Do you want to know about CSV vs Excel? CSV full form is Comma separated values. As its name suggests in CSV file format the data values are separated by commas. On the other hand, an XLS or Excel files file holds data of values or content and formatting both. In CVS File there is no formatting in the data while on the other hand, we can format data in Excel according to our needs.
Let’s see what are the other differences between CSV and Excel files in detail. When we compare CSV to Excel files we can say we are comparing CSV with XLS or XLSX files as XLS or XLSX are format structures that Excel uses.
If you play with data normally then you must know about the CSV and XLS files. You must hear or see about these files if you tried to download data from somewhere. Even in today’s world data management is so important that we create different spreadsheets to keep data.
But do you know what is the difference between CSV and file formats? If you don’t, let’s check out the detailed view on CSV vs excel or XLS.
CSV vs Excel files: Definition
What is CSV File?
CSV Stands for Comma separated values in which data is separated by Commas. Data will be stored as plain text and there is no need of formatting data.
The main advantage of CSV files are they can be opened with any text viewer software you can open CSV files with Excel, notepad, Google sheets, and other platforms. CSV Files are only used to store simple values without any formatting.
How to open CSV File:
As CSV files are plain text files then you can open them on any platform. Comparing CSV vs XLS o XLSX files, CSV is more handly.
When you open CSV File in Notepad:
When You open CSV File in Excel:
What is an Excel?
You must know about MS Excel. Excel allows us to keep, update, and manage data files. In excel we can do both, manage data and formatting also. Excel keeps its files and stores them in various formats like XLS or XLSX.
Excel is a binary file that contains the info about all worksheets in a file. Excel includes formatting with content. The data in Excel is stored in cells, horizontal and vertical rows, and columns both.
Unlike CSV, you can use Excel to store everything, it is a highly organized data storage which makes data organization easy.
Difference between CSV and Excel-Key differences Table
| CSV | Excel |
| CSV stands for comma separated values. | Excel is a binary file that keeps many files in different formats like XLS or XLSX. |
| A plain text in which values are separated by commas. | Excel is a binary file that contains all the info about worksheets. |
| CSV only stores content. | Excel files contain content and Formatting both. |
| CSV file extension is .csv, it is a format for saving tabular info. | Excel files will be available with the extension of XLS or XLSX |
| CSV files can be viewed by any Text viewer in all editors. | It can not be edited by text editors. |
| In Data-warehouse, CSV is useful for simple schema | It is good for detailed standardized schema specification in Data warehouse |
| It is really useful to store data, CSV files don’t mess up your data | Excel sometimes mess up your data with its formatting feature. |
| Good when you want to store different types of values. | Excel sometimes mess-up data when you use alphabetical and numerical values and all. |
| You can use CSV only to store plain text | You can use Excel to store images, graphs, charts and so much more. |
| In CSV, you can’t connect to external sources to import data. | In Excel, you can fetch data from External sources. |
| It has less functionality than Excel | It has more functionality than CSV files. |
| It uses less storage | It takes more storage than a CSV file |
| Large files are hard to read in CSV | Large files in excel are easy to read, Excel has some formatting and features which makes reading easy. |
Conclusion:
Excel files are good for storing more data while CSV files are a great option when data is less and CSV files can be opened with any text editor.
FAQs related to the topic:
1 Is A CSV file the same as Excel?
Ans. CSV and Excel or XLS files that contain data and have different extensions and formats. CSV files stores data as plain text without formatting while Excel or XLS files store data with formatting as well.
2. Why CSV is faster than Excel?
Ans. Yes, CSV contains data as plain text while on the other end excel files are bigger.
3. What is the good option between CSV and XLS files?
Ans. If you want to store less data go with CSV files and when you have a large amount of data to store then Excel files are better.
4. CSV vs XLS-what is the difference?
Ans. CSV stands for comma-separated values in which data is stored as plain text and can be viewed in any text editor. While Excel or XLS files are binary files that contain data with formatting as well.