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What is an OFX file?

The open bank-download format behind QBO and QFX files. Xero, Sage, MYOB, GnuCash and most other money apps read it. Here is what it holds and how to use it.

By Zishan Khan · Last checked · Sources

Short answer

An OFX file is a bank download in Open Financial Exchange format: a plain-text list of transactions with each one’s date, amount, payee and bank ID, plus the account number and closing balance. It is an open standard, so most money apps read it, including Xero, which recommends it over CSV. QuickBooks and Quicken use their own versions of it, QBO and QFX.

Extension
.ofx
Full name
Open Financial Exchange
Since
1997, open standard
Inside
Plain text, tagged

What’s inside an OFX file

An OFX file is text with tags in angle brackets. It has three parts: a short header, a sign-on block saying who made the file, and the statement itself, with the account, the transactions and the balance. Here is one with most of the transactions left out:

sample-transactions.ofxOpened as plain text

  1. 1OFXHEADER:100
  2. DATA:OFXSGML
  3. VERSION:102
  4. SECURITY:NONE
  5. ENCODING:USASCII
  6. … four more header lines …
  7. <OFX>
  8. … the sign-on block: who made the file, and when …
  9. 2<BANKMSGSRSV1>
  10. <STMTTRNRS>
  11. … a status code …
  12. <STMTRS>
  13. 3<CURDEF>USD
  14. <BANKACCTFROM>
  15. <BANKID>000000000
  16. <ACCTID>000123456789
  17. <ACCTTYPE>CHECKING
  18. </BANKACCTFROM>
  19. <BANKTRANLIST>
  20. 4<DTSTART>20260901120000
  21. <DTEND>20260914120000
  22. <STMTTRN>
  23. <TRNTYPE>DEBIT
  24. <DTPOSTED>20260907120000
  25. <TRNAMT>-312.45
  26. 5<FITID>20260907…
  27. <NAME>AWS EMEA SARL 4417-8821
  28. </STMTTRN>
  29. … seven more transactions …
  30. </BANKTRANLIST>
  31. 6<LEDGERBAL>
  32. <BALAMT>18425.50
  33. <DTASOF>20260914120000
  34. </LEDGERBAL>
  1. The header, in plain NAME:VALUE lines. VERSION:102 means OFX 1.0.2. Version 1 files look like this, with some tags never closed; version 2 files are proper XML and start with <?xml.
  2. The message type: a bank statement. Credit card downloads use a card block instead, and investment downloads another.
  3. The currency for every amount in the file.
  4. The dates the download covers. All OFX dates are written year, month, day, so there is never any doubt about 03/04 meaning March or April.
  5. The FITID, the bank’s own ID for this transaction (shortened here). Apps use it to skip transactions they already have.
  6. The ledger balance: the account balance at the end of the period, with its date.
Made by our converter from the demo statement on our home page. Bank files follow the same structure.

What OFX doesn’t hold matters too. There is no running balance after each transaction, only the one at the end, and there are no categories. Those belong to your accounting app, which adds them once the transactions are in.

Where OFX came from

In January 1997, Intuit (Quicken), Microsoft (Money) and CheckFree (online bill payment) announced a shared way for banks to send account data to personal finance software. Each of them had its own method before that, and banks didn’t want to support three. The result was Open Financial Exchange.

OFX is two things at once. It is a way for software to talk to a bank’s server directly, which is how “Direct Connect” in Quicken and QuickBooks works, and it is a file you download and import yourself. Both use the same tags. The standard is now kept by the Financial Data Exchange, whose OFX Work Group says it is used at more than 7,000 financial institutions. The latest banking version is 2.3.

QBO and QFX came later, when Intuit added its own bank ID to OFX files for QuickBooks and Quicken. That is why the three look almost identical inside.

Which apps import OFX files

AppTakes .ofx?Where
XeroYes, and Xero recommends itBank accounts, the account’s menu, Import a Statement. Steps
GnuCashYesFile › Import › Import OFX/QFX
Quicken for MacYesFile › Import › Bank or Brokerage File
Quicken for WindowsNoWants QFX. Convert OFX to QFX
QuickBooks OnlineNot on Intuit’s listIntuit lists QBO, QFX and CSV. Convert OFX to QBO
QuickBooks DesktopNoWants a .qbo Web Connect file. Convert OFX to QBO
Sage, MYOB, Moneydance, BanktivityYesLook for Import statement or Import bank file on the bank account

Banks outside the US often offer OFX next to CSV, so Xero, Sage and MYOB users meet it most. US banks tend to label the same download “QuickBooks” or “Quicken”.

How to open an OFX file in Excel

Excel can open the file, but you will see the tags, not a table. Converting it gives you a spreadsheet with one row per transaction and the date, payee, memo and amount in their own columns, ready to sort and total. Drop your .ofx file here; it is read in your browser and never uploaded.

No file to hand?

Prefer CSV for another app? Use OFX to CSV. Need something to print or email? OFX to PDF makes a readable transaction report.

Common OFX problems

Two accounts in one file

Some banks put checking and savings in the same download. Most apps import only the account you pick, so check which one you picked. Our converters list every account in the file and let you choose.

Payee names cut short or empty

OFX 1 limits the payee name to 32 characters, and some banks put the full description in a separate memo field instead. If your app shows short or missing payees, the full text is usually in the memo.

The app says the file isn’t valid

Check the file’s first line. An OFX that starts with a web page or an error message is a failed download, not an OFX file. Download it again from the bank. If the file looks right, try converting it to CSV, which almost every app takes.

Transactions imported twice

Apps skip transactions whose bank ID they already have. Doubles happen when the same transactions come in from two places with different IDs, such as the bank feed and a file. Review the import screen before you confirm it.

OFX compared with QBO, QFX, QIF and IIF

The five bank-download formats
FormatMade forInsideBank’s ID per transactionWhere it lands
QBOQuickBooks Online and DesktopOFX plus Intuit’s bank IDYesBank feed, to review
QFXQuickenOFX plus Intuit’s bank IDYesQuicken’s downloads, to review
OFXXero, Sage, MYOB, GnuCash and most othersTagged text, an open standardYesThe app’s import screen
QIFQuicken, GnuCash, Banktivity, older appsOne field per lineNoStraight into the register
IIFQuickBooks Desktop onlyTab-separated rowsNoStraight into the books

The bank’s ID on each transaction is what lets software skip transactions it already has. Without it, importing the same file twice means doubles.

If your app takes both OFX and CSV, use OFX. There are no columns to match and no date formats to guess, which is why Xero recommends it. If you only have a PDF statement, a bank statement to OFX converter makes one.

Questions

Is OFX the same as QFX or QBO?

QFX and QBO are OFX with one extra line, Intuit’s bank ID, which Quicken and QuickBooks Desktop check for. Remove that line and you have plain OFX; add it and an OFX becomes a QFX or QBO. Our converters do exactly that, and keep every transaction ID.

Is OFX free to use?

Yes. It is an open standard, now looked after by the Financial Data Exchange’s OFX Work Group. Any bank or app can read and write it without paying anyone. That is the difference from QFX, which banks license from Quicken.

Can Excel open an OFX file?

Not as a table. Excel shows the raw tags, one per line. Convert the file to Excel or CSV to get one row per transaction with the date, payee, memo and amount in their own columns.

Which OFX version should I use?

Version 1.0.2 is the safest: every importer we know of reads it. Our converter writes 1.0.2 for that reason. Version 2 files are cleaner XML, but older programs may not read them.

Can I make an OFX file from a PDF statement?

Yes. A bank statement to OFX converter reads the PDF’s transaction table and writes it as OFX. Ours checks every row against the statement’s balances first, and the PDF never leaves your computer.

Is an OFX file encrypted?

No. It is plain text, readable by anyone who has the file, and it contains your account number. Store and send it as carefully as the statement itself.

Sources

Read on 6 October 2026. Software changes its menus often; if a step here no longer matches what you see, please tell us at hello@safebankstatementconverter.com and we will fix it.

  1. Microsoft (1997): Intuit, Microsoft and CheckFree create Open Financial Exchange
  2. Financial Data Exchange: OFX Work Group
  3. Xero Central: About manually importing bank transactions
  4. Quicken: How do I import data into Quicken for Windows?
  5. Quicken: Web Connect troubleshooting (Mac import menu)
  6. Intuit: Manually upload transactions into QuickBooks Online
  7. GnuCash manual: Importing transactions from files

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