If you've spent any time building a family tree online, you've probably bumped into four cryptic letters: GEDCOM. It looks technical, but the idea behind it is simple — and understanding it is the single best thing you can do to make sure your years of research never get trapped.
GEDCOM, in one sentence
GEDCOM (GEnealogical Data COMmunication) is a plain-text file format that stores a family tree — people, dates, places, marriages, parent–child links and notes — in a way that any genealogy program can read. It's the genealogy world's equivalent of a PDF or a CSV: a neutral, universal container that isn't owned by any one company.
A .ged file is just text. Open one and you'll see lines like 1 BIRT / 2 DATE 12 JAN 1900. You never need to read it by hand — but the fact that it's open, documented and portable is exactly why it matters.
Why GEDCOM is your insurance policy
Every serious genealogy platform — MyHeritage, Ancestry, FamilySearch, Geni — can both export and import GEDCOM. That portability is what stops your tree from being held hostage. As long as you can export a GEDCOM, you can always leave, back up, or move your research somewhere else.
The catch: some services make export deliberately hard to find, and a few quietly strip data (or lock large trees to read-only) the moment your subscription lapses. A platform's attitude toward GEDCOM export tells you everything about whether it respects your ownership of your own family history.
How to export a GEDCOM
- MyHeritage: Family tree → Manage trees → Export to GEDCOM.
- Ancestry: Trees → Tree Settings → Export tree.
- FamilySearch: via partner tools or the tree export options.
You'll get a single .ged file containing your whole tree. Keep a copy somewhere safe — it's the most compact backup of your family history you'll ever make.
What GEDCOM does and doesn't carry
It carries the data: names, dates, places, relationships, events and notes. It generally does not carry photo and document files — those usually need to be downloaded separately and re-attached after import. So before you leave any service, download your media too.
The bottom line
GEDCOM is the reason a family tree never has to die with a subscription. At Dynasty House we treat it as sacred: GEDCOM import preserves your people, dates, places and notes, and one-click export is always free — no lock-in, no ransom, ever. Your family is yours.