diff --git a/core/rawdb/accessors_chain.go b/core/rawdb/accessors_chain.go
index a586046d5f..d03bb1250f 100644
--- a/core/rawdb/accessors_chain.go
+++ b/core/rawdb/accessors_chain.go
@@ -726,6 +726,14 @@ func writeAncientBlock(op ethdb.AncientWriteOp, block *types.Block, header *type
 	if err := op.Append(ChainFreezerReceiptTable, num, receipts); err != nil {
 		return fmt.Errorf("can't append block %d receipts: %v", num, err)
 	}
+	// TODO (rjl493456442) TD has been deprecated and write garbage data for
+	// backward compatibility. See https://github.com/ethereum/go-ethereum/pull/30744/.
+	//
+	// The TD freezer table is retained for backward compatibility within this
+	// major version (1.14.x) and will be discarded in the next major version.
+	if err := op.Append(ChainFreezerDifficultyTable, num, big.NewInt(0)); err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("can't append block %d total difficulty: %v", num, err)
+	}
 	return nil
 }
 
diff --git a/core/rawdb/ancient_scheme.go b/core/rawdb/ancient_scheme.go
index 54a3be391f..371fd384ad 100644
--- a/core/rawdb/ancient_scheme.go
+++ b/core/rawdb/ancient_scheme.go
@@ -35,15 +35,19 @@ const (
 
 	// ChainFreezerReceiptTable indicates the name of the freezer receipts table.
 	ChainFreezerReceiptTable = "receipts"
+
+	// ChainFreezerDifficultyTable indicates the name of the freezer total difficulty table.
+	ChainFreezerDifficultyTable = "diffs"
 )
 
 // chainFreezerNoSnappy configures whether compression is disabled for the ancient-tables.
 // Hashes and difficulties don't compress well.
 var chainFreezerNoSnappy = map[string]bool{
-	ChainFreezerHeaderTable:  false,
-	ChainFreezerHashTable:    true,
-	ChainFreezerBodiesTable:  false,
-	ChainFreezerReceiptTable: false,
+	ChainFreezerHeaderTable:     false,
+	ChainFreezerHashTable:       true,
+	ChainFreezerBodiesTable:     false,
+	ChainFreezerReceiptTable:    false,
+	ChainFreezerDifficultyTable: true,
 }
 
 const (