acronym
An acronym is a type of abbreviation consisting of a phrase whose only pronounced elements are the initial letters or initial sounds of words inside that phrase. Acronyms are often spelled with the initial Letter (alphabet), letter of each wor ...
of ''Genealogical Data Communication''), is an
open file format
An open file format is a file format for storing digital data, defined by an openly published specification usually maintained by a standards organization, and which can be used and implemented by anyone. An open file format is licensed with a ...
and the
de facto standard
A ''de facto'' standard is a custom or convention that is commonly used even though its use is not required.
is a Latin phrase (literally " of fact"), here meaning "in practice but not necessarily ordained by law" or "in practice or actuality, ...
specification for storing
genealogical
Genealogy () is the study of families, family history, and the tracing of their lineages. Genealogists use oral interviews, historical records, genetic analysis, and other records to obtain information about a family and to demonstrate kin ...
data. It was developed by
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Restorationism, restorationist Christianity, Christian Christian denomination, denomination and the ...
(LDS Church), the operators of
FamilySearch
FamilySearch is a nonprofit organization and website offering genealogical records, education, and software. It is operated by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and is part of the Church's Family History Department (FHD). The Fami ...
, to aid in the research and sharing of genealogical information. A common usage is as a standard format for the backup and transfer of
family tree
A family tree, also called a genealogy or a pedigree chart, is a chart representing family relationships in a conventional tree structure. More detailed family trees, used in medicine and social work, are known as genograms.
Representations of ...
data between different
genealogy software
Genealogy software is computer software used to record, organize, and publish genealogical data.
Features
At a minimum, genealogy software collects the date and place of an individual's birth, marriage, and death, and stores the relationships ...
and
websites
A website (also written as a web site) is any web page whose content is identified by a common domain name and is published on at least one web server. Websites are typically dedicated to a particular topic or purpose, such as news, education ...
, most of which support importing from and exporting to GEDCOM format.
GEDCOM is defined as a
plain text
In computing, plain text is a loose term for data (e.g. file contents) that represent only characters of readable material but not its graphical representation nor other objects ( floating-point numbers, images, etc.). It may also include a lim ...
file, using
UTF-8
UTF-8 is a character encoding standard used for electronic communication. Defined by the Unicode Standard, the name is derived from ''Unicode Transformation Format 8-bit''. Almost every webpage is transmitted as UTF-8.
UTF-8 supports all 1,112,0 ...
encoding as of version 7.0. This file contains genealogical information about individuals such as names, events, and relationships;
metadata
Metadata (or metainformation) is "data that provides information about other data", but not the content of the data itself, such as the text of a message or the image itself. There are many distinct types of metadata, including:
* Descriptive ...
links these records together.
GEDCOM 7.0, released in 2021, is the most recent version of the GEDCOM specification . However, its predecessor, GEDCOM 5.5.1, remains the industry's format standard for the exchange of genealogical data. First released as a draft standard in 1999, GEDCOM 5.5.1 received only minor updates in the subsequent 20 years leading up to the release of 5.5.1 final in 2019. To address its shortcomings, some genealogy programs introduced
proprietary
{{Short pages monitor
was established in 2012 with the aim of developing international standards for family history and genealogical information. One of the standards the organization proposed was Extended Legacy Format (ELF), compatible with GEDCOM 5.5(.1), but including an extensibility mechanism. The organization requested public comment on the proposed standard in 2017. It withdrew the proposal because release 7.0 of GEDCOM addressed many of the organization's concerns.
See also
*
FamilySearch
FamilySearch is a nonprofit organization and website offering genealogical records, education, and software. It is operated by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and is part of the Church's Family History Department (FHD). The Fami ...
**
Ancestral File Number
Personal Ancestral File (PAF) was a free genealogy software program provided by FamilySearch, a website operated by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It was first released in 1983, last updated in 2002, and formally discontinued in ...
**
International Genealogical Index The International Genealogical Index (IGI) is a database of genealogical records, compiled from several sources, and maintained by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Originally created in 1969, the index was intended to help track the ...
Genealogical numbering systems
Several genealogical numbering systems have been widely adopted for presenting family trees and pedigree charts in text format.
Ascending numbering systems
Ahnentafel
Ahnentafel, also known as the Eytzinger Method, Sosa Method, and Sosa-Strado ...
*
GNTP
The Genealogy Network Transfer Protocol (GNTP) is an unfinished protocol for a peer-to-peer genealogy network that was not completed because of resource constraints. The idea was to allow genealogists to share GEDCOM files in much the same way th ...
– Genealogy Network Transfer Protocol
* Tiny Tafel Format – encoded "ancestor table"
*
List of genealogy databases
This is a list of genealogy databases and online resources that are not specifically restricted to a particular place, family set, or time period in their content.
List for general purposes
Comparison of notable databases for uploading famil ...