What is the ZED file format?
.zed files are genealogy data files created by MyHeritage Family Tree Builder and the MyHeritage website. The format is also known as ZEDCOM - a portmanteau of Zipped GEDCOM. A .zed file is a standard ZIP archive containing one or more .ged files that describe family tree individuals, families, dates, events, source citations and notes in the GEDCOM 5.5 or 5.5.1 standard.
Because .zed uses standard ZIP compression, the archive can be accessed without specialist software - rename .zed to .zip and extract the contents to reveal the inner .ged file, readable by any GEDCOM-capable genealogy application. File sizes range from a few kilobytes for small family trees to several megabytes for larger ones.
MyHeritage introduced the format around 2009 to enable compact, portable export from Family Tree Builder. A related variant, .uzed, is the unzipped (plain GEDCOM) form of the same data. While the .zed container is proprietary to MyHeritage, the inner GEDCOM content follows an open standard. Modern alternatives include GEDCOM 7.0 (2021) and the FamilySearch GEDZIP (.gdz) format; Family Tree Builder continues to produce .zed exports for backward compatibility.
Security & safety
RISK: LOWZED is a compressed GEDCOM file - plain structured text wrapped in ZIP. It poses no executable or macro risks. Potential privacy concern: family tree files contain personal data (names, birthdates, addresses) for living individuals; share ZED files only with trusted contacts. The unrelated ZED! encrypted container format (Prim'X) is a different risk profile entirely.
Format details
in a nutshell- ZED! Encrypted Container (Prim'X) - An entirely different format: encrypted ZIP-like container supporting AES-256 and multi-user RSA key management, created by Prim'X Technologies' ZED! software - no relation to genealogy.
- BitTorrent Metadata (db_name in source DB) - The database erroneously identifies .zed as a BitTorrent Metainfo file; .torrent is the correct extension for BitTorrent metadata. .zed has no documented relationship to BitTorrent.
Programs that open ZED files
Windows3 apps
MyHeritage Family Tree Builder
Freemium The native app that creates and reads .zed files; File > Open to import. 
macOS2 apps
Linux1 app
MyHeritage (website)
Freemium Upload the .zed file at myheritage.com to import the family tree into your online tree. Technical details
deep spec| Container format | ZIP archive (PKWare DEFLATE compression) |
| Magic bytes | 50 4B 03 04 - standard ZIP local file header at offset 0 |
| MIME type | application/zip (also application/x-zedcom) |
| Inner format | GEDCOM 5.5 or 5.5.1 text file (.ged) inside the ZIP |
| Inner text encoding | ANSEL or UTF-8 (per GEDCOM 5.5/5.5.1 standard) |
| Compression algorithm | DEFLATE (ZIP) |
| Integrity check | Per-entry CRC-32 (ZIP standard) |
| Typical file size | 5 KB - 10 MB (varies by family tree size) |
| Developer | MyHeritage (Family Tree Builder) |
| Related variant | .uzed - unzipped/plain GEDCOM form of the same data |
| Extraction method | Rename .zed to .zip and extract with any archiver to access the inner .ged file |
| Platforms | Windows, macOS, Linux (via ZIP extraction tools) |
| Released | circa 2009 (MyHeritage Family Tree Builder) |
| Latest version | N/A (no versioned spec; wraps standard GEDCOM 5.5 or 5.5.1) |
ZED conversions
Community Q&A
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