Convert TSV to Arrow Online
Convert TSV files to Arrow format directly in your browser. No upload required — your data never leaves your device.
About converting TSV to Arrow
Arrow suits TSV data that gets reloaded again and again during an analysis. Parsing a large tab-delimited file in R or Python means scanning every byte, splitting on tabs and guessing types on each load. An Arrow IPC file stores already-typed columns in the layout they have in memory, so reloading is nearly instant and types never drift between runs.
It also fits workflows that mix languages. A table written as Arrow opens in R's arrow package, in pandas and Polars, in Julia's Arrow.jl and in the apache-arrow JavaScript library, with the same column types in each. That avoids R and Python disagreeing about how to parse the same TSV, for example over NA handling or whether a column of 0 and 1 is numeric.
Types are decided once, at conversion time, so fix the input first. Missing-value markers other than an empty field (NA, ., \N) make a column text, and a header line is needed for meaningful column names. The column list shown after the file loads gives each inferred type, so check it before downloading. The output is uncompressed, so for long-term storage or sending over a network, Parquet is the better target.
Worked example
A small sample file, converted with the default settings.
Input (TSV)
symbol chrom description tpm detected
TP53 chr17 tumor protein p53 24.7 true
BRCA1 chr17 BRCA1 DNA repair associated 8.13 true
NT5C chr17 5', 3'-nucleotidase, cytosolic 3.4 true
SREBF2 chr22 sterol regulatory element binding transcription factor 2 falseOutput (Arrow)
Arrow IPC file (binary, columnar) — shown as a table with its schema
| symbol | chrom | description | tpm | detected |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| TP53 | chr17 | tumor protein p53 | 24.7 | true |
| BRCA1 | chr17 | BRCA1 DNA repair associated | 8.13 | true |
| NT5C | chr17 | 5', 3'-nucleotidase, cytosolic | 3.4 | true |
| SREBF2 | chr22 | sterol regulatory element binding transcription factor 2 | NULL | false |
Schema: symbol VARCHAR, chrom VARCHAR, description VARCHAR, tpm DOUBLE, detected BOOLEAN
What changes when you convert TSV to Arrow
- symbol, chrom and description become Arrow UTF-8 string columns.
- tpm becomes a 64-bit float column and detected a boolean column.
- SREBF2's empty tpm is marked null in the validity bitmap. R reads it as NA and pandas as NaN.
- The file uses the Arrow IPC file format (Feather version 2), uncompressed, with the schema stored inside.
- Column names match the TSV header exactly, including a leading # as in #CHROM.
Your file is processed locally in your browser and is never uploaded. The free limit is 50 MB per file; larger files work if your device has the memory for them.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I open the Arrow file in R?
Install the arrow package and call arrow::read_feather("genes.arrow") or arrow::read_ipc_file("genes.arrow"). Both return a data frame. Pass as_data_frame = FALSE to keep it as an Arrow Table.
Why pick Arrow over Parquet for a TSV?
Pick Arrow when load speed and memory mapping matter more than size, such as a scratch file reloaded many times in one analysis. Pick Parquet for anything stored, shared or uploaded, because it is compressed and far smaller.
Can I memory-map the file?
Yes. Because it is uncompressed, pyarrow.memory_map combined with pyarrow.ipc.open_file reads columns straight from disk without copying them into memory first. That lets you open a file larger than your RAM and pull out only the columns you need.
What is Arrow format?
Apache Arrow is a columnar in-memory format designed for zero-copy reads and high-speed exchange between data systems.
Related Tools
Convert Arrow to TSV Online
Convert Arrow files to TSV format directly in your browser. No upload required — your data never leaves your device.
Arrow Viewer Online
View and inspect Arrow files directly in your browser. Browse rows, check column names and data types — no upload required, your data stays on your device.
TSV Viewer Online
View and inspect TSV files directly in your browser. Browse rows, check column names and data types — no upload required, your data stays on your device.
Convert TSV to CSV Online
Convert TSV files to CSV format directly in your browser. No upload required — your data never leaves your device.
Convert TSV to Parquet Online
Convert TSV files to Parquet format directly in your browser. No upload required — your data never leaves your device.
Convert TSV to Excel Online
Convert TSV files to Excel format directly in your browser. No upload required — your data never leaves your device.
Convert TSV to JSON Online
Convert TSV files to JSON format directly in your browser. No upload required — your data never leaves your device.