CSV (Comma-Separated Values)

CSV is the simplest format for tabular data — rows of values separated by commas (or other delimiters). It is universally supported by spreadsheets, databases, and programming languages, making it the lingua franca for data exchange and import/export workflows.

MIME Type

text/csv

Type

Text

Compression

Lossless

Advantages

+ Universal support in Excel, Google Sheets, databases, and every language
+ Human-readable and easy to generate
+ Minimal overhead — just data, no formatting or metadata
+ Streamable — can be processed line by line for large files

Disadvantages

− No data type information — numbers, dates, and strings all look the same
− Encoding and delimiter ambiguity (comma vs semicolon vs tab)
− No support for hierarchical or nested data

When to Use .CSV

Use CSV for simple data export/import, spreadsheet data exchange, and feeding data into scripts and pipelines.

Technical Details

CSV files are plain text with each row on a new line and values separated by commas. Quoted fields (double quotes) can contain commas, newlines, and escaped quotes. There is no standard for data types — everything is a string.

History

Comma-separated data formats predate personal computers, appearing in IBM Fortran in the early 1970s. RFC 4180 (2005) formalized the CSV specification, though many variants exist.

Convert from .CSV

.csv → .arrow .csv → .avro .csv → .bson .csv → .c .csv → .cpp .csv → .docx .csv → .geojson .csv → .go .csv → .gpx .csv → .hdf5 .csv → .html .csv → .ics .csv → .java .csv → .js .csv → .json .csv → .keynote .csv → .kml .csv → .md .csv → .msgpack .csv → .ndjson .csv → .numbers .csv → .ods .csv → .pages .csv → .parquet .csv → .pdf .csv → .pptx .csv → .protobuf .csv → .py .csv → .rs .csv → .sql .csv → .sqlite .csv → .toml .csv → .ts .csv → .tsv .csv → .txt .csv → .vcf .csv → .xls .csv → .xlsx .csv → .xml .csv → .yaml .csv → .yml

Convert to .CSV

.arrow → .csv .avro → .csv .bson → .csv .c → .csv .cpp → .csv .docx → .csv .geojson → .csv .go → .csv .gpx → .csv .hdf5 → .csv .html → .csv .ics → .csv .java → .csv .js → .csv .json → .csv .keynote → .csv .kml → .csv .md → .csv .msgpack → .csv .ndjson → .csv .numbers → .csv .ods → .csv .pages → .csv .parquet → .csv .pdf → .csv .pptx → .csv .protobuf → .csv .py → .csv .rs → .csv .sql → .csv .sqlite → .csv .toml → .csv .ts → .csv .tsv → .csv .txt → .csv .vcf → .csv .xls → .csv .xlsx → .csv .xml → .csv .yaml → .csv .yml → .csv

Related Formats

.c .cpp .css .go .java .js .json .jsx .less .py .rs .scss .sql .toml .ts .tsv .tsx .xml .yaml .yml

Related Terms

CSV

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Use Cases

F Converting Cryptocurrency Transaction Records for Tax Filing T Converting Legacy Data Formats for System Migration