XLSX vs CSV
Comparing Microsoft Excel Open XML Spreadsheet and Comma-Separated Values — which format should you use?
| XLSX | CSV | |
|---|---|---|
| Full Name | Microsoft Excel Open XML Spreadsheet | Comma-Separated Values |
| Extension | .xlsx | .csv |
| MIME Type | application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet | text/csv |
| Category | document | data |
XLSX Pros
- +Industry standard for spreadsheets
- +Supports formulas, charts, macros
- +Smaller than XLS (ZIP compressed)
- +Compatible with Google Sheets, LibreOffice
XLSX Cons
- -Binary content can be hard to diff/merge
- -Macro-enabled versions (.xlsm) can be security risks
- -Complex for simple data (use CSV instead)
- -Proprietary format specification
CSV Pros
- +Universally compatible
- +Human-readable plain text
- +Tiny file sizes
- +Easy to generate and parse programmatically
CSV Cons
- -No data type information (everything is text)
- -No standard for encoding or escaping
- -No support for hierarchical data
- -No formatting, formulas, or multiple sheets
Use XLSX when...
- -Financial reports and budgets
- -Data analysis and modeling
- -Business reporting
- -Inventory tracking
Use CSV when...
- -Data export/import between applications
- -Database dumps
- -Spreadsheet data exchange
- -Data analysis and reporting