How to download your raw data
Every testing service keeps your raw file in a different corner of your account. Here is where each one hides it. All three steps below come from the provider's own help pages, linked so you can check them.
The one mistake worth avoiding
Download the raw data file, not the ancestry report. They sit near each other in your account and look similar. The report is a PDF or a web page of conclusions — it contains no genotypes, so nothing can be re-analysed from it. The raw file is a text or CSV file, usually inside a .zip, and it is typically 15–25 MB.
23andMe
You end up with a .zip containing a .txt file whose name starts with "genome".
- Sign in and go to you.23andme.com/tools/data/ — or open your profile menu, choose Resources, then Browse Raw Genotyping Data.
- Confirm the date of birth on the profile you are downloading for.
- Read the notes, tick the box, and submit the request.
- Wait for the "your raw data download is ready" email, then verify the birthdate again to download.
- Unzip the file. The .txt inside is what you upload here.
23andMe says the file usually takes about a week to prepare, and can occasionally take up to 30 days. Request it before you need it.
AncestryDNA
You end up with a .zip containing AncestryDNA.txt.
- Sign in, open the DNA menu and go to your DNA results summary, then Settings.
- Scroll to the download section and choose to download your DNA data.
- Tick the acknowledgement, then verify with your password or an emailed code.
- Open the email Ancestry sends and follow its download link.
- Unzip the file. The .txt inside is what you upload here.
The emailed link works once and expires after seven days. If you request it twice, only the newest email works. Every download has the same filename, so rename it immediately if you manage more than one kit.
MyHeritage
You end up with a .zip containing a .csv file.
- Sign in, hover the DNA tab and open Manage DNA kits.
- Click the three-dot menu beside your kit and choose Download.
- Continue through the information and terms prompts.
- Open the email MyHeritage sends and follow its link, then enter your password.
- Unzip the file. The .csv inside is what you upload here.
The emailed link is valid for 24 hours. Only the kit manager can download, and MyHeritage says it works on a computer or Android device — not on an iPhone or iPad.
Tested somewhere else?
FamilyTreeDNA, Living DNA, TellMeGen and most other autosomal services also let you export your raw file. We do not publish click-by-click steps for them because we have not verified those menus recently, and stale instructions are worse than none — but the pattern is the same everywhere:
- Look in account settings, or a menu called DNA, Tests, or Kits.
- Find the option worded "download raw data" or "export DNA data" — not the ancestry report.
- Confirm your identity, then follow the emailed link before it expires.
Exports from other services usually read fine. If yours cannot be read, no analysis runs and you are refunded in full, automatically — so trying costs you nothing but the upload.
Then what
Upload the unzipped file — or the .zip, either is fine — on the home page. If it cannot be read, no analysis runs and you are refunded in full, automatically.
Download your file on a device you control, and keep it somewhere private. It is your genome; treat it like a password you cannot change.