DDD files: what they are and how to open them

In short

• A DDD file is the file a download tool saves from a driver card or a vehicle unit.
• The name usually ends in .ddd. Some download tools and countries use other extensions, such as .tgd, .esm, .c1b or .v1b. TachoTrace reads all of them.
• The file holds binary records with a digital signature, so a text editor shows only unreadable characters.
• To open it, upload it with Upload downloads. The type is recognised from the content, not from the name or extension.

What is inside

A driver card download holds the driver's own record, across every vehicle they drove:

• the card and driver identification;
• activities day by day: driving, other work, availability and rest;
• the vehicles used, with odometer readings;
• the places where daily work periods began and ended;
• events and faults recorded on the card.

A vehicle unit download holds what the vehicle recorded, whoever drove it:

• the vehicle's activity, with the cards inserted and withdrawn;
• events and faults, such as driving without an appropriate card or a power supply interruption;
• calibration records;
• detailed speed data, if your download tool includes it.

Upload both. A vehicle unit file links activity to a driver only while that driver's card was inserted, so driving without a card cannot be linked to anyone from the vehicle unit alone.

How to open a DDD file

1. Sign in to TachoTrace.
2. Select Upload downloads at the top of any page and choose the file. You can choose several files at once, or a ZIP archive of them.
3. Source files lists each file with its status, and the page updates when processing finishes.
4. Open the driver in Drivers. Their timeline shows one lane per day, with driving, other work, availability and rest.

See What you can upload for sizes, ZIP archives and duplicate files.

What you see

• On every plan: driver timelines and daily totals, and the signature check of every file. Free shows your 5 most recently active drivers for the last 90 days, with counts of possible infringements and gaps.
• On Standard and Pro: findings against the driving time and rest rules of Regulation (EC) No 561/2006 with the records behind each one, gaps and data health, and the driver card and vehicle unit side by side.

See Plans, seats and storage and EU driving and rest time rules.

The digital signature

Each download carries a digital signature made by the card or the vehicle unit. TachoTrace checks it for every file and shows the result next to the file.

• Downloading copies the data together with its digital signature (Regulation (EU) No 165/2014, Article 2(2)(n)).
• A file that was edited or re-saved no longer matches its signature. Upload the file exactly as your download tool saved it.

See Signature verification.

Keep the original files

• Download each driver card at least every 28 days (Regulation (EU) No 581/2010, Article 1(3)(b)) and each vehicle unit at least every 90 days (Article 1(3)(a)). See Downloading driver cards and Downloading vehicle units.
• The transport undertaking must keep downloaded data for at least 12 months (Regulation (EC) No 561/2006, Article 10(5)(a)(ii)).
• TachoTrace is not your statutory archive. Keep your own copies of every DDD file.