What is a TSV file?
TSV is the same idea as CSV with tabs between the columns instead of commas. Because real data almost never contains a tab, it sidesteps the quoting confusion that trips CSV up. You can convert TSV files here, both into the format and out of it.
Specification
| Full name | Tab-Separated Values |
|---|---|
| Extensions | .tsv, .tab |
| Media type | text/tab-separated-values |
| Compression | Uncompressed |
| Transparency | — |
| Animation | — |
| Multiple pages | — |
| Colour depth | Tab-delimited UTF-8 text, usually without quoting rules |
| Size limits | — |
| Introduced | 1993 |
| Developed by | IANA registration by Paul Lindner |
| Standard | Open |
| Browser support | Not displayed by browsers |
What TSV is used for
- Bioinformatics and genomics pipelines, where TSV is the working format
- Command line processing with cut, awk and similar tools
- Pasting a table directly between a spreadsheet and a text editor
- Log and metrics exports consumed by analytics jobs
Strengths and limitations
What TSV does well
- No confusion about quotes, so every line splits cleanly
- Clipboard transfer between spreadsheets uses tabs, so it round trips cleanly
- Aligns readably in a terminal without a dedicated viewer
Where TSV falls short
- Fields containing a tab cannot be represented at all in most dialects
- Tabs are invisible, so a corrupted file is hard to diagnose by eye
- Less widely offered as an export option than CSV
Convert TSV to
Every target this format can be written out as, each on its own page.
Convert to TSV
Everything that can be turned into a TSV file.
Tools that accept TSV
Questions about TSV
What is a .tsv file?
TSV is the same idea as CSV with tabs between the columns instead of commas. The extension .tsv or .tab identifies it, and its media type is text/tab-separated-values.
How do I open a TSV file?
Browsers do not display TSV natively, so you either need software that understands it or you convert it to something more common first. Converting is usually the faster route when you only need to look at the contents once.
Is TSV lossy or lossless?
Uncompressed. Nothing is discarded, so repeated saves never degrade the contents.
What is TSV good for?
No confusion about quotes, so every line splits cleanly. Clipboard transfer between spreadsheets uses tabs, so it round trips cleanly. Aligns readably in a terminal without a dedicated viewer. In practice that makes it a good fit for bioinformatics and genomics pipelines, where TSV is the working format, and Command line processing with cut, awk and similar tools.
What are the drawbacks of TSV?
Fields containing a tab cannot be represented at all in most dialects. Tabs are invisible, so a corrupted file is hard to diagnose by eye. Less widely offered as an export option than CSV.