DDB Converter

Extract text from DDB files

Select File
Drop or upload your .DDB file

Online File Converter

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How to extract text from your DDB file

Click the "Select File" button above, and choose your DDB file.
You’ll see a preview, if available.
Click the "Convert file to..." button to extract text information.

Convert DDB to another file type

To convert your DDB file to another format, you need Altium Designer or other Database software.

Convert a file to DDB

To convert other file formats to the "PCB Design Container" file type, you need software like Altium Designer or a similar tool.

About DDB files

The .DDB file extension is most historically significant as a Protel 99 SE Design Database, a legacy format used in electronic design automation (EDA). These files function as a container (similar to a ZIP or OLE compound file) that encapsulates an entire electronics project, including SCH (schematics), PCB (board layouts), and library data. While efficient in the late 90s, this format is now a major bottleneck for modern engineering workflows.

Common Friction Points:
1. Proprietary Lock-in: The format is largely deprecated. Opening a .DDB file requires legacy software or the specific "Import Wizard" found in expensive suites like Altium Designer.
2. Corruption Risk: The internal "virtual file system" of Protel DDBs is notorious for corruption if the software crashes, potentially locking away weeks of design work.
3. Inaccessibility: You cannot view the internal schematics or PCB layers in standard web browsers or generic CAD viewers without conversion.

Best Conversion Targets:

For Modern Editing: Convert to Altium Project (PrjPcb, SchDoc, PcbDoc) format. This extracts the internal files into a standard Windows folder structure, making them accessible to current EDA tools.
For Manufacturing: Convert the internal layout data to Gerber X2 or ODB++ files so PCB fabrication houses can read the design.
For Archiving/Viewing: Convert the schematics to PDF. This allows non-engineers to review the design without purchasing a $10,000+ software license.

*Note: .DDB is also used by Avid Pro Tools (Digidesign Database) and Vocaloid (voicebank dictionary). These are system-generated cache or data files and generally should not be manually converted, but rather managed or regenerated by the software.*

Convert.Guru analyzes your DDB file, detects the exact format, and lets you read the text inside.

Users also converted DDS, DDBX, DBK, JPG, DB, BKP, ROZ, CSV, IFO, ZIP, DMP, PNG and DAT files.

FAQ

If you want to convert DDB file to JPG, PDF, PNG, GIF, BMP, TIFF, TIF, WEBP, ICO, CUR, PSD or PSB, you can use Altium Designer or similar software from the "Electronic Design Database" category. In the File menu, look for Save As… or Export….

To convert RAW, PNG, AI, NEF, PSB, DNG, SVG, GIF, EPS, JPG, ARW or PDF files to DDB, try Altium Designer or another comparable tool in the "Electronic Design Database" category.

The DDB Converter Story

The history of Convert.Guru began over 25 years ago in California with Tom Simondi’s file-format database. A former contributor to Space Shuttle development and a software pioneer of the 1980s, Simondi established a trusted resource for file type analysis that was even referenced by Microsoft Windows XP. Today, we use modern technology to process and convert thousands of file formats while continually improving our DDB converter.