Why Convert MySQL to CSV?
CSV is the universal format for moving data between systems. Database administrators, analysts, and developers regularly need to extract data from MySQL and load it into Excel, Google Sheets, or another tool. While you can run mysqldump on a server, this browser tool is faster for one-off conversions, handles dumps that include CREATE TABLE statements, and never touches a server — useful for sensitive data or when you don't have database access.
Typical Use Cases
The most common reason to convert MySQL to CSV is to share data with non-technical colleagues who live in Excel. It's also the standard format for importing data into analytics tools, mailing list managers, accounting software, and any tool that accepts spreadsheet files. Multi-row INSERT statements from mysqldump --extended-insert are supported — paste the whole dump and convert in one go.
Handling Special Values
The converter handles MySQL's NULL values (becomes empty cell), escaped quotes (\\' and ''), and both single and double quoted strings. The output is properly RFC 4180 compliant CSV: fields containing commas, quotes, or newlines are wrapped in double quotes, and internal double quotes are escaped by doubling. UTF-8 encoding is used by default, with an option to add a BOM for Excel compatibility on Windows.
From CREATE TABLE to Headers
If your INSERT statement doesn't include an explicit column list (e.g. INSERT INTO users VALUES (...)), the tool looks for a CREATE TABLE statement earlier in the input to determine the columns. This matches the output of mysqldump by default, so you can paste a complete dump and get the right headers automatically.