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Accessing Ensembl Data

Ensembl data is available through a number of routes - which you choose depends on the amount and type of data you wish to fetch. Please note that Ensembl coordinates always have a one-based start.

Small quantities of data

Many of the pages displaying Ensembl genomic data offer an export option, suitable for small amounts of data, e.g. a single gene sequence.

Click on the 'Export data' button in the lefthand menu of most pages to export:

  • FASTA sequence
  • GTF or GFF features

...and more!

Fast programmatic access

For fast access in any programming language, we recommend using our REST server. Various REST endpoints provide access to vast amounts of Ensembl data.

Complete datasets and databases

Many datasets, e.g. all genes for a species, are available to download in a variety of formats from our FTP site.

Entire databases are also available via FTP as MySQL dumps.

All data produced by the Ensembl project is freely available for your own use.