What is a .FASTA file?
FASTA stores DNA, RNA or protein sequences as plain text, central to bioinformatics.
- Did you know
- The FASTA format dates from a 1985 sequence-search program of the same name.
- FASTA grew out of FASTP and FASTN by David Lipman and William Pearson, with the name standing for “FAST-All” to cover both protein and nucleotide searches.
- Each record begins with a description line marked by a greater-than sign, a convention so simple it became a cornerstone of bioinformatics.
- What Analyser reads
- Open scientific, medical and engineering files: DICOM scans, NIfTI brain volumes, Garmin FIT/TCX activities, FITS astronomy frames, FASTA/FASTQ sequences, chemistry structures (MOL/SDF/MOL2/CIF/XYZ), Gerber/Excellon PCB data, SPICE netlists, EDF/BDF biosignals, JCAMP-DX spectra, SPSS/Stata/SAS datasets and VTK/ParaView meshes - metadata extracted entirely in-browser.
- Depth of analysis
- .FASTA is an identification-grade format: Analyser recognises it from its bytes and decodes the header metadata it carries, rather than opening it in a full viewer. Formats that do get a full viewer are marked "Full" on the formats page.
- Open a .FASTA file
- Drag a .FASTA file onto the Analyser home page (or tap to pick one). It is identified entirely in your browser - nothing is uploaded, there is no account, and it works offline once installed.