How to read your MyHeritage DNA raw data
Your MyHeritage DNA raw data is the full list of genetic markers MyHeritage measured from your saliva. MyHeritage is built around ancestry and DNA matches — so the raw file is the main way to explore health-relevant and trait markers beyond its ethnicity report. This guide explains exactly what's in the file, how to read it, what you can and can't learn from it, and how to analyze it without handing your genome to a stranger.
This is general educational information, not medical advice. Consumer DNA markers are statistical associations, not diagnoses — confirm anything serious with clinical-grade testing and a professional.
Why read your MyHeritage raw data
MyHeritage reports center on ethnicity estimates and DNA matches, with health available only as a separate paid add-on. If you want to know what your MyHeritage test says about traits, carrier status, or well-studied health markers, the raw data is your route. The same chip that placed you on a family tree also measured hundreds of thousands of positions that interpretation tools can look up.
How to download your MyHeritage raw data
In your MyHeritage account, open your DNA settings, choose to download your raw DNA data, confirm with your password and an emailed verification link, and you'll receive the file. For the full click-by-click walkthrough, see how to download your MyHeritage DNA raw data. Keep the file somewhere safe — it's your genome, and you only need to download it once.
What's inside the MyHeritage raw data file
The download is a comma- or tab-separated text file that opens in any text editor or spreadsheet. After a header describing the data and the genome build, every row is one genetic marker:
| Field | What it is |
|---|---|
| rsID | The reference SNP ID, e.g. rs429358 — the universal name for that position |
| chromosome | Which chromosome the marker sits on (1–22, plus X, Y, MT) |
| position | The base-pair coordinate (MyHeritage uses genome build GRCh37 / build 37) |
| genotype | The two DNA letters (alleles) you carry at that position |
A MyHeritage test reads roughly 700,000 markers, inherited from both parents. To read your genotype at any marker, you take the two allele letters — an A and a G mean a genotype of AG. It's the same structure as any raw DNA file; only small formatting details (delimiter, header wording) differ between vendors.
How to read a specific marker
Say you want to look up rs429358, one of the two markers behind the APOE story:
- Search the file for
rs429358(Ctrl/Cmd-F in a text editor, or the Find function in a spreadsheet). - Read your genotype (the two alleles) — e.g.
TT. - Look up what that genotype means in a curated reference — but remember it's an association, not a diagnosis.
Doing this by hand for one marker is fine; doing it across the hundreds of thousands in your file is why people use a tool or an app. The same rsID-lookup powers our gene explainers — see, for example, what APOE4 in your raw data means or MTHFR in your raw data; the markers are read the same way from a MyHeritage file.
What you can explore in your MyHeritage raw data
Because the file is just rsIDs and genotypes, the same interpretation tools that work on 23andMe files generally work on MyHeritage files. People commonly look up:
- Traits — caffeine metabolism, lactose tolerance, bitter-taste and other benign traits.
- Nutrition genetics — a handful of well-studied diet-related markers; see what your DNA raw data says about your diet.
- Carrier status and well-studied health-risk markers — associations across common conditions.
- Pharmacogenomics — a partial view of how you process some medications. Consumer chips reach only part of the pharmacogenome and miss key genes; see our analysis of medication genetics in raw data.
For a fuller picture of what's realistic to find — and what isn't — see what your raw DNA data reveals about health.
Accuracy and limitations
Two limits matter most. First, a genotyping chip reads only about 700,000 positions out of roughly three billion base pairs — it samples common variation and skips most rare, disease-relevant variants, so a clean result is never an all-clear. Second, chips have known error rates, and the un-reported markers in a raw file can be less accurate than the validated ones behind your official reports. For anything serious, confirm with clinical-grade testing and a certified genetic counselor before drawing conclusions.
Privacy: the safe way to analyze it
Most tools ask you to upload your MyHeritage file to their servers. Your genome is a permanent identifier you can't change, and you share large stretches of it with your relatives — so uploading it partly exposes their data too, and hands your file to another company's policies and retention.
The safest approach is to analyze the file on your own device, where it never leaves your phone. That's the whole idea behind reading raw DNA without uploading it, and it's how Quanome analyzes your DNA on your phone. If you're weighing where a file is safest to send, our comparison of the most private way to handle 23andMe, Ancestry and MyHeritage data goes deeper.
The tools landscape
Options fall into three buckets: upload-based websites (broad features, but your genome goes to their servers), desktop tools (more private, more technical), and on-device apps (private by design). For a full rundown of interpretation services and what each is good for, see the best tools to interpret your raw data. You can also try our free DNA reader and raw data explorer, which reads a MyHeritage, AncestryDNA, or 23andMe file entirely in your browser — nothing is uploaded.
Reading it responsibly
Your MyHeritage raw data is genuinely interesting and genuinely limited. Treat findings as leads, not verdicts, keep the file private, and confirm anything that matters clinically. For the parent guide covering the whole raw-data landscape across providers, see 23andMe raw data: the complete guide and the companion AncestryDNA read guide, or browse the genetics section and the rest of the Quanome blog.
Read your MyHeritage raw data, privately
Quanome imports your MyHeritage, AncestryDNA, or 23andMe file and parses it on your device — never uploaded — with health and trait insights and an AI coach. Free on the App Store and Google Play.
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Read and analyze your MyHeritage raw data privately, on your device
Quanome imports your MyHeritage, 23andMe, or AncestryDNA file and parses it locally on your phone — your raw DNA is never uploaded to us. You get health and trait insights alongside your labs and Apple Health data, with an AI coach that reasons across all of it on one private timeline. Learn more about Quanome →
Frequently asked questions
Does MyHeritage show health information?
MyHeritage's core product is ancestry and DNA matching; it offers a separate paid Health add-on, but the standard DNA test focuses on ethnicity and relatives. Your raw data lets you go further — downloading the file and interpreting it yourself (or with a tool) is how you explore health-relevant and trait markers from a MyHeritage test.
How do I read my MyHeritage raw data file?
The download is a comma- or tab-separated text file. After a header describing the data, each row is one genetic marker with its rsID, chromosome, position, and your genotype (two alleles). You can open it in a text editor or spreadsheet, but a lookup tool or an app is far easier than reading it by hand — you combine the two allele letters to get your genotype at each marker.
What's the difference between MyHeritage and 23andMe raw data?
They're very similar genotyping files with the same core columns — rsID, chromosome, position, and genotype. MyHeritage is built on an OmniExpress-style chip and reads around 700,000 markers; the exact set differs slightly from 23andMe's, so a variant present in one file may be absent from the other. Most interpretation tools accept both.
Is it free to analyze MyHeritage raw data?
Downloading your own raw data from MyHeritage is free. Some interpretation tools are free and others charge, and many require you to upload your file to their servers. You can also analyze it on-device with an app like Quanome, so you don't pay a site to process and store your genome.
Is it safe to upload my MyHeritage raw data to a website?
Uploading your raw file exposes your genetic data to that company's privacy policy, security, and retention. Your genome is a permanent identifier you share with relatives, so the safest approach is to keep the file on your own device and analyze it locally, where it never leaves your phone.
How many markers does a MyHeritage file contain?
A MyHeritage DNA test reads roughly 700,000 genetic markers — inherited from both parents — used for its ethnicity estimate and DNA matches. That sounds like a lot, but it's only about 0.02% of your three billion base pairs, so a raw file samples common variation and misses most rare, disease-relevant variants.
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