BDOC File

What are BDOC files and how to open them

Are you having problems opening a BDOC file or are you simply curious about its contents? We're here to explain the properties of these files and provide you with software that can open or handle your BDOC files.

What is a BDOC file?

A .BDOC file is a Binary Document Container file.

Binary Document Container files are digitally signed archives used in Estonia and other Baltic countries to bundle one or more original documents together with their digital signatures, certificate data, and metadata. They serve to authenticate who signed the documents, when, and under what policy, enabling strong legal verification of signed content in digital transactions. These files are produced according to the BDOC 2.1 specification (Estonian standard EVS 821:2014) by tools implementing the DigiDoc ecosystem.

This format relies on established European technical standards: it follows the Associated Signature Container Extended (ASiC-E) variant as defined by ETSI, using XAdES signatures and the ASiC baseline profile. The container is a ZIP archive. Inside it, there is a file called "mimetype" (stored uncompressed) declaring the media type "application/vnd.etsi.asic-e+zip", plus a "META-INF/manifest.xml" file listing the signed data files and their media types. The actual digital signatures are stored in one or more XML files within "META-INF/", each named to include "signatures", and their root element is <asic:XAdESSignatures>. All files inside (except "mimetype" and those in META-INF) are referenced explicitly in the signature(s) and are considered signed.

In technical identification, these files begin with the standard ZIP file signature (bytes 0x50 0x4B 0x03 0x04) at the very start. Embedded within the archive are specific entries such as "META-INF", "MIMETYPE", "manifest.xml", and XML-based signature files. The mime-type is declared internally as "application/vnd.etsi.asic-e+zip".

How to open BDOC files

Important: Different programs may use files with the BDOC file extension for different purposes, so unless you are sure which format your BDOC file is, you may need to try a few different programs.

While we have not verified the apps ourselves yet, our users have suggested five different BDOC openers which you will find listed below.

Last updated: August 23, 2026

Various apps that use files with this extension

These apps are known to open certain types of BDOC files. Remember, different programs may use BDOC files for different purposes, so you may need to try out a few of them to be able to open your specific file.

Help us help others

File.org helps thousands of users every day, and we would love to hear from you if you have additional information about BDOC file formats, example files, or compatible programs. Please use the links below or email us at submit@file.org to discuss further.