MyHeritage DNA Upload

By ⁠Dr. Brandon Colby MD, a Personalized Preventive Medicine specialist and expert in clinical genomics.

Can you imagine finding people you’re related to from around the globe? That’s what ⁠MyHeritage DNA testing helps you do. It connects you with people! While you may not speak the same language, MyHeritage is able to connect you based on similarities within your DNA due to having common ancestors from past generations.

MyHeritage DNA Testing

MyHeritage is a DNA testing service that focuses on helping you understand your genealogy, family tree, and even your family history. The testing they provide is called ‘genotyping’ and it obtains 0.1% of your genome. Their DNA tests were designed to specifically help you search international databases and make family trees based on the results of your DNA test.

Because of the limitations of their testing, you may not be able to get an in-depth history of your family based on your DNA from them. This is especially true for males, as their testing is extremely limited on the Y-chromosome. This means that while they can detect more recent familial genes, the sequencing won’t be precise in discovering DNA from several generations back, but it will give you insight into your recent ancestry.

Their DNA testing means you’ll learn more about your heritage and be able to connect yourself to others through their family tree and ancestry services. Most of their users are in Europe and the company is located in Israel.

The great thing is, MyHeritage allows you to upload DNA from other DNA services to their website. This ⁠free DNA data upload allows you to leverage their unique family tree and ancestry tools and see who you connect with from around the world. Additionally, you can glean insights into your heritage using their tools.

You can learn more about MyHeritage and all that it offers its members by reading our expert ⁠MyHeritage Review.

First Step: Download DNA from Testing Company

Before you can use the MyHeritage DNA upload service, you need to download your DNA from the testing company you used. Find instructions on ⁠download DNA data from many different sites below:

Once done with downloading your DNA data, you can move on to the ⁠MyHeritage DNA Upload area.

TIP: Sequencing.com offers an easy DNA data upload tool that allows you to TRANSFER a copy of your DNA data file from another website. This saves you a lot of time because there’s no need to download and then upload your DNA data file. To use this automatic transfer, go to the ⁠DNA Upload Center and click the ‘MyHeritage’ button.

How MyHeritage DNA Upload Works

Go to the DNA site where you have taken a DNA test.
Download the DNA data file from that DNA company’s website.
Upload the DNA data file you saved on your computer to MyHeritage’s DNA upload area.

This is what the page looks like for uploading DNA to MyHeritage:

What to Do with Uploaded DNA on MyHeritage

Once the file is uploaded into MyHeritage, you can purchase different reports and services to analyze the data. This analysis will help you discover more about where your DNA is most concentrated around the world and you can even build a family tree using your DNA.

Upload DNA to Other Sites

MyHeritage isn’t the only site that allows uploads. You can also ⁠upload MyHeritage data to other sites, such as GEDmatch, promethease, and Sequencing.com.

Sequencing.com is also a ⁠free DNA upload site. Many MyHeritage users join Sequencing.com to take advantage of the analysis in ⁠the world’s largest marketplace of DNA analysis apps and DNA reports. With new applications coming out on a regular basis, people with uploaded DNA to our site are able to get so much more from their DNA test.

Keep in mind, similar to MyHeritage, many DNA testing companies only test a very small part of the genome. Those who want more genetic information should consider taking another DNA test, such as ⁠Whole Genome Sequencing, which obtains data on ~100% of your genome including all 30,000 genes and all chromosomes end-to-end including the MT chromosome and, for males, the entire Y-chromoosome.

⁠Whole genome sequencing will provide DNA data that can be analyzed for almost any purpose including to obtain insights about health, wellness, ⁠medication side effects, rare diseases, ⁠genetic genealogy, and much, much more.

For additional information about using your DNA on other sites, read our ⁠Free DNA Upload Sites article.

About The Author

⁠Dr. Brandon Colby MD is a US physician specializing in the personalized prevention of disease through the use of genomic technologies. He’s an expert in genetic testing, genetic analysis, and precision medicine. Dr. Colby is also the Founder of Sequencing.com and the author of ⁠Outsmart Your Genes.

Dr. Colby holds an MD from the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, an MBA from Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business, and a degree in Genetics with Honors from the University of Michigan. He is an Affiliate Specialist of the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics (⁠ACMG), an Associate of the American College of Preventive Medicine (⁠ACPM), and a member of the National Society of Genetic Counselors (⁠NSGC).