Convert Excel (XLSX) to CSV
This free converter saves a sheet from an Excel .xlsx workbook as a CSV file in standard UTF-8 or Excel style, with formulas saved as their results and dates as 2024-05-01. The workbook is read in your browser and not uploaded. Formatting is not kept, formulas without a stored result come out empty, and old .xls, .xlsb and password-protected workbooks cannot be read.
Did a file not convert correctly? E-mail [email protected], ideally with a small sample file, and it will be fixed.
Key facts
- Input: Excel (XLSX) (.xlsx). Output: CSV (.csv).
- Your files are not uploaded: the work is done in your browser, on your own device.
- File size: no fixed limit; very large files are limited by your device's memory.
- Needs a current browser (Chrome, Edge, Firefox or Safari) on a computer, tablet or phone; nothing to install.
- Free to use, with no sign-up.
Why save an Excel sheet as CSV
Online shops, mailing tools, banks, accounting systems and databases often import CSV, not Excel. Saving as CSV in Excel works, but the result depends on the computer: a semicolon on one machine, a comma on the next, and an encoding that turns ø and é into question marks on the system you upload it to. This converter writes the CSV the same way every time. Drop the workbook, pick the sheet in the list (each one shows how many rows it has), look at the first rows, and choose a style: a standard UTF-8 CSV for databases, scripts and web services, or an Excel style with a byte order mark, with commas or with the semicolons and decimal commas that Excel expects in most of Europe. Formulas are saved as their results, dates as 2024-05-01, and a workbook with several sheets can be turned into one CSV per sheet in a zip.
How to convert Excel to CSV
- Drop your .xlsx file in the box, or click to choose it.
- Choose the sheet, or all sheets, and the CSV style.
- Click Convert to CSV and download the file.
What changes when you convert
Formulas without a saved result
A CSV holds values, not formulas, so each formula is saved as the result Excel stored the last time the workbook was saved. Workbooks made by some programs and scripts contain formulas without a stored result; those cells are left empty, and the tool tells you how many there are. Open and save the file in Excel or LibreOffice first to fill them in.
Formatting is not kept
CSV has no colours, fonts or number formats, only values. A cell shown as 25 % is saved as 0.25, an amount shown as € 1,250.00 as 1250, and a number rounded to two decimals on screen with all its digits. Dates are written as 2024-05-01 and times as 14:30:00, whatever format the cell had.
Merged cells and hidden sheets
A merged cell has its value in its first cell only, so the other cells of the merge come out empty. Hidden sheets are listed with "(hidden)" and can be chosen like any other; charts on their own sheet have no cells and are skipped.
Old .xls and protected workbooks
Excel 97-2003 files (.xls), binary workbooks (.xlsb) and workbooks that need a password to open cannot be read here; the tool says which it is. Open the file in Excel or LibreOffice and save it as a normal .xlsx first.
About the formats
Excel (XLSX)
XLSX is the workbook format of Microsoft Excel since Excel 2007, also written by LibreOffice, Numbers and Google Sheets. Behind the file extension is a zip archive of XML files: one per sheet, plus shared text, styles and formulas.
- A workbook can hold several sheets; a CSV file holds only one table.
- Cells keep their type: numbers, dates and text, so a postcode like 0150 can keep its leading zero.
- A sheet holds at most 1,048,576 rows and 16,384 columns.
- The older .xls format (Excel 97-2003) is a different, binary format.
CSV
CSV (comma-separated values) is a plain-text table: one line per row, with the cells separated by a comma, a semicolon or a tab. Excel, Google Sheets, Numbers, every database and most programming languages read and write it, which makes it the usual way to move a table from one program to another.
- There is no standard for the separator: Excel uses a comma or a semicolon depending on the language settings.
- Every value is text; whether 0800 is a number or a postcode is up to the program reading it.
- There are no sheets, formulas, colours or column widths, only the values.
- The encoding is not stored in the file; UTF-8 is the safe choice, and Excel needs a BOM to recognise it.
Frequently asked questions
Is my workbook uploaded?
No. Your browser unpacks and reads the workbook on your own device; nothing is sent to a server.
Which CSV style should I choose?
Standard for anything that is not Excel: databases, Python or R, Google Sheets imports and most web services. Choose Excel to open the file in Excel with a comma as separator, and Excel in Europe if Excel on your computer uses a decimal comma, as in German, French, Spanish or Danish settings.
Can I convert all sheets at once?
Yes. Choose "All sheets" and you get a zip with one CSV file per sheet, named after the sheets.
What happens to leading zeros?
A postcode stored as text, such as 0150, is written as 0150. If Excel already stored it as the number 150, the zero is gone in the workbook itself and cannot be recovered.