Why do people use CSV files

People use CSV (Comma-Separated Values) files because they provide a simple, universal, human-readable format for storing and exchanging tabular data that works across virtually all software platforms, programming languages, and operating systems without requiring proprietary applications. CSV's plain-text structure makes files lightweight, easy to create and edit manually if needed, version-control-friendly (changes show clearly in text diffs), and compatible with everything from Excel and Google Sheets to Python pandas, R, databases, and specialized analysis tools.

CSV files excel in data exchange scenarios: exporting data from one application for import into another, backing up database tables, transferring data between different database systems, sharing datasets for analysis or collaboration, and archiving data in a future-proof format that won't become obsolete when specific software versions become outdated. Their simplicity also makes them ideal for data processing pipelines, automated workflows, and scripting—programs can easily read, parse, write, and manipulate CSV data without complex libraries. CSV files are platform-independent (work identically on Windows, Mac, Linux), application-independent (don't require specific software), and human-inspectable (you can open them in any text editor to see exactly what's there). Limitations include: no support for formatting, formulas, or multiple sheets like Excel; potential problems with data containing commas or special characters (requiring quotes and escaping); no built-in data type information (everything is text until parsed); and inefficiency for very large datasets compared to binary formats. Despite these limitations, CSV's universality and simplicity make it the de facto standard for basic structured data exchange, used everywhere from financial transactions and scientific datasets to web application data exports and machine learning training data. When you need to move data between systems or share datasets in a maximally compatible format, CSV is almost always the safest, most practical choice.