Formats

Spreadsheet & Data File Formats

The reference for the tabular data formats SheetCompare handles: what each one is, when to use it, and the gotchas that cause silent data corruption.

CSV

.csv

Comma-Separated Values

Plain-text format where each row is a line and each value is separated by a comma. The lowest-common-denominator export from every spreadsheet, database, and analytics tool.

XLSX

.xlsx

Office Open XML Spreadsheet

Modern Excel format. A ZIP archive of XML parts that stores values, formulas, formatting, multiple sheets, and metadata. The default save format in Excel 2007 and later.

XLS

.xls

Excel 97-2003 Binary

Legacy Excel format used by Excel 97 through 2003. A proprietary binary stream (BIFF). Still common in enterprise systems that pre-date the 2007 XLSX switch.

TSV

.tsv

Tab-Separated Values

Like CSV, but values are separated by tab characters instead of commas. Preferred when data already contains commas — common in scientific, bioinformatics, and academic datasets.

Need to convert between formats?

Use our free converters, or drop two files of any format into SheetCompare for an instant diff.