Let $X,X_1,X_2,\ldots$ be i.i.d. ${\mathbb{R}}^d$-valued real random vectors. Assume that ${\mathbf{E}X=0}$, $\operatorname {cov}X=\mathbb{C}$, $\mathbf{E}\Vert X\Vert^2=σ^2$ and that $X$ is not concentrated in a proper subspace of $\mathbb{R}^d$. Let $G$ be a mean zero Gaussian random vector with the same covariance operator as that of $X$. We study the distributions of nondegenerate quadratic forms $\mathbb{Q}[S_N]$ of the normalized sums ${S_N=N^{-1/2}(X_1+\cdots+X_N)}$ and show that, without any additional conditions, \[Δ_N\stackrel{\mathrm{def}}{=}\sup_x\bigl |\mathbf{P}\bigl\{\mathbb{Q}[S_N]\leq x\bigr\}-\mathbf{P}\bigl\{\mathbb{Q}[G]\leq x\bigr\}\bigr|={\mathcal{O}}\bigl(N^{-1}\bigr),\] provided that $d\geq5$ and the fourth moment of $X$ exists. Furthermore, we provide explicit bounds of order ${\mathcal{O}}(N^{-1})$ for $Δ_N$ for the rate of approximation by short asymptotic expansions and for the concentration functions of the random variables $\mathbb{Q}[S_N+a]$, $a\in{\mathbb{R}}^d$. The order of the bound is optimal. It extends previous results of Bentkus and Götze [Probab. Theory Related Fields 109 (1997a) 367-416] (for ${d\ge9}$) to the case $d\ge5$, which is the smallest possible dimension for such a bound. Moreover, we show that, in the finite dimensional case and for isometric $\mathbb{Q}$, the implied constant in ${\mathcal{O}}(N^{-1})$ has the form $c_dσ^d(\det\mathbb{C})^{-1/2}\mathbf {E}\|\mathbb{C}^{-1/2}X\|^4$ with some $c_d$ depending on $d$ only. This answers a long standing question about optimal rates in the central limit theorem for quadratic forms starting with a seminal paper by Esséen [Acta Math. 77 (1945) 1-125].