Skip to content
hateitall

Convert XLS to CSV

The .xls format predates 2007, but files in it will outlive us all. When an old export needs to feed a modern pipeline, converting to CSV is the cleanest path — and the parser here reads legacy .xls directly in your browser.

Each worksheet becomes its own CSV with your choice of delimiter; multi-sheet workbooks download as a ZIP. Since old spreadsheets are often payroll, customer lists, and financials, local parsing without upload is the safe default.

Processed locallyIn: XLSX, XLS, ODSOut: CSV, ZIP

Loading tool…

This is Excel to CSV preconfigured for this task — open the full tool for every option.

How it works

  1. Select a workbook; sheets are listed with row/column counts.

  2. Pick sheets and a delimiter (comma, semicolon, or tab).

  3. Convert — each selected sheet is serialized to CSV locally.

  4. Download one CSV or a ZIP of all selected sheets.

What the tool does

  • Per-sheet conversion with visible row/column counts
  • Comma, semicolon, and tab delimiters
  • UTF-8 output with proper quoting/escaping
  • ZIP download for multi-sheet workbooks

How the result is verified

Each CSV is reparsed locally and its row count compared with the source sheet's used range before download.

Frequently asked questions

Does this handle the old Excel 97–2003 format?

Yes — the parser reads the legacy binary .xls format directly, along with .xlsx and .ods. Detection is by file content, not just extension.

What happens to my formulas?

CSV can't store formulas, so each cell exports the result Excel last saved. If the file was saved without recalculation those values may be stale — the tool discloses this rather than pretending to recalculate.