How does delimiter auto-detection work?

When the delimiter is set to "Auto-detect", PapaParse inspects the input and guesses among comma, semicolon, tab and pipe based on which produces the most consistent columns. If you know the delimiter, selecting it explicitly avoids any ambiguity.

What is the difference between header on and off?

With "First row is header" enabled, the first line supplies the property names and each following row becomes an object keyed by those names (header text is trimmed of whitespace). With it disabled, every row — including the first — is emitted as an array of cell values.

What does the "Typed values" option do?

It enables dynamic typing, so cells that look like numbers become JSON numbers and "true"/"false" become booleans, rather than all values being strings. Turn it off if you need to preserve things like leading zeros or numeric IDs exactly as written.

Does it handle commas and quotes inside fields?

Yes. The PapaParse engine correctly parses quoted fields that contain the delimiter, escaped double quotes, and even line breaks within a quoted field, so well-formed CSV is converted accurately rather than split on every delimiter character.

What does the warning message mean?

If the parser emits non-fatal notices — for example rows with a different number of fields than the header — the tool shows a warning but still returns the parsed rows as data. Only genuine quote or delimiter problems are treated as fatal errors.

Can it convert JSON back to CSV?

Yes — use the companion JSON to CSV tool for the reverse direction, which supports custom delimiters, optional quoting and a header toggle.

CSV to JSON

Convert CSV to JSON live — auto-detects the delimiter (, ; tab |), optional typed values, header toggle, and row/field stats.

About this ToolHow it works, benefits & use cases

Paste CSV (or any delimited text) and convert it to JSON live. Parsing is handled by PapaParse, a robust CSV engine that copes with quoted fields, escaped quotes and embedded line breaks — not just naive comma-splitting. You can let the tool auto-detect the delimiter among comma, semicolon, tab and pipe, or pin a specific one. When the first row holds column names, the "First row is header" option turns each subsequent row into a keyed object; turn it off to get arrays instead. An optional typed-values mode converts cells to native JSON types so "30" becomes a number and "true" becomes a boolean, with header names trimmed of stray whitespace. Each conversion reports the row and field counts, and non-fatal parser notices (such as ragged rows) surface as a warning while still keeping your data. The JSON streams live and can be copied, downloaded as .json, or shared — processed entirely in your browser.

How to Use

1Choose a delimiter, or leave it on "Auto-detect" to guess between comma, semicolon, tab and pipe.
2Keep "First row is header" on to produce keyed objects, or turn it off for arrays of values.
3Toggle "Typed values" to convert numbers and booleans to real JSON types instead of strings.
4Paste your CSV into the input panel — the JSON updates live — or click "Load example".
5Press "Convert to JSON", then copy the result, download it as output.json, or share it via URL.

Key Benefits

PapaParse engine handles quoted fields, escaped quotes and embedded newlines
Auto-detects the delimiter among comma, semicolon, tab and pipe
Header toggle: keyed objects or plain arrays per row
Optional typed values turn numeric and boolean cells into real JSON types
Reports row and field counts, with non-fatal notices shown as warnings
Live conversion plus copy, .json download and shareable URLs
Runs fully in the browser — your CSV is never uploaded

Common Use Cases

Importing a spreadsheet export into a JavaScript app as JSON
Converting a semicolon- or tab-separated file from a non-US locale
Turning CSV fixtures into JSON test data with proper types
Reshaping a data dump for an API request body
Quickly previewing the structure of an unfamiliar delimited file as JSON

Options

Delimiter

First row is header

Typed values

30 → number, true → boolean

CSV

0 characters · live

JSON

Paste CSV above to see the JSON live.

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