Microsoft Excel is one of the most widely-used office applications and if you’ve ever created a spreadsheet with it, you’re probably familiar with its XLS files. This format has been around for decades, originally introduced in 1987 with the launch of Excel.
The CSV format isn’t as well-known but it has been around even longer, dating all the way back to 1972.
These file formats have quite a bit in common but there are some important differences as well. Let’s look at CSV vs XLS and how to choose the right format for your needs.
What Are CSV Files?
The CSV format stands for Comma Separated Values. These files are text-based files with data separated with commas or other separators such as spaces or tabs.
If you open a CSV file in a text editor, you’ll see something like this:
Data Point 1,Data Point 2,Data Point 3,Data Point 4
The commas tell apps that understand the CSV format where each piece of information starts and stops.
What Are XLS Files?
The XLS format stands for eXceL Spreadsheet. XLS is a binary file format that not only holds data but also formatting information, functions, and various other things that Microsoft Excel can handle.
If you open an XLS file in a text editor, you’ll see a lot of nonsensical computer code. It only makes sense to an app that understands the format, like Excel and other spreadsheets that can import XLS files such as Google Sheets.
The Difference With the XLSX Format
When you’re dealing with Excel spreadsheets, you may also come across files with an XLSX extension. Microsoft updated the XLS format when it launched Excel 2007 to add an XML layer to the files.
This change helped reduce the size of Excel files and made them less prone to data corruption. It also helped improve the way image formatting gets handled by Excel.
What Apps Can Open CSV vs XLS Files
Because CSV is a text-based format, any app that can read plain text will open a CSV file. For example, you could open the file in Windows Notepad and you would be able to read everything it contains.
It wouldn’t be formatted particularly well since you would be looking at the raw text separated by commas but you could at least see everything.
If you open a CSV file in Excel, it will look like any other spreadsheet. Excel interprets the comma separator to mean a new column and each new line in the file as a separate row.
XLS files, on the other hand, will only open in apps that understand their binary format. Excel is the obvious choice here but most other spreadsheet apps can import XLS files.
If you use some of Excel’s more advanced features, some of those things may not carry over to other applications but the data in the spreadsheet should import smoothly.
CSV Benefits
The plain-text format of CSV makes it more portable than XLS. You can open these files in any app that supports text files and manipulate the data easily.
This gives you the power to use advanced text editors and other tools to do things like search-and-replace or merge CSV files. Plain text uses minimal memory and storage so even a relatively low-end PC can quickly crunch the data.
Its portability also makes it easy to move between operating systems, such as Windows and macOS, without having to worry about compatibility issues. You could take a CSV file created 30 years ago in an early version of Windows and open it without any trouble on a modern Mac, for example.
XLS Benefits
While XLS files are not as universal as CSV, they offer a lot of advanced features through the Excel apps. You can create far more attractive layouts using different fonts, images, and charts, for example.
XLS files also let you take advantage of all the functions and data manipulation features in Excel. If you try to use those features with a CSV file you opened in Excel, it will warn you that it needs to be converted to XLS first.
How to Convert Between CSV and XLS Formats
Some file types are easier to convert than others. Converting between CSV and XLS is one of the easier processes because most apps that support the XLS format also support CSV.
Using Excel, Google Sheets, or another spreadsheet application, you can open either of the two file types and export it as the other.
If you’re converting from XLS to CSV, it’s important to keep in mind that you could lose a lot of information in the process. Any images, custom formatting, formulas, and other functions that are only possible with the XLS format will get stripped away when you save the file in a CSV format.
The catch here is that you need to have a spreadsheet application on your computer to convert the files this way. And in some cases, you have to have Excel which is not inexpensive.
The Easiest Conversion Solution
If you’re debating on CSV vs XLS and want to be able to convert from one to another easily, the best solution is to use Offdrive’s free file conversion tools.
You can easily convert from CSV to XLS or vice versa without needing any special applications on your computer. Simply upload your file and click convert. Our advanced servers will convert your file and you’ll instantly get a secure download link.
Use our CSV to XLS and XLS to CSV conversion tools to easily move from one format to the other with no special technical skills needed.