All about DRL Files

The DRL file type is primarily associated with Designer.

DRL	File extension: DRL
	File type:	drill data file

What is a DRL file

DRL files mostly belong to Designer by Altium. The DRL file contains data used for the purpose of producing a printed circuit board (PCB) based on the Gerber standard of specifications.

• Main use: The DRL file includes information with regards to the drill sizes and the drilling tools, used for the purpose of designing and manufacturing PCB boards. DRL files extension stands for Gerber Drill Rack files. These files are also often referred to as the Excellon drill files. DRL files are supported by the Mac, Windows and the Linux operating systems.
• Other usage: The Cenon software supports the creation and modification of DRL files over the Mac and Linux operating systems. The Windows operating system has multiple programs which support the DRL file format, some of which are Altium Designer, FreePCB and Pentalogix ViewMate.

How do you open DRL files?

You need a suitable software like Designer to open a DRL file. Without proper software you will receive a Windows message "How do you want to open this file?" or "Windows cannot open this file" or a similar Mac/iPhone/Android alert. If you cannot open your DRL file correctly, try to right-click or long-press the file. Then click "Open with" and choose an application. You can also display a DRL file directly in the browser:. Just drag the file onto this browser window and drop it.

Online DRL Text Viewer

Choose your .drl file to analyze

or drag and drop it here

Online File Viewer

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DRL file format:

If you can determine the file format, the associated program can also be determined. Often, the file format can be deduced from the file extension or the initial bytes (called the signature). If the file extension does not match the file format, double-clicking on the file will cause an error upon opening. So a detailed analysis of a file is vital in order to determine the format and the associated program. Our examination of the DRL files comes to the following conclusion:

DRL is a very widely used file extension. The file type includes various formats for various programs. But the following two file formats are common:

• 35% of all DRL files start with the magic bytes M48, which are always the first bytes of this file format. These files are text files, so they contain words and text. Most of these files are 280 bytes to 10 KB in size. The file type was developed only in the last few years. Several words can almost always be found in the files, e.g. INCH, KiCad, METRIC, DRILL file, FORMAT, absolute and date. A common filename is Through.drl. Files like these are sometimes connected to npth, drill, gerber, heater, induction, board, ncdrill, hotswap and bottom.
• 10% of all DRL files start with the magic bytes 3B 4C, which are always the first bytes of this file format. These files are text files and can therefore be read using a text editor. The files are often between 420 bytes and 17 KB in size. Certain words are almost always found in the files, such as ;CODE : ASCII, ;LEADER: 12, FILE, Holesize 1, layers TOP and BOTTOM, ;HEADER, Tolerance, drl for, 000000, DESIGN and PLATED. An example of a file name is Gerber_Drill_PTH.DRL or Gerber_Drill_NPTH.DRL. These files can be linked to module.

All other DRL files (55%) have no uniform format, often, for example, Drazlace bitmap, Source, XML, EXE, Drill and FSLAX. Often described as rules, ball, compliance, data, panel, shots, hole, kick or rule. Just click the "Choose your .drl file to analyze" button on this page to find out what your DRL file is.