{"id":20201,"date":"2026-03-31T01:50:25","date_gmt":"2026-03-31T01:50:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/blog\/?p=20201"},"modified":"2026-04-03T13:09:02","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T13:09:02","slug":"what-germany-got-right-about-your-backup-data","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/blog\/what-germany-got-right-about-your-backup-data","title":{"rendered":"What Germany got right about open formats, and how it relates to your backup data"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Germany just made a bold move<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>In March 2026, the German government published the \u201cDeutschland-Stack\u201d. It\u2019s a governance framework that sets technical requirements across all German government levels.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The framework mandates that government documents must be stored in either ODF (OpenDocument Format) or PDF\/UA from 2028 onwards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That means Microsoft\u2019s proprietary formats \u2014 the ones behind .docx, .xlsx, and .pptx files \u2014 are&nbsp;<strong>banned<\/strong>&nbsp;in just a few years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/itsfoss.com\/news\/germany-digital-stack-mandate\/\" target=\"_blank\">Read the full story at IT\u2019s FOSS<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"294\" src=\"https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/app\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/03\/open_vs_proprietary_branded_v3-1024x294.jpg\" alt=\"Graphic illustrating open versus proprietary formats, using padlock symbols to show accessibility differences between the two.\" class=\"wp-image-20204\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/app\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/03\/open_vs_proprietary_branded_v3-1024x294.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/app\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/03\/open_vs_proprietary_branded_v3-300x86.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/app\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/03\/open_vs_proprietary_branded_v3-768x220.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/app\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/03\/open_vs_proprietary_branded_v3-1536x441.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/app\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/03\/open_vs_proprietary_branded_v3-2048x588.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-text-color has-background has-very-dark-gray-background-color has-very-dark-gray-color\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">When You Cannot Read Your Own Data<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Germany\u2019s decision makes a lot of sense when you think about what happens to data over time. Creating a file is easy. Being able to open it 10 or 20 years later is a different problem entirely \u2014 and it is one that catches people off guard, usually at the worst possible moment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Back in the early days of BackupAssist, around 2005, we received a call from an IT administrator who had a serious problem. He needed to recover data from a backup tape that was about 7 years old. He had the tape. But the backup software that created it \u2014 a product called ArcServe \u2014 had changed its data format in a newer version. To read the tape, he needed to install the old version of the software. That old version would not run on Windows 2000. And he no longer had access to any older machines. The data was sitting right there in his hands, and he could not get to it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That story stuck with us. But it is not the only one. Around the same time, we briefly resold a consumer backup product called WinBackup, made by a company called LI Utilities out of Malta.&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.osnews.com\/story\/2805\/review-of-winbackup\/\" target=\"_blank\">An early review of WinBackup gives a sense of what the product promised at the time<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.osnews.com\/story\/2805\/review-of-winbackup\/\">.<\/a>&nbsp;It stored backup data in its own proprietary format \u2014 a .WBB file. The company eventually stopped developing the product and disappeared entirely. Anyone who used WinBackup and still has those encrypted .WBB files today almost certainly has no way to recover that data. The files exist. The data is gone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/app\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/03\/Data-exists-1-1024x281.jpg\" alt=\"Illustration of legacy storage devices including a floppy disk and tape reel with a question mark, representing uncertainty around outdated formats.\" class=\"wp-image-20203\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/app\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/03\/Data-exists-1-1024x281.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/app\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/03\/Data-exists-1-300x82.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/app\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/03\/Data-exists-1-768x211.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/app\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/03\/Data-exists-1-1536x421.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/app\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/03\/Data-exists-1-2048x562.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>This is the hidden risk of proprietary data formats. It is not just about software becoming outdated. It is about what happens when a vendor changes direction, gets acquired, or simply shuts down. When your data is locked inside a format that only 1 company&#8217;s tools can read, you are not really in control of your own data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Think about it this way: if a vendor locks your data in a proprietary format and you can only access it using their tools, what is the practical difference between that and ransomware? In both cases, someone else is holding the key.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-text-color has-background has-very-dark-gray-background-color has-very-dark-gray-color\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The fix is simple: use open formats<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The solution is straightforward, and it is exactly what Germany has done: use open or well-documented formats. A zip file is a good example \u2014 zip was introduced in 1989, and you can still open one today without a second thought. The format is documented, widely understood, and not controlled by any single vendor. That is what long-term accessibility looks like.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At BackupAssist, this is not just a talking point \u2014 it shapes how we build our product. Drive image backups are stored as VHDX files, a well-documented format that Microsoft&#8217;s own tools can open. You can back up to zip. When we back up Microsoft 365 data, we store it as plain files on your local file system, not inside a proprietary container. You can read more about how we approach this in our detailed write-up on&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/blog\/your-data-is-your-data-how-backupassist-classic-is-designed-with-careful-data-handling-in-mind\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">data accessibility and careful data handling<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The reason is simple: we believe you own your data, and real ownership means being able to use it whenever you want \u2014 with or without us.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We once took a call from an IT administrator who had a backup with no faults, and still could not recover a thing. Germany&#8217;s latest policy decision explains exactly why that happens \u2014 and how to avoid it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":20205,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[771],"tags":[93,19],"class_list":["post-20201","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-backupassist-classic","tag-backup","tag-backupassist"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>What Germany got right about open formats, and how it relates to your backup data - Cyber Resilience Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Germany banned proprietary file formats in government. Lesson: locking backup data in proprietary formats is a hidden risk you may only notice too late.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/blog\/what-germany-got-right-about-your-backup-data\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What Germany got right about open formats, and how it relates to your backup data - Cyber Resilience Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Germany banned proprietary file formats in government. Lesson: locking backup data in proprietary formats is a hidden risk you may only notice too late.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/blog\/what-germany-got-right-about-your-backup-data\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Cyber Resilience Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-03-31T01:50:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-04-03T13:09:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/app\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/03\/germany-backup.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"969\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Linus Chang\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Linus Chang\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/blog\/what-germany-got-right-about-your-backup-data#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/blog\/what-germany-got-right-about-your-backup-data\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Linus Chang\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/523a9a01769da254de228dbd4b1328d3\"},\"headline\":\"What Germany got right about open formats, and how it relates to your backup data\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-03-31T01:50:25+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-04-03T13:09:02+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/blog\/what-germany-got-right-about-your-backup-data\"},\"wordCount\":635,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/blog\/what-germany-got-right-about-your-backup-data#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/app\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/03\/germany-backup.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Backup\",\"BackupAssist\"],\"articleSection\":[\"BackupAssist Classic\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/blog\/what-germany-got-right-about-your-backup-data#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/blog\/what-germany-got-right-about-your-backup-data\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/blog\/what-germany-got-right-about-your-backup-data\",\"name\":\"What Germany got right about open formats, and how it relates to your backup data - Cyber Resilience Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/blog\/what-germany-got-right-about-your-backup-data#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/blog\/what-germany-got-right-about-your-backup-data#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/app\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/03\/germany-backup.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-03-31T01:50:25+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-04-03T13:09:02+00:00\",\"description\":\"Germany banned proprietary file formats in government. 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He founded BackupAssist in 2002 \u2014 making him one of the longest-standing voices in Windows backup and data protection \u2014 and has spent the decades since talking to IT administrators around the world about what actually goes wrong, and why. His interest in data loss isn't abstract. Early in his career, he was working at the Monash University help desk when a student came in with a floppy disk that wouldn't read. They tried everything. None of their drives could read it either. The disk held her entire PhD dissertation \u2014 years of work \u2014 and it was the only copy. She broke down in tears. There was nothing he could do. Five years later, he wrote the first version of BackupAssist. Linus holds a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and has held Microsoft Certified Solution Developer and Sun Certified Java Programmer credentials. More recently, he has completed digital forensics and cyber-security courses through the Black Hat Conference. 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He founded BackupAssist in 2002 \u2014 making him one of the longest-standing voices in Windows backup and data protection \u2014 and has spent the decades since talking to IT administrators around the world about what actually goes wrong, and why. His interest in data loss isn't abstract. Early in his career, he was working at the Monash University help desk when a student came in with a floppy disk that wouldn't read. They tried everything. None of their drives could read it either. The disk held her entire PhD dissertation \u2014 years of work \u2014 and it was the only copy. She broke down in tears. There was nothing he could do. Five years later, he wrote the first version of BackupAssist. Linus holds a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and has held Microsoft Certified Solution Developer and Sun Certified Java Programmer credentials. More recently, he has completed digital forensics and cyber-security courses through the Black Hat Conference. He has spoken on information security and cryptography at Infosecurity Europe, addressed politicians and policymakers at Australian Parliament House, presented to SMB IT administrators at the IT Pro Experts Conference, and served as a guest lecturer to Cyber Security master's students at the University of Melbourne. On this blog, Linus writes about backup strategy and the technical side of cyber-resilience \u2014 drawing on 24 years of product development and direct conversation with the IT professionals BackupAssist is built for. [Connect with Linus on LinkedIn](https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/linuschang\/)","url":"https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/blog\/author\/linus-chang"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20201","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20201"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20201\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20218,"href":"https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20201\/revisions\/20218"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20205"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20201"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20201"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20201"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}