work is therefore mostly about quoting: recognising which fields now need it and applying the escaping correctly rather than hoping the destination is forgiving.

Work through the input

The file is parsed with tabs as the separator, respecting quoted fields in case the source used them.
Each field is examined on output, and quoted only if it contains a comma, a double quote or a newline. Everything else is written bare.
A field containing a double quote has it doubled inside the surrounding quotes, which is the CSV escaping convention.
Line endings are normalised and a byte-order mark removed, since tab-separated exports come from a wide variety of tools.
Empty fields and the row structure are preserved exactly, so a row with a trailing empty column keeps it.

When tsv to csv is useful

Sharing data with someone using a spreadsheet

CSV is more widely recognised by default. Expect more quoted fields than the original had, which is correct rather than a problem.

Preparing a file for an importer that wants CSV

The quoting is applied where needed, so descriptive text containing commas survives the trip intact.

Check the output

Many more fields need quoting in this direction than the reverse, because commas are common in ordinary text while tabs are not.
If the source TSV contained literal tabs inside values without quoting them, those fields were already ambiguous and cannot be recovered.
Excel and other spreadsheets interpret CSV according to regional settings, so a file opened in a locale expecting semicolons may not split into columns.
UTF-8 is assumed. A legacy encoding may produce damaged accented characters.
A leading equals sign, plus or minus in a value can be interpreted as a formula by spreadsheet software when a CSV is opened directly. That is a spreadsheet behaviour rather than something the format can prevent.

Questions about TSV to CSV

Why are there suddenly so many quotes?

Because commas are common in text. Any field containing one must be quoted now that commas separate the columns.

Is quoting added to every field?

No, only where required. Adding it everywhere would be valid but harder to read.

What if my TSV had unquoted tabs inside values?

Those fields were already ambiguous in the source and cannot be reliably recovered.

Will it open correctly in Excel?

Usually, though regional settings affect which separator Excel expects. Use the CSV to XLSX converter to avoid the question entirely.

Does the file leave my device?

No. The conversion runs in this tab.

TSV to CSV