Convert TSV to SQL

Want to convert TSV file to SQL file?

If you want to import TSV file to SQL Server, see this page: TSV to SQL Server.

If you want to import TSV file to SQLite, see this page: TSV to SQLite.

Try Withdata Data File Converter, a desktop TSV to SQL converter for Windows, MacOS, and Linux, Convert TSV to SQL, Easy and Fast.

• Can run in GUI mode, Step by Step, just a few mouse clicks.
• Can run in Command line, for Scheduled Tasks and Streams.
• Convert files locally and privately, avoid uploading large TSV file(s) to online services.
• Support Windows, Linux, and macOS.

Download Withdata DataFileConverter
Windows 64 bit
Windows 32 bit
Linux .deb (For Debian, Ubuntu) 64 bit
Linux .rpm (For Red Hat, Fedora, SUSE) 64 bit
MacOS 64 bit

Convert TSV to SQL

Choose TSV file -> Set SQL file -> Convert TSV to SQL

“Start a New Convert” for “TSV to SQL”.

Select From “File” “TSV” To “File” “SQL”.

1. Open source TSV file.

Support large TSV file ( > 4GB ).

Source TSV file’s content is like this:

2. Config target SQL file.

3. Set rows options.

4. Convert TSV to SQL.

After converting, you can view the output SQL file.

---

More about TSV to SQL converter

See Video: Convert TSV file to SQL file without coding

See also:

• Merge multiple TSV files into one SQL
• Batch convert TSV files to SQL files

TSV → SQL reference

Type mapping

Value kind	in TSV	in SQL
Int	1234	INT
Bigint	9007199254740993	BIGINT
Decimal	1234.56	DECIMAL(p,s)
Float	1.234e+10	DOUBLE PRECISION
Text	unquoted; a tab in the value splits the column	VARCHAR(n)
Long text	unquoted; newlines break the row	TEXT / CLOB
Date	2026-09-18	DATE
Datetime	2026-09-18 14:30:00	TIMESTAMP
Binary	not representable	BLOB / BYTEA
Boolean	TRUE / FALSE	BOOLEAN / SMALLINT
JSON	the whole JSON value as-is (its own quotes stay)	JSON / TEXT

Dialect differences

Both TSV and SQL are file formats, so what differs below is how each one chooses to represent a value.

Property	in TSV	in SQL
identifiers	Rarely used, which is exactly why tabs in data break it	Two competing conventions: single-quoted literals and diale...
dates	Conventional text: 2026-09-18 or 2026-09-18 14:30:00	Depends on the dialect: DATE literals, TO_DATE(), or plain ...
binary	Not supported - must be encoded	Dialect-specific: X-quoted literal, 0x hex, or decode()
separator	Tab	Statement terminators (;)
encoding	No declaration - UTF-8 works only with a BOM	No declaration
typing	None - every field is text	Types belong to the target database, and they differ betwee...
shape	Flat table, optional header row	Statements; a dump usually means CREATE TABLE plus INSERT rows
ceiling	No formal limit	No formal limit, but a single INSERT statement has to fit i...

Convert TSV to SQL the easy way

Use the TSV to SQL converter — an offline desktop app for Windows, macOS and Linux. Nothing to upload, large files and batch runs supported (free trial).

New to the format? Read what a TSV file is (and how it differs from CSV).