Tech docs · Protocol

Codec 8 · 8 Extended · 16

Teltonika devices do not use a closed proprietary protocol. The entire FMC/FMM/FMB/TAT/TFT family speaks Codec 8, Codec 8 Extended or Codec 16: three documented binary protocols any fleet platform can parse.

01 · Philosophy

Why open matters

If you change platform tomorrow, you keep the devices. You are not locked into a specific piece of software. A separate question is where you connect them: parsing the protocol is one part; turning those packets into real fleet management (map, geofencing, alerts, historical reports, high availability) is a project in itself.

02 · Variants

The three codecs

Codec Designed for I/O elements
Codec 8 Standard AVL telemetry 1 byte per ID (up to 255)
Codec 8 Extended CAN buses with lots of I/O (FMC150, FMC650) 2 bytes per ID (up to 65535) + variable payload
Codec 16 When the device needs to mark which event triggers the send Codec 8 + generation type per record
03 · Wire format

AVL packet structure

[Preamble:        4 bytes 0x00000000]
[Data length:     4 bytes]
[Codec ID:        1 byte  (0x08, 0x8E or 0x10)]
[Number of data:  1 byte]
[AVL data:        timestamp + priority + GPS + I/O]
[Number of data:  1 byte  (same value)]
[CRC-16/IBM:      4 bytes]
04 · Integrations

Platforms that already speak it

  • TraccarOpen source, full Codec 8/8E/16 support. Self-hosted.
  • WialonCommercial, Teltonika decoder out of the box.
  • FlespiMQTT broker with integrated decoder, useful if your stack is event-driven.
  • Fleet CompleteTeltonika IMEI recognised by default.
  • GPSWOX · Mapon · OneStepGPSConfirmed.
05 · DIY

If you want to parse it yourself

The device opens a TCP/UDP connection to the host:port you configure (via FOTA Web or Configurator). The server receives binary packets, validates the CRC and unpacks. Reference parsers exist in Python, Go and Node on GitHub — search "Teltonika Codec 8". Useful as a starting point.

Going from a demo parser to a production platform is not trivial: persistent TCP sessions with thousands of devices, keepalive and reconnection, historical storage (a 200-vehicle fleet generates on the order of gigabytes per month of raw telemetry), I/O ID table different per model with its scale and unit, parameter-by-parameter CAN decoding, map, alerts, geofencing, reports, and downlink commands with their own CRC validation. That is why most fleets connect to a specialised platform rather than maintaining their own.

06 · Configuration

How to switch codec

  • Configurator (USB) — Teltonika Windows software. Connect the device, change the parameter and save.
  • FOTA Web — remote configuration task, applied to a group of IMEIs.
07 · Reference

Official documentation

The Teltonika codec spec holds the exact binary reference, packet examples and I/O ID tables per model.