What is an OFX file?

OFX is the common ancestor of nearly every bank-import format you'll meet. It describes an account, a date range, and a list of transactions — each with a date, an amount, a type, and a description — in a structure accounting software can consume without guessing at columns.

Where a CSV is just a grid whose meaning depends on how you map the columns, an OFX file states what each field is. That's why importing OFX into Xero is a single step and importing a spreadsheet usually isn't.

The variants matter when you're choosing an export. QBO (Web Connect) is OFX with Intuit's additions, including an institution ID, and is what QuickBooks accepts — covered in what is a QBO file. QFX is Quicken's equivalent. Plain OFX is what Xero, MYOB, and most other tools take. All three come from the same conversion here, so the choice is simply which tool you're importing into.

If your accounting software is Indian, this whole family is usually the wrong branch — TallyPrime wants Tally XML instead.

For a side-by-side on which to pick, see QBO vs QFX vs OFX.