What is an OFX file and how to open it

An OFX file is a bank or credit card transaction download in Open Financial Exchange format, a standard banks and finance programs use to exchange transactions, balances and account details. Xero, QuickBooks Online, Sage, MYOB, Microsoft Money and many other programs import OFX; Excel does not open it directly.

This page covers the OFX financial file format used in online banking. If you are looking for OFX international money transfers, visit ofx.com.

What is inside an OFX file

OFX was created in 1997 by Intuit, Microsoft and CheckFree. Version 1 files are SGML text with tags that are often not closed; version 2 files are XML. Both carry the same structure: a header, the account the transactions belong to, the list of transactions, and the closing balance.

OFXHEADER:100
DATA:OFXSGML
VERSION:102
...
<OFX>
<BANKMSGSRSV1><STMTTRNRS><STMTRS>
<CURDEF>USD
<BANKACCTFROM>
<BANKID>121000248
<ACCTID>1234567890
<ACCTTYPE>CHECKING
</BANKACCTFROM>
<BANKTRANLIST>
<DTSTART>20260901
<DTEND>20260930
<STMTTRN>
<TRNTYPE>DEBIT
<DTPOSTED>20260903
<TRNAMT>-42.50
<FITID>20260903-0001
<NAME>CITY WATER
<MEMO>Online payment
</STMTTRN>
</BANKTRANLIST>
<LEDGERBAL><BALAMT>1520.75<DTASOF>20260930</LEDGERBAL>
</STMTRS></STMTTRNRS></BANKMSGSRSV1>
</OFX>

• BANKID, ACCTID and ACCTTYPE identify the account. Credit card files use CCACCTFROM without a bank ID.
• Each STMTTRN is one transaction: type, posted date, signed amount, payee (NAME) and memo. A check number goes in CHECKNUM.
• FITID is the transaction's unique ID. Importing programs use it to skip transactions they already have, so the same ID must never be reused for a different transaction.
• LEDGERBAL is the balance at the end of the period, which lets the program check the import against the bank.

Why OFX files are used instead of CSV/Excel

A CSV file is a table whose columns differ from bank to bank, so every import needs a column mapping and a guess at the date and sign format. An OFX file names every field, uses one date format and one sign rule, and carries a transaction ID. That is why an OFX import needs no mapping and does not duplicate transactions when a period is imported twice.

Supported account types

• Bank (checking, savings, credit line)
• Credit card
• Investment (a separate message set; fewer programs import it)

How to open an OFX file in Excel

Excel cannot open an OFX file as a table. A text editor shows the tags, but not a spreadsheet. To work with the transactions in Excel:

1. Download and install ProperConvert.
2. Open the OFX file in the app and review the transactions.
3. Click Convert to save a CSV or Excel file, or copy the transactions to the clipboard and paste them into Excel.

QBO and QFX: OFX file variants

QBO (QuickBooks Web Connect) and QFX (Quicken Web Connect) are OFX files with extra Intuit fields, mainly the INTU.BID bank identifier. A program that imports OFX usually imports QBO and QFX as well, sometimes after renaming the file to .ofx. The reverse is not true: QuickBooks Desktop and Quicken want their own variant with a bank ID they recognize, so a plain OFX file has to be converted.

Some bank downloads are not built to the OFX specification: a missing header, an unclosed tag, a date with a time zone the program does not expect, or a repeated transaction ID. A program that rejects such a file usually accepts the same transactions once they are written out again as a clean OFX file.

OFX questions

Is OFX the same as QFX or QBO?

They share one structure. QFX and QBO add Intuit fields that Quicken and QuickBooks Desktop require. See what is a QFX file and what is a QBO file.

Why does my program say the OFX file is invalid?

Usually the header, the character encoding, the date format or a duplicated FITID. Open the file in a text editor and compare the header with the example above, or convert it to a fresh OFX file.

Can I edit an OFX file?

Yes, in a text editor, but keep every tag and the transaction IDs intact. For changes to many transactions, convert to CSV, edit, and convert back.