Typically, bulldozers are large and powerful tracked heavy equipment. The tracks give them excellent traction and mobility through very rough terrain. Wide tracks also help distribute the vehicle's weight over a large area (decreasing ground pressure), thus preventing it from sinking in sandy or muddy ground. Extra-wide tracks are known as swamp tracks or low ground pressure (lgp) tracks. Bulldozers have transmission systems designed to take advantage of the track system and provide excellent tractive force.

These traits allow bulldozers to excel in road building, construction, mining, forestry, land clearing, infrastructure development, and any other projects requiring highly mobile, powerful, and stable earth-moving equipment.

A variant is the all-wheel-drive wheeled bulldozer, which generally has four large rubber-tired wheels, hydraulically operated articulated steering, and a hydraulically actuated blade mounted forward of the articulation joint.

The bulldozer's primary tools are the blade and the ripper: