XLS
Excel 97–2003 workbook
XLS is the binary workbook format Excel used until 2007. It is limited to 65,536 rows per sheet and is treated as a legacy format today.
Opens in Excel and LibreOffice Calc
XLS converterXLS to TSV converter, without the upload.
Turn XLS spreadsheets into TSV. It is converted in your browser, so the file never leaves your device.
Drop XLS files here
or choose from your computer paste with Ctrl V
from Photos or Files
Ready · other file types work too0 bytes uploaded, ever
Convert to
- On your device · nothing is uploaded
- No account, no email
- Batch and ZIP download
- Free
- TSV: one file per sheet
How to convert XLS to TSV
Add your XLS spreadsheets
Drop XLS files onto the box above, or click it to choose them. ToAny reads the file's contents to detect the type, so a wrong extension does not matter.
TSV is already chosen
Press Convert. There is nothing else to set. The work happens in this tab.
Download
Save the result. When one file produces several TSV files they come as a single ZIP.
Why ToAny
Private by construction
The XLS to TSV converter is part of this page and runs inside your browser. Your spreadsheets are never sent to ToAny or to anyone else.
No upload, no queue
Nothing has to travel to a server and back, so the conversion starts the moment you press Convert, even on a slow connection.
Free, without an account
No sign-up, no email address and no watermark. Add several files and download them together as a ZIP.
XLS to TSV: what to expect
XLS is limited to 65,536 rows and is flagged as a legacy format by modern Excel. TSV avoids the quoting problems commas cause in CSV. XLS is at home in compatibility with very old copies of Excel; TSV is the usual choice for tabular data whose values contain commas.
One XLS can produce several TSV files (one file per sheet); when it does, they are offered together as a ZIP download.
Formulas come across as the values they last calculated, and formatting such as colours and column widths is not carried over.
XLS vs TSV
TSV
TSV spreadsheet
TSV is the same idea as CSV with tabs between values, which avoids quoting problems when the data itself contains commas. It is common in scientific and export tooling.
Opens in Excel, Google Sheets, databases and any text editor
TSV converter| XLSExcel 97–2003 workbook | TSVTSV spreadsheet | |
|---|---|---|
| Stands for | Excel 97–2003 Workbook | Tab-Separated Values |
| Type | Spreadsheet workbook (binary) | Plain-text table |
| Compression | None | None |
| Introduced | 1997, by Microsoft | The 1970s, by no single author (registered with IANA in 1993) |
| Opens in | Excel and LibreOffice Calc | Excel, Google Sheets, databases and any text editor |
| Best for | Compatibility with very old copies of Excel | Tabular data whose values contain commas |
| File extension | .xls | .tsv, .tab |
Questions
Are my spreadsheets uploaded anywhere?
No. The XLS to TSV conversion runs inside your browser, on your own phone or computer. The file is not sent to ToAny or to anyone else.
Is anything lost when converting XLS to TSV?
The values are kept. Anything TSV has no way to express, such as formatting, formulas or nesting, is simplified or left out.
Can I convert several XLS files at once?
Yes. Add as many as you like, convert them together and download each result or all of them as one ZIP.
How do I convert XLS to TSV on Windows, Mac, iPhone or Android?
The steps are the same everywhere because ToAny runs in the web browser: open this page in a current version of Chrome, Edge, Safari or Firefox, add the XLS file, press Convert and save the TSV. There is nothing to install.
Is there a file size limit?
Yes. Spreadsheet files up to 150 MB are accepted; a larger file is refused with a message. Beyond that the limit is your device's memory, since nothing is uploaded; a computer copes with large files better than a phone.