Are Excel files bigger than CSV?

Question

CSV file does not need any specific platform to open; it can also be opened in a simple text editor, and the user can simply read and understand it. Excel consumes more memory than CSV. CSV consumes less memory than Excel. Excel is generally larger, slower and more complicated when compared to CSV.

Why is CSV larger than Excel?

A CSV file will often be larger than the XLSX it was created from. This is because in XLSX is a actually a compressed (zipped) file - you can unzip it with a standard compression tool and check it out for yourself. You will see smaller XLSX files if there is a lot of repeat data.

Is CSV file smaller in size?

The file size is smaller than the CSV file, but larger than if you were to use compression on the CSV files. However, notice that write and read times are the fastest up to this point.

What is the difference between a CSV file and an Excel file?

The difference between CSV and XLS file formats is that CSV format is a plain text format in which values are separated by commas (Comma Separated Values), while XLS file format is an Excel Sheets binary file format which holds information about all the worksheets in a file, including both content and formatting.

How big can an Excel CSV file be?

So it appears that CSV files are subject to the limitations of Access (Limited 2GB).

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