Notebook · 2026-09-28 · updated 2026-10-10
CSV vs TSV: what is the difference?
CSV and TSV are the same idea with a different delimiter. Here is when a tab is the better export and how quoting still applies.
CSV usually means comma-separated values. TSV means tab-separated values. Both are text tables. The delimiter is the only structural difference, and even that is a convention rather than a guarantee. A file named .csv can be semicolon-separated. A file named .tsv can be broken if someone replaced tabs with spaces.
When a tab helps
Tabs help when the cells themselves are full of commas: addresses, sentences, and currency written as 1,200. A comma-separated file can hold those too, but only if the field is quoted. Quoting is easy to get wrong in a homemade export. A tab delimiter avoids that particular collision. It does not avoid the need for quoting when a cell contains a tab or a line break.
When a comma or semicolon is already the contract
If another system asked for CSV, sending a TSV will fail even if the columns are right. European exports often use semicolons because the comma is the decimal separator. Detect the delimiter from the file, or set it yourself, before you convert anything. CSV to TSV rewrites the delimiter and keeps the cell text, including leading zeros.
Name,City Ada,"London, UK" becomes Name City Ada London, UK
Neither format is a security boundary
A tab does not stop formula injection. A comma does not stop it either. The spreadsheet looks at the first character of the cell after it parses the delimiter. Use the download protection if the next stop is a spreadsheet, and read the limits in What is CSV formula injection?.