XLSX to CSV Converter

Convert Excel .xlsx worksheets to CSV files with encoding and delimiter options.

Tested tool guide Tested browser tools Checked August 16, 2026

What XLSX to CSV Converter does, with a checked example

This tool opens an .xlsx workbook, reads the cells of a worksheet in row and column order, and writes each row out as a delimited text line, choosing the delimiter (comma, semicolon, or tab) and text encoding you specify. What trips people up is that a workbook can hold several sheets but a CSV cannot: only one sheet becomes the output, and if a cell holds a formula, the CSV gets the last value Excel calculated, not the formula text, since CSV has no way to store live calculations.

Worked example

A concrete input and expected output from the current implementation.

Input

Worksheet with row 1: Name, Price; row 2: Widget, 12.5; row 3: Deluxe, Widget, 9 (a single cell containing a comma)

Expected output

Name,Price
Widget,12.5
"Deluxe, Widget",9

Plain cell values are written comma-separated as-is; the cell whose text itself contains a comma is wrapped in double quotes so the comma inside it is not read as a field break, matching common CSV quoting practice.

How the result is produced

Reading the worksheet

An .xlsx file is a zip archive of XML parts, one of which describes each worksheet's rows and cells. Each cell stores a raw value (a number or a text string) plus, separately, a number-format code that tells Excel how to render it on screen; the formatted text you see, such as a date or a currency amount, is not itself stored. The tool walks the sheet's rows in the order they appear, reads each cell's stored raw value, and emits one output line per row with cells joined by the chosen delimiter, preserving column order left to right.

Delimiter and encoding options

CSV is not a single fixed standard, so the tool lets you pick the field delimiter (comma, semicolon, or tab) and the output text encoding, since some spreadsheet locales and downstream import tools expect a semicolon or a specific encoding rather than a plain comma and UTF-8.

Good uses

Preparing an Excel export for import into a system, database loader, or script that only accepts CSV
Pulling one tab out of a multi-sheet workbook into a flat file for a data pipeline or spreadsheet tool that expects a single table
Producing a CSV whose delimiter matches a target locale (semicolon for regions that use comma as a decimal separator) instead of Excel's default comma export

Limits and checks

A workbook with multiple sheets needs converting one sheet at a time; check which sheet was used before assuming the CSV covers the whole file
Formulas are not preserved, only the value Excel last calculated for that cell, so a CSV round-trip loses any live calculation
Numbers formatted as dates, currency, or percentages in Excel may come out as their underlying value rather than the formatted text you see on screen, depending on how the source cell stores the value

Common questions

Will formulas in my spreadsheet still work after converting to CSV?

No. CSV is a plain text format with no concept of formulas, so every cell becomes a static value, specifically whatever value the formula last calculated to in Excel. If you need the formulas intact, keep the .xlsx file.

Which delimiter should I pick if I'm not sure?

Comma is the most widely supported default and matches common CSV convention. Choose semicolon if the destination system or locale treats comma as a decimal separator (common in parts of Europe), and tab if your data itself contains a lot of commas you don't want quoted.

References and verification

The example and behavioral notes were checked against the browser implementation. Standards and primary references below define the relevant format, formula, or platform behavior.