Document and Entity Information - USD ($) $ in Billions	12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2015	Feb. 23, 2016	Jun. 30, 2015
Statement [Line Items]
Document Type	10-K
Document Period End Date	Dec. 31, 2015
Document Fiscal Year Focus	2015
Document Fiscal Period Focus	FY
Amendment Flag	false
Entity Registrant Name	Digital Realty Trust, Inc.
Entity Central Index Key	0001297996
Entity Current Reporting Status	Yes
Entity Voluntary Filer	No
Entity Well-known Seasoned Issuer	Yes
Current Fiscal Year End Date	--12-31
Entity Filer Category	Large Accelerated Filer
Entity Common Stock, Shares Outstanding		146,482,735
Entity Public Float			$ 9.0
Digital Realty Trust, L.P.
Statement [Line Items]
Document Period End Date	Dec. 31, 2015
Document Fiscal Year Focus	2015
Document Fiscal Period Focus	FY
Entity Registrant Name	Digital Realty Trust, L.P.
Entity Central Index Key	0001494877
Entity Current Reporting Status	Yes
Entity Voluntary Filer	No
Entity Well-known Seasoned Issuer	No
Current Fiscal Year End Date	--12-31
Entity Filer Category	Non-accelerated Filer
Entity Common Stock, Shares Outstanding		0
Entity Public Float			$ 0.0