FLAT Converter

Extract text from GenBank sequence files (FLAT)


Drop or upload your .FLAT file
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How to extract text from your FLAT file

  1. Click the "Select File" button above, and choose your FLAT file.
  2. You’ll see a preview, if available.
  3. Click the "Convert file to..." button to extract text information.

Convert FLAT to another file type

To convert FLAT sequences to another format, you need NCBI BLAST or other Data software.

Convert a file to FLAT

To convert other file formats to the "Bioinformatics Data" file type, you need software like NCBI BLAST or a similar tool.


About FLAT files

A .FLAT file is a standard ASCII text format used by the NCBI GenBank database to store annotated DNA or protein sequences. These files combine specific metadata headers (Locus, Definition, Accession) with a feature table and the raw nucleotide sequence, presenting a comprehensive record of genetic data. While .FLAT files are human-readable, their rigid structure - relying on precise indentation and keywords - makes them difficult to edit manually without breaking compatibility with parsing scripts. They are also bulky compared to streamlined formats like FASTA, causing friction when trying to input data into alignment tools like BLAST or modern genome browsers. Users often need to convert .FLAT files to FASTA for sequence alignment, GFF3 for annotation exchange, or PDF for sharing research data in a layout-preserved format.

Convert.Guru analyzes your FLAT file, detects the exact format, and lets you read the text inside.

Users also converted PDF files.


FAQ

If you want to convert FLAT file to , you can use NCBI BLAST or similar software from the "Bioinformatics Sequence Storage" category. In the File menu, look for Save As… or Export….

To convert files to FLAT, try NCBI BLAST or another comparable tool in the "Bioinformatics Sequence Storage" category.



The FLAT Converter Story

The history of Convert.Guru began over 25 years ago in California with Tom Simondi’s file-format database. A former contributor to Space Shuttle development and a software pioneer of the 1980s, Simondi established a trusted resource for file type analysis that was even referenced by Microsoft Windows XP. Today, we use modern technology to process and convert thousands of file formats while continually improving our FLAT converter.