What is a gedcom, and is the software download from the LDS a GECOM?

Question:

What is a gedcom, and is the software download from the LDS a GECOM?

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: Hey Be Quiet,

GEDCOM, an acronym for GEnealogical Data COMmunication, is a specification for exchanging genealogical data between different genealogy software. GEDCOM was developed by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as an aid in their extensive genealogical research. A GEDCOM file is plain text (an obscure text encoding named ANSEL, though often in ASCII in the United States) containing genealogical information about individuals, and data linking these records together. Most genealogy software supports importing from and/or exporting to GEDCOM format.

Don't worry if you think this is religious, they LDS do not come looking for you if you use that format. Below is the site for the FREE Genealogy Software from LDS. This GEDCOM format is available in ALL the major GENEALOGY software so that people can share information.