3. Intangible Assets, Goodwill and Other (Details) - USD ($) $ in Thousands	3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2018	Dec. 31, 2017
Goodwill [Line Items]
Goodwill	$ 563,600	$ 559,300
Accumulated impairment loss	(53,200)	(53,200)
Goodwill, net	510,359	506,069
Goodwill, Written off Related to Sale of Business Unit	(1,400)
Currency fluctuations	5,700
Life Science [Member]
Goodwill [Line Items]
Goodwill	234,800	234,700
Accumulated impairment loss	(35,900)	(35,900)
Goodwill, net	198,900	198,800
Goodwill, Written off Related to Sale of Business Unit	0
Currency fluctuations	100
Clinical Diagnostics [Member]
Goodwill [Line Items]
Goodwill	328,800	324,600
Accumulated impairment loss	(17,300)	(17,300)
Goodwill, net	311,500	$ 307,300
Goodwill, Written off Related to Sale of Business Unit	(1,400)
Currency fluctuations	$ 5,600

Amount after accumulated impairment loss of an asset representing future economic benefits arising from other assets acquired in a business combination that are not individually identified and separately recognized.

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 350
-SubTopic 20
-Section 50
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (a)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=35741047&loc=d3e13816-109267

Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 350
-SubTopic 20
-Section 45
-Paragraph 1
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6388280&loc=d3e13770-109266

Reference 3: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 350
-SubTopic 20
-Section 45
-Paragraph 5
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=77989000&loc=SL49117168-202975

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_Goodwill
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Amount of foreign currency translation gain (loss) which increases (decreases) an asset representing future economic benefits from other assets acquired in a business combination that are not individually identified and separately recognized.

+ References

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_GoodwillForeignCurrencyTranslationGainLoss
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Amount before accumulated impairment loss of an asset representing future economic benefits arising from other assets acquired in a business combination that are not individually identified and separately recognized.

+ References

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_GoodwillGross
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Amount of accumulated impairment loss for an asset representing future economic benefits arising from other assets acquired in a business combination that are not individually identified and separately recognized.

+ References

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_GoodwillImpairedAccumulatedImpairmentLoss
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_GoodwillLineItems
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Amount of divestiture of an asset representing future economic benefits arising from other assets acquired in a business combination that are not individually identified and separately recognized.

+ References

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_GoodwillWrittenOffRelatedToSaleOfBusinessUnit
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	duration

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_StatementBusinessSegmentsAxis=bio_LifeScienceMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_StatementBusinessSegmentsAxis=bio_ClinicalDiagnosticsMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type: