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TSV → JSON

Convert TSV to JSON online

The useful shape is almost always an array of objects, one per row, with the header supplying the keys. What decides whether the result is usable is what happens to empty cells and to numbers — and that is a choice, not a detail.

How to do it

  1. Open the file and confirm the first row is being treated as a header. If it is not, the keys will be wrong and everything downstream inherits the mistake.
  2. Review duplicate and empty headers. Object output renames these keys; arrays retain the header text.
  3. Export as JSON and choose the shape: objects keyed by header, or arrays of raw values.

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What usually goes wrong

  • Empty cells

    Empty cells and missing cells become empty strings in object output. Arrays retain the row lengths, so use them when an absent cell and an empty cell must stay distinct.

  • Numbers that are not numbers

    A postcode, a product code and a version string all look numeric and none of them are. Values are exported as strings, so text codes such as 001 retain their characters.

  • Ragged rows

    Objects use the widest row: shorter rows gain empty values, and columns without a header get letter labels such as B. Arrays retain the lengths of the rows.

JSON conversion does not reconstruct original types or syntax. Objects use header names as keys; empty or missing headers get letter labels such as A or B, and repeated names receive suffixes. Missing cells become empty strings up to the widest row. Choose arrays to retain row lengths and header text. JSON output does not use the TSV/CSV reopening check.