What is a TSV file?

A Tab-Separated Values (TSV) file format represents data separated with tabs in plain text format. The file format, similar to CSV, is used for organization of data in a structured manner in order to import and export between different applications. The format is primarily used for data import/export and exchange in Spreadsheet applications and databases. Each record in a TSV file is contained in a single line of text file where each field value is separated by a tab character. Media type for TSV file format is text/tab-separated-values.

Example TSV File Format

The following example shows data arranged in a TSV file separated by tabs.

TSV files can be opened in other applications as well like commonly used text editors on Windows and other operating systems.