XLS vs CSV

CSV (Comma-Separated Values) is the simplest and most universally compatible tabular data format. Each line represents a row, with values separated by commas (or other delimiters like semicolons or tabs). CSV is plain text, making it human-readable, lightweight, and compatible with virtually every application — from Excel and Google Sheets to databases, programming languages, and data analysis tools. CSV does not support formatting, formulas, multiple sheets, or data types — all values are stored as text. It's the standard format for data import/export, ETL pipelines, database exports, API responses, and machine learning datasets. For large datasets, CSV offers simplicity and efficiency, though formats like Parquet or XLSX provide better features for complex data.