FTDNA Raw Data Download: Family Finder for South Asian Ancestry

If you tested with FamilyTreeDNA, your Family Finder result probably sums up an Indian, Pakistani or Bangladeshi family history in a line or two: a large share of "Indian Subcontinent", perhaps split between Northern and Southern India, perhaps a slice of "West Central Asia". That is a reasonable answer to the question FamilyTreeDNA set out to answer. It is not a detailed answer to the question most South Asian testers are asking.

The measurement behind it is already in your account. This guide covers what myOrigins reports for South Asians, how to download the Family Finder raw data file, how it differs from FamilyTreeDNA's Y-DNA and mtDNA products, and what a South Asian reading of the same file adds.

What FamilyTreeDNA myOrigins shows South Asian testers

myOrigins is the ethnicity feature of Family Finder. The current version, myOrigins 3.0, compares your autosomal DNA with 90 population clusters worldwide, grouped into super populations and continental regions. FamilyTreeDNA's own list, which we checked in November 2026, gives these as the clusters a South Asian tester is most likely to see:

• Indian Subcontinent: four clusters, named Northern India, Southern India, Eastern India and Western India.
• West Central Asia: two clusters, Afghanistan & Northern Pakistan, and Indus Valley.
• Kalash: a single cluster for the Kalash people of north-western Pakistan.
• Myanmar: a single cluster, which can show up for testers with roots in the east of the subcontinent.

Depending on where a family comes from, a Punjabi tester might see Northern India next to Indus Valley or Afghanistan & Northern Pakistan, a Tamil or Telugu tester will mostly see Southern India, and a Bengali or Bangladeshi tester is likely to land in Eastern India, possibly with a smaller East or Southeast Asian component. If your Family Finder results arrived before 22 September 2020, FamilyTreeDNA also lets you download your older myOrigins version 2 results, which used different labels.

Why that is coarse for South Asia

Seven clusters are covering one of the most populous and genetically structured regions on earth. Reich and colleagues showed in 2009 that most Indian groups descend from a mix of two ancestral populations, Ancestral North Indians and Ancestral South Indians, in proportions that vary by region and by community. Narasimhan and colleagues refined that picture in 2019 using ancient DNA: ancestry related to ancient Iranian farmers, an older layer of Ancient Ancestral South Indian (AASI) hunter-gatherers, and Steppe pastoralist ancestry arriving in the second millennium BCE, combined in different amounts across groups. Our explainer on ANI and ASI ancestry walks through that model.

On top of the ancient mixing sits more recent social structure. Nakatsuka and colleagues found that many South Asian groups descend from strong founder events, often stronger than those seen in Finns or Ashkenazi Jews, a direct result of long-term endogamy. Two communities in the same state can therefore be more different from each other genetically than two states are on average. A compass with four points, north, south, east and west India, cannot describe that. Our article on caste, endogamy and Indian DNA covers why.

None of this makes myOrigins wrong. It was built to place people across the whole world and to support genealogy matching. It was not designed to separate one South Asian community from its neighbour.

How to download your Family Finder raw data

These steps follow FamilyTreeDNA's help centre article "Downloading Your Family Finder Data" (last updated June 2026). Menu labels do change from time to time; these were current when we checked in November 2026.

1. Turn on two-factor authentication. FamilyTreeDNA requires 2FA to be enabled before it will let you download raw data or match lists. If the download option is missing, this is the usual reason.
2. Sign in to your kit at familytreedna.com.
3. Open the download page. From the dashboard, find the Autosomal DNA Results & Tools widget, click See More and select Data Download. Or use the top navigation bar: Results & Tools > Autosomal DNA > Download Raw Data.
4. Download Build 37 Concatenated Raw Data. This file holds all your autosomal SNPs plus those on the X chromosome, with positions on the GRCh37 reference. This is the file to upload.
5. Genetic males only, optional: download Y-SNP Raw Data. This separate file holds your Y chromosome SNPs.
6. Save the file without changing it. It arrives as a CSV compressed with GZIP, ending .csv.gz. Keep it as it is.

What is inside the file

The CSV has four columns: RSID, Chromosome, Position and Result. The result is your two letters at that position, such as AG or CC, with DD, II or DI used for deletions and insertions, and dashes for a no-call. The structure is the same idea as every other consumer file; our raw data format guide explains the columns in detail, and what raw DNA data is covers the basics.

If you tested after March 2026

From 2 March 2026, Family Finder moved from a custom Global Screening Array microarray, which reported about 700,000 SNPs, to a targeted next-generation sequencing panel. FamilyTreeDNA says the same autosomal downloads remain available and, for now, contain substantially the same set of SNPs as the microarray version. If you upgrade an older microarray kit, the new data permanently replaces the old file, so download a copy before the upgrade results post.

If you transferred to FamilyTreeDNA from another company

FamilyTreeDNA does not offer downloads of autosomal transfer data, because incompatible markers are removed when a file is imported. Go back to the company you tested with: see our guides for AncestryDNA and MyHeritage. The original file is the better one to upload in any case.

Family Finder, Y-DNA and mtDNA: which file is which

FamilyTreeDNA sells three kinds of test, and each has its own downloads. Only one of them is an ancestry file.

• Family Finder (autosomal). Reads chromosomes 1 to 22 plus X, inherited from both parents. It powers relative matching, myOrigins and the Chromosome Painter. This is the file Helixline accepts for ancestry analysis.
• Y-DNA (Y-37, Y-111, Big Y-700). Reads only the Y chromosome, passed from father to son, so it follows one line: your father's father's father. The Y-37 and Y-111 tests count short tandem repeats; Big Y-700 sequences the Y chromosome for SNPs, and its variant downloads use GRCh38 positions.
• mtDNA (mtFull Sequence). Reads the mitochondrial genome, passed from mother to child, so it follows only your mother's mother's line, across HVR1, HVR2 and the coding region.

Y-DNA and mtDNA results are excellent for lineage questions and FamilyTreeDNA has long specialised in them. They cannot produce an ancestry breakdown, because each follows a single line out of the thousands of ancestors who contributed to your autosomal DNA. Our guide to paternal and maternal lineage DNA explains the difference.

What a South Asian focused reading adds

The file does not change; the reference it is compared with does. Helixline compares your autosomal markers with South Asian reference populations, organised into the 140+ community clusters described on this site, and reports the reference groups you are genetically closest to. That is a measure of genetic similarity, not a certificate of caste or community membership. For endogamous groups the similarity can be informative, but it describes your DNA, not your identity.

Question	FamilyTreeDNA myOrigins	South Asian focused report (Helixline)
South Asian detail	Indian Subcontinent with four clusters: Northern, Southern, Eastern and Western India	Closest reference groups among 140+ South Asian community clusters, by genetic similarity
Pakistan and the north-west	Kalash, Afghanistan & Northern Pakistan, and Indus Valley clusters	Read against the same South Asian reference set as the rest of the subcontinent
Ancient ancestry	ancientOrigins compares you with ancient European groups	Steppe, Iranian-farmer-related and AASI components, the model used for South Asia
Relative matching	Family Finder matches, Matrix and Chromosome Browser	Not the purpose of the report; keep FamilyTreeDNA for matching
Paternal line	Intermediate Y-DNA haplogroup for genetic males; far deeper with Y-DNA tests	South Asian context for haplogroups, where the file carries the markers
Cost if you already tested	Included with your Family Finder test	Ancestry ₹1,999 / $25; Complete (ancestry plus health) ₹3,999 / $50

Expect the two reports to describe you differently: different reference panels, different labels. To compare other upload services, read our guide to upload sites for South Asian ancestry.

Haplogroup context

Family Finder gives genetic males an intermediate Y-DNA haplogroup. FamilyTreeDNA is open that the chip carries few Y and mitochondrial markers, so this branch is much older and broader than what a Big Y-700 reports, and it describes mtDNA haplogroup estimates inside Family Finder as planned rather than available.

Helixline reads haplogroups from the Y and mitochondrial markers in the file you upload. FamilyTreeDNA documents its Build 37 Concatenated file as autosomes plus X, with Y SNPs in a separate file and no mitochondrial file listed, so a Family Finder upload may not support a haplogroup call. If you already have a haplogroup from FamilyTreeDNA, our guides put it in South Asian context: Y-DNA haplogroups by Indian state and Indian maternal haplogroups.

Uploading your FamilyTreeDNA file to Helixline

1. Start at helixline.in/upload and click through. Your account, the upload itself and payment all happen inside app.helixline.in.
2. Choose a report. Ancestry is ₹1,999 / $25. Complete, which adds health to ancestry, is ₹3,999 / $50.
3. Upload the file unmodified. The .csv.gz exactly as FamilyTreeDNA gave it to you. The upload also takes the extracted .csv, and it accepts several files at once, so genetic males can add the Y-SNP file alongside.
4. Pay and wait for the email. Results are normally ready within 24 hours of payment and a valid file. Your data is stored encrypted in India.

Your FamilyTreeDNA account is unaffected: matches, projects and any Y-DNA or mtDNA results stay where they are.

Troubleshooting

• Your computer says it cannot open the file. It is GZIP, which built-in tools often do not read. Upload it as it is.
• The file is a list of names. That is a match list CSV, not raw data. Go back to Download Raw Data.
• The file has only Y chromosome rows. You took the Y-SNP file. Download Build 37 Concatenated Raw Data as well.
• The file looks too small. A download that stopped early still opens. Run the seven checks in is your raw DNA file complete and download again on a stable connection if it fails.
• You opened and saved it in a spreadsheet. Discard that copy and download a fresh one; spreadsheets silently change genetic data.
• You extracted it and zipped it again. Upload the original .csv.gz instead. Each repack is a chance to damage the file.
• There is no download option at all. Check that 2FA is on, and that the kit is a Family Finder test rather than a transfer.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is the raw data download on FamilyTreeDNA?

Sign in to your kit and go to Results & Tools, then Autosomal DNA, then Download Raw Data. From the dashboard, the same page is under See More on the Autosomal DNA Results & Tools widget, as Data Download. Two-factor authentication must be switched on first, or the download is not offered.

Which FamilyTreeDNA file should I upload for ancestry?

The Build 37 Concatenated Raw Data file from Family Finder. It is the autosomal file, covering chromosomes 1 to 22 plus X, and it is what ancestry analysis reads. Match lists, Y-DNA results and mtDNA results are different files and cannot produce an ancestry breakdown.

Why will my FamilyTreeDNA file not open on Windows or Mac?

FamilyTreeDNA compresses the CSV with GZIP, and its help centre notes that the built-in Windows and Mac extract tools do not handle GZIP files. You do not need to open it to upload it. If you want to look inside, use a free tool such as 7-Zip and open the CSV in a text editor, not a spreadsheet.

I transferred my DNA to FamilyTreeDNA from another company. Can I download it there?

No. FamilyTreeDNA does not offer downloads of autosomal transfer data, because incompatible markers are removed when the file is imported. Download the original file again from the company you tested with, such as AncestryDNA, 23andMe or MyHeritage, and upload that.

How much does a Helixline analysis of a FamilyTreeDNA file cost?

The Ancestry report is ₹1,999 or $25, and Complete, which adds health to ancestry, is ₹3,999 or $50. Upload and payment happen inside app.helixline.in, and results are normally ready within 24 hours of payment and a valid file.

Conclusion

FamilyTreeDNA is strong at relative matching, group projects and deep Y-DNA and mtDNA testing. Its South Asian ethnicity estimate is broad by design, for a region whose genetic structure runs down to the community level.

You do not need another test to see that structure. Switch on 2FA, download the Build 37 Concatenated Raw Data file, leave it as a .csv.gz, and read it against references built for South Asia.

Read next: how the upload services compare.