What Is a GEDCOM File? A Plain-English Guide for Genealogists

If you’ve spent any time in genealogy software, you’ve probably seen the acronym GEDCOM. It’s one of those technical terms that sounds intimidating but is actually quite simple once you know what it stands for.

This guide explains GEDCOM in plain English, shows you how to export your existing family tree as a GEDCOM file, and walks you through importing it into Rootleaves.

What does GEDCOM stand for?

GEnealogical Data COMmunication — a standard file format developed by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1984 and still the most widely supported genealogy interchange format in the world.

A GEDCOM file has the extension .ged and is a plain text file you can open in any text editor. Inside it looks something like this:

0 HEAD
1 SOUR MyGenealogyApp
1 GEDC
2 VERS 5.5.1
0 @I1@ INDI
1 NAME John /Smith/
1 SEX M
1 BIRT
2 DATE 15 MAR 1945
2 PLAC London, England
0 TRLR

Each line has a level number, a tag (like NAME, BIRT, MARR), and a value. The format encodes every person, date, relationship, source, and note in your family tree.

Why does GEDCOM exist?

Before GEDCOM, moving a family tree from one software to another meant retyping everything by hand. GEDCOM solved that — almost every genealogy application today can export to GEDCOM and import from it.

Think of it like a .csv file for spreadsheets. It’s not the prettiest format, but it’s universal.

What information is stored in a GEDCOM file?

A standard GEDCOM 5.5.1 file can store:

• People (INDI records): names, birth/death/marriage dates, genders, places, occupations, notes, photos
• Family units (FAM records): husband, wife, children, marriage dates and places
• Sources and citations
• Repository references
• Notes attached to any record

How to export a GEDCOM from popular apps

Ancestry.com

1. Open your tree
2. Click Tree Settings (top right)
3. Select Export Tree
4. Choose Export to GEDCOM and download the .ged file

MyHeritage

1. Open your family site
2. Go to Family Tree → Manage your tree
3. Click Export → Export to GEDCOM

FamilySearch

1. Open your pedigree
2. Click your name → Tree tools → Export
3. Select GEDCOM and download

MacFamilyTree / Reunion (Mac)

File → Export → GEDCOM

Gramps (open-source)

File → Export → GEDCOM

How to import a GEDCOM into Rootleaves

Rootleaves has a built-in GEDCOM importer that parses the file entirely in your browser — your raw GEDCOM data never leaves your device until you confirm the import.

1. Open your family tree (or create a new one)
2. Click the Import button in the tree menu
3. Select your .ged file
4. Rootleaves shows you a preview with the number of people, families, and any warnings
5. Click Import to confirm — or cancel if anything looks wrong

The importer supports GEDCOM 5.5 and 5.5.1, including:

• Date qualifiers: ABT (about), BEF (before), AFT (after), BET ... AND ...
• Calendar escapes for Julian, Hebrew, and French Republican calendars
• UTF-8 and ANSEL character encodings

GEDCOM limitations to know about

GEDCOM is a great interchange format, but it has quirks:

• No standard for photos — some apps embed photo references, others don’t. Rootleaves imports text data only; photos need to be re-added manually.
• Name formatting varies — some apps use John /Smith/ while others use John Smith. Rootleaves handles both.
• Custom tags — apps sometimes add non-standard tags (prefixed with _). Rootleaves skips these gracefully.
• Large files — trees with 10,000+ people may take a few seconds to parse; the preview will still show correctly before you confirm.

Should I keep a GEDCOM backup?

Yes. Even if you use a cloud genealogy app, exporting a GEDCOM periodically is good practice. It’s a portable, vendor-neutral snapshot of your research that you can import into any app at any time.

Rootleaves stores your data in a graph database and lets you export GEDCOM at any time from the tree settings menu.

Already have a GEDCOM file? Import it into Rootleaves for free →