CSV to VCF Converter
Put a spreadsheet of names, numbers and emails onto a phone in one import. Each row of the CSV becomes a vCard, and the whole list arrives as a single .vcf file that iPhone, iCloud and Android contacts all accept.
Data Converter
or drop CSV, TSV, TXT … files here ·
Max 95 MB per file· Up to 20 files· Deleted after 30 minutes
Files are processed on our servers and deleted after 30 minutes.
Character that separates columns in CSV and text files, for both reading and writing. Auto detects it from the input and writes commas.
UTF-8 works for every language. Choose UTF-8 with BOM if Excel on Windows shows garbled accents or Asian characters when opening the CSV.
Excel, ODS and Numbers input: convert the first sheet only, or every sheet (one CSV per sheet in a ZIP, or one JSON key per sheet).
Name of the sheet tab in the new spreadsheet, up to 31 characters.
Array of objects uses column names as keys for every row; array of arrays is more compact and keeps the header as the first array.
Name of the outer element that wraps all rows; each row becomes a <row> inside it.
Used in CREATE TABLE and INSERT statements. Letters, digits and underscores only.
Quoting and column types differ slightly between databases; pick the one you will import into.
Rewrite date cells in one format. ISO (2026-10-18) is safest for databases and code; keep leaves them as they appear in the source.
How to use this tool
- 1
Upload the contact CSV
Use a list exported from a spreadsheet, a CRM or a sign-up form. Up to 20 files, 95 MB each.
- 2
Check the header row
Keep First row is header on: the column names tell the converter which value is a name, a phone or an email. Set Text encoding under Advanced settings if the CSV came from an older Windows program.
- 3
Convert and import
Press the Convert button, download the .vcf and open it on the phone or import it in iCloud or Google Contacts.
How do I convert a CSV contact list to VCF?
Upload the CSV with a header row such as First Name, Last Name, Mobile, Email, and convert to VCF. Every row becomes one vCard in a single .vcf file, which you open on the phone or import into iCloud or Google Contacts.
Why phones need contacts as VCF, not CSV
Contact lists tend to be born in spreadsheets: a club's member roster, a sales team's leads, the guest list for a conference, numbers collected through a form. Spreadsheets are where they are easy to edit and share. Phones, however, speak vCard, a format the Versit Consortium created in the mid-1990s and the IETF now maintains; version 4.0 is RFC 6350, published in 2011.
So when a sales manager wants 200 client numbers on a new iPhone, or a coach wants the parents' list in every assistant's phone, the job is CSV to VCF. The converter does what you would otherwise do by hand in the Contacts app, once per person. Working from a workbook instead of a CSV? Excel to VCF skips the export step.
How CSV columns turn into vCard fields
Rows in the CSV
One person per line, one detail per column, names in the header.
Headers matched
First Name and Last Name build N and FN, Mobile becomes a TEL line, Email an EMAIL line.
One VCF file
Every row written as its own vCard, all of them in a single .vcf.
One CSV row as a vCard
BEGIN:VCARD VERSION:3.0 N:Okafor;Grace;;; FN:Grace Okafor TEL;TYPE=CELL:+1 415 555 0142 EMAIL:[email protected] END:VCARD
Where to import the converted VCF
| Organisation | Requirement | Source |
|---|---|---|
| iPhone Contacts | Open the .vcf from Mail, Messages or Files and confirm adding all contacts | — |
| iCloud.com Contacts | Imports vCard files only; contacts then sync to every device on that Apple Account | — |
| Google Contacts | Import accepts vCard or Google's CSV format; contacts sync to Android phones on that account | — |
| Classic Outlook for Windows | Reads one contact per .vcf, so import the CSV there instead | — |
CSV
Comma-separated values
CSV is a plain-text format for tables in which each line is a row and commas separate the columns. It has been used since the early days of computing and is described in RFC 4180, though many variants use semicolons or tabs and different text encodings. Nearly every spreadsheet, database and analytics tool can import and export it, which makes it the default format for moving data between systems. CSV stores only values, with no formulas, formatting, multiple sheets or data types.
- Compression
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- Transparency
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- Animation
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- Introduced
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VCF
vCard contact file
VCF files store contact information using the vCard standard, created by the Versit Consortium in 1995 and now maintained by the IETF. A single file can hold one or many contacts with names, phone numbers, emails, addresses, photos and notes. Phones, Gmail, Outlook and Apple Contacts all import and export VCF. Different vCard versions (2.1, 3.0 and 4.0) handle special characters and fields differently, which can cause minor issues when moving contacts.
- Compression
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- Transparency
- –
- Animation
- –
- Introduced
- 1995 · Versit Consortium (now IETF)
CSV becomes VCF when a list kept in a spreadsheet, such as event attendees, a team roster or a CRM export, has to go onto phones, and the iPhone and iCloud only take contacts as vCards.
CSV to VCF converter questions
Why can't I import a CSV of contacts straight into my iPhone?
The Contacts app on iPhone and the Contacts page on iCloud.com import vCard files only. A CSV has no meaning for them, however tidy the columns are, so the list has to become a .vcf first. Google Contacts is the exception and takes both.
What column names should my CSV use?
Plain, conventional ones: First Name, Last Name, Mobile, Phone, Email, Company, Job Title, Address and Birthday. Clear names let each column land in the right vCard property. Delete columns you do not want on the phone, such as internal IDs or sales notes.
Why did my phone numbers turn into 4.47E+11?
Excel showed long numbers in scientific notation and the CSV was saved that way, so the digits after the first few are already gone from the file. Reformat the column as Text in the original spreadsheet, retype or re-export the numbers with their + prefix, and convert again.
Can Outlook import the VCF file?
Classic Outlook for Windows opens a .vcf as a single contact card, so a file holding many vCards brings in only the first one. For Outlook, import the CSV itself through File › Open & Export instead, and keep the VCF for phones.
I have the list as an Excel workbook. Do I need a CSV first?
No. Excel to VCF reads .xlsx and .xls sheets directly with the same header mapping, which saves a step and avoids the scientific-notation problem.
How do I check the contacts before adding them to my phone?
Open the VCF in a text editor: each person sits between BEGIN:VCARD and END:VCARD, with lines such as FN, TEL and EMAIL. To review the list in rows again, run it through VCF to CSV.