Formats

Spreadsheet & Data File Formats

The full reference for every tabular data format 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.