CSV vs OFX vs QBO vs QFX
Updated 2026-08-19
Four formats, one job: moving transactions from a bank into software. They differ in how much structure they carry and how much software will accept them.
CSV
A plain table of rows and columns. It carries no account metadata and no transaction type, which is exactly why everything reads it. Import usually requires a mapping step, and that mapping is where errors enter, so verify the totals before importing.
OFX
Open Financial Exchange is a structured format carrying transactions plus account identity, transaction types and a ledger balance. Desktop finance software reads it well. Banks typically offer it only for recent activity.
QBO and QFX
Both are vendor variants of OFX. QBO is QuickBooks Web Connect, QFX is Quicken's version, and each carries an identifier tying the file to that vendor. They import with less mapping, at the cost of working with only one product.
Which to choose
The decision is usually made for you by what the bank still offers:
- Recent months and your bank offers QBO or QFX: use it, less mapping
- Historical months where only PDFs remain: convert to CSV
- Data feeding a script or a model: CSV, then transform
- Software that only accepts OFX: verify a CSV first, then generate OFX from it