What Is OFX? Format, Uses and Conversions

What is OFX?

OFX is the format behind the Download Transactions button on your bank's website. Version 1 is SGML, where a leaf element has an opening tag and no closing one. Version 2 is real XML. QFX is Intuit's variant of the same thing with a few extra tags, which is why a .qfx file opens in Quicken and is refused by software that only knows plain OFX.

Who uses it

Retail banks, credit card issuers and brokerages, because it is what Quicken and Microsoft Money asked for and the industry standardised on.

Reading OFX

Each STMTTRN block becomes a row: date, amount, type, payee, memo, cheque number and the bank's own transaction id. The account number and currency come from the statement header and are added to every row, so a file merged with another still says which account it came from. Both the SGML and the XML flavour are read the same way.

What it can hold

OFX is an accounting interchange format. An SGML or XML statement with a defined schema, so the columns are dictated by the format rather than the source. A machine can read the table back out of it without guessing, which is what makes it safe to convert into and out of.

It keeps

Types. A number stays a number and a boolean stays a boolean, so whatever reads the file next does not have to guess from how a value looks.
Nested values. A cell can hold a list or an object rather than only a single value.

It cannot express

A line break inside a cell. One would end the row, so it has to be replaced before writing.
Any formatting. Bold, colour, column widths and merged cells have nowhere to go.
A partial read. The document has to be complete to mean anything, so a truncated file yields nothing and a large one has to be held in memory whole.

What it looks like

Example OFX

OFXHEADER:100
DATA:OFXSGML
VERSION:102

<OFX>
<BANKMSGSRSV1><STMTTRNRS><STMTRS>
<CURDEF>GBP
<BANKACCTFROM><ACCTID>60161331926819</ACCTID></BANKACCTFROM>
<BANKTRANLIST>
<STMTTRN>
<TRNTYPE>DEBIT
<DTPOSTED>20260115120000[0:GMT]
<TRNAMT>-42.50
<FITID>20260115001
<CHECKNUM>1043
<NAME>Greenfield Grocers
<MEMO>Weekly shop
</STMTTRN>
<STMTTRN>
<TRNTYPE>CREDIT
<DTPOSTED>20260116000000[0:GMT]
<TRNAMT>1850.00
<FITID>20260116001
<NAME>Acme Ltd
<MEMO>January salary
</STMTTRN>
<STMTTRN>
<TRNTYPE>DEBIT
<DTPOSTED>20260118000000[0:GMT]
<TRNAMT>-9.99
<FITID>20260118001
<NAME>Streaming service
</STMTTRN>
</BANKTRANLIST>
</STMTRS></STMTTRNRS></BANKMSGSRSV1>
</OFX>

Questions

What is the difference between OFX and QFX?

QFX is OFX with Intuit-specific tags added, most importantly a bank identifier that Quicken uses to decide whether it will accept the file. The transaction data is identical, which is why anything that reads OFX reads QFX. Banks often charge for the QFX version of the same download.

How do I open OFX files?

Any text editor will show you the contents. To read it as a table, paste it into the converter on this site and it appears in an editable grid. Nothing is uploaded.

Is OFX a good format for sharing data?

It depends who is receiving it. Retail banks, credit card issuers and brokerages, because it is what Quicken and Microsoft Money asked for and the industry standardised on. If the recipient is outside that group, a plain CSV travels further than anything else.