EDI translator for X12 files: raw segments in, readable data out

If you searched for an EDI translator, you probably need one of two things. Either your company has to exchange EDI with a trading partner and needs software that produces and consumes it automatically, or someone sent you a file full of asterisks and tildes and you need to know what it says. This page explains both, says plainly which one EDI Studio is, and points to the right tool for the other.

The two kinds of EDI translator

The two are not rivals. A company that trades EDI needs an integration translator to do the trading. A file translator is what its people open when that system produces a document a partner rejects, or when an implementation guide and a real file disagree.

What EDI Studio translates

EDI Studio is a desktop application for macOS and Windows. It opens an X12 interchange from your disk and translates it four ways, all on your own machine:

• Raw X12 into a structured tree. Interchange, functional group, transaction set, loops and segments, nested the way the standard defines them.
• Codes into plain English. Hover any element for its name, its requirement and length rules, and what a qualifier means: N1*ST is Ship To, DTM*002 is Delivery Requested, EA is Each. The built-in dictionary covers 72 segments.
• The document into JSON. The JSON tab shows the interchange as data: the envelope's sender, receiver, date and control number, then every segment with its elements in order. The toolbar exports it to a .json file for a script or a ticket.
• Errors into a list you can act on. Validation runs against built-in rules for the 850, 855, 856, 810, 997, 940, 943, 944 and 945, groups findings by the root cause behind them, and exports the list as CSV. Other X12 transaction sets open and parse, with a warning that no rules are loaded for them.

It also writes back. Edit a value or a segment and EDI Studio saves valid X12 to disk, with the segment and envelope counts kept correct.

A short example

Here is the heart of a purchase order as a trading partner sends it, the transaction set from ST to SE:

ST*850*0001~
BEG*00*SA*4500123456**20260915~
DTM*002*20260922~
N1*ST*Big Retail DC 14*92*0014~
PO1*1*48*EA*12.50**UP*012345678905~
CTT*1~
SE*7*0001~

Translated, which is what EDI Studio shows when you click through the segments:

And an excerpt of the same file in EDI Studio's JSON export, which keeps the X12 shape so nothing is lost on the way:

{
  "envelope": { "sender": "ACMEFOODS", "receiver": "BIGRETAIL",
                "date": "260915", "time": "1432", "controlNumber": "000000123" },
  "fileName": "PO_4500123456.edi",
  "transactionType": "850",
  "transactionName": "Purchase Order",
  "parsedAt": "2026-10-02T14:05:11.0000000+00:00",
  "segmentCount": 11,
  "segments": [
    …
    { "id": "BEG", "elements": ["00", "SA", "4500123456", "", "20260915"] },
    { "id": "DTM", "elements": ["002", "20260922"] },
    …
  ]
}

For a segment-by-segment reading of a complete 850, envelope included, see how to read an X12 850 purchase order.

What EDI Studio does not translate

• Into your ERP. It does not map an 850 into a sales order in NetSuite, SAP or QuickBooks, or build an 810 from your invoices. That is an integration translator's job.
• To or from your partners. No AS2, SFTP or VAN. It reads and writes files on your disk.
• EDIFACT. X12 only.
• Into spreadsheet rows. The JSON export keeps the X12 structure, and the CSV export is the validation report. If you need line items as CSV rows, OrderSync's browser translator outputs CSV, and an integration translator can map to any layout.

Which EDI translator do you need?

• You trade EDI with a retailer, distributor or 3PL and want orders in and invoices out without retyping: an integration translator or an EDI provider. If you can host and map it yourself, Bots-EDI and BlueSeer are free and open source.
• You need to read one file now and it is fine to open in a browser: a free browser translator. EdiNation and OrderSync both state that the file stays in your browser.
• You read, check or fix X12 every week, work on a Mac, or handle files you would rather not paste into a website: a desktop file translator such as EDI Studio, next to whatever does your trading.

File translators compared

Checked October 2026 against each vendor's own page; they change, so confirm before you rely on one. For viewers that do not translate, see EDI viewers compared.