GED File Documentation

Overview

Feature Value
File Extension .ged
MIME Type text/plain
Data Format ASCII text (but UTF-8 is widely used for international support)
Standard Version 5.5.1 (As of knowledge cutoff in 2023)
Developed by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Primary Use Genealogy Data Exchange
Structure Hierarchical, based on tags and pointers
Record Types Individual, Family, Object (Multimedia), Source, etc.
Character Encoding ANSEL initially, now UTF-8 and Unicode are also supported
Multi-Language Support Yes, through UTF-8 encoding
Support for Multimedia Links Yes
Size Limitations No explicit limit, but large files might be cumbersome in some software
Support for Custom Tags Yes
Linking to External Files Yes, primarily for multimedia objects
Compatibility Widely supported by genealogy software
Content Type Textual data, including notes and multimedia references
Support for Events Yes, including custom event types
Privacy Options Some software allows exclusion of living people’s sensitive data
Transmission Size Relatively small, due to text-based format
Database Import/Export Capability Widely supported by genealogy databases and software