How to open a .csv file?

CSV files can be opened by most office suites and text editors. You can also convert CSV to other formats online using SquishConvert.

How to convert a .csv file?

Upload your .csv file to SquishConvert, select an output format, and click Convert. Your converted file will be ready to download in seconds.

Document format

.csv

Comma-Separated Values

CSV is the simplest tabular data format — rows of values separated by commas. It's the universal exchange format for data between databases, spreadsheets, and programming languages.

MIME type

text/csv

Developer

IBM (original concept)

Introduced

1972

Advantages

Universal data exchange format
Human-readable plain text
Tiny file sizes
Supported by every data tool

Limitations

No formatting or styling
No data types — everything is text
Encoding and delimiter issues common
No support for multiple sheets or formulas

When to use CSV

Data import and export

Database migrations

API data exchange

Data science and analysis pipelines

Technical details

CSV files are plain text with values separated by commas (or other delimiters). Fields containing commas or newlines are enclosed in double quotes. There is no official standard, though RFC 4180 provides guidelines.