DROID is a software tool developed by The National Archives to perform automated batch identification of file formats. Developed by our Digital Preservation department as part of its broader digital preservation activities, DROID is designed to meet the fundamental requirement of any digital repository to be able to identify the precise format of all stored digital objects, and to link that identification to a central registry of technical information about that format and its dependencies.
DROID uses internal signatures to identify and report the specific file format and version of digital files. These signatures are stored in an XML signature file, generated from information recorded in the PRONOM technical registry. New and updated signatures are regularly added to PRONOM, and DROID can be configured to automatically download updated signature files.
DROID is free and open source software made available under the New BSD License. The source code can be downloaded from our GitHub repository.
For more information see our DROID: user guide (PDF, 0.65 MB).
Find out more about how to use DROID for information management activities.
Current version
DROID 6.5 onwards provides two download options for users. The first is embedded with Java OpenJDK runtime for Windows users and does not require Java to be installed to run. The second can be run on any system with Java 8 to 17 installed.
DROID 6.8.0 is an update over DROID 6.7.0, that has features, improvements and bug fixes as mentioned below:
Feature
- Export Templates – Ability to customise the Droid CSV export by defining templates
Improvements
- #932 Improvement: Prompt for a new profile creation on closing the preferences dialog
- #938 Improvement: The Windows distributable now includes a 64 bit Java 17 JRE
- #1063 Improvement: Updated commons-httpclient dependency used for signature download
- Updated documentation for CSV columns in export
- Increased the default maximum memory to 1024MB in startup scripts
Fixes
- #561 Bugfix: On Windows, when a profile is closed, the associated profile folder is not deleted
- #1072 Bugfix: Empty columns are not populated with a blank when a file has more than one format identification
- #1011 Bugfix: Mismatch in the format name between GUI and API when identification method is ‘Container’
- #1100 Bugfix: Cancelling the preferences dialog still makes changes to the preferences
- #1072 Fewer elements in data row when exporting profiles per file when some of them have more than one identification
For the full list of enhancements and changes please refer to the GitHub repository here.
Download the current version of DROID (Windows only, contains embedded Java) v6.8.0 (ZIP, 93MB).
SHA256: 68ec8572485ea2c4d571829bd3c4f4f207b215eec9c5bb9e88189a75336e19e7
MD5: 31ea3f91c50df00acb51a4e836539be3
Download the current version of DROID (all platforms) v6.8.0 (ZIP, 49.6MB).
SHA256: 1c4ac222c78fa0b01caf15f3e19d9edfb5c45a3ddab826ef638ea3aea3f00a87
MD5: 025b57aeeb15dc98175f11e347037f47
Development builds of DROID which have the latest features, but do not undergo the same level of testing and quality checks, are available here: https://oss.sonatype.org/content/repositories/snapshots/uk/gov/nationalarchives/droid-binary/.
System requirements
The DROID version without embedded Java runs on any platform with Java 8 to 17 Standard Edition (SE) or OpenJDK installed. A Windows platform is required for the option with embedded Java.
DROID is built and tested on:
- Linux CentOS (Red Hat)
- Microsoft Windows 10 (64 bit)
- Mac OSX (Mojave)
- Mac OSX (Sierra)
- Linux Ubuntu Desktop
Common issues
If you are experiencing issues using DROID try these:
- Check which version (by typing java – version in CMD) of Java is installed and install version 8 to 17 if required
- Check DROID is running from a location on the local machine and not on a shared network/drive
- Close down DROID and delete .droid6 folder (within Windows, usually found here: C:\Users\’username’\.droid6) then restart DROID which will re-create the .droid6 folder
- If using a Linux or OSX operating system you may have to set executable permissions to be allowed to run DROID. You should set the executable permission on the ‘droid.sh’ file. You may also need to set executable permissions on the two .jar files: ‘droid-ui-6.8.0.jar’ and ‘droid-command-line-6.8.0.jar’
For additional support please contact us at PRONOM@nationalarchives.gov.uk.
Support
User support is available from our Google Groups discussion page, ideal for questions about DROID, or assistance getting DROID working. Alternatively you can contact us via email. Bug reports, feature requests, and code contributions should be raised through GitHub Issues. We welcome contributions of new formats and format signatures to the PRONOM registry. If you wish to contribute, please use our online form. Signature Files and their release notes can be found below:
Previous versions
Versions of DROID prior to 6.1 are available from our Sourceforge site.
Versions of DROID 6.1 onwards are available or view the releases in our GitHub page.
Download the previous version of DROID (Windows only, contains embedded Java) v6.7.0 (ZIP, 83.4MB).
SHA256: 110ee3eb73e587bbfe47e9ed05ad4f03177db6bc2378a6593a8083d729361d9a
MD5: 74d35c60d3152b63f2caec365bd0fe52
Download the previous version of DROID (all platforms) v6.7.0 (ZIP, 46.7 MB).
SHA256: 83a3c01d976050a35f3253da487ee31566e89adffa7a7fde0ee12daa56c7fa65
MD5: 17a916c594af3a336830d5cb5d527f21
DroidConvert
DroidConvert transforms a DROID CSV export into the structure required for digital transfers to The National Archives. This is for use by Public Record bodies preparing digital collections for transfer. The Readme included within the download contains information on using this tool.
DroidConvert is designed for Windows systems and has been tested on Windows 7 and 10 operating systems.
SHA256: 765ed27855065c1862b24ccb5d0ed71e87c635888e55be507c9d07a978fa89d3
MD5: deecfc1ad124312d66d33a1da254beb1
The script was written using the Python programming language, the original script can be viewed here.