CONVERT
RTF → TXT
Fast, secure RTF to TXT conversion. No registration required.
DRAG. DROP. DONE.
Upload any file and our engines will handle format detection automatically.
Max 100 MB · Free plan · No signup required
Convert to:
Detecting available formats...
Optimize for
Leave empty to use original name. Extension added automatically.
Uploading...
Processing your file...
Here is the short version — RTF is the 1987-era Rich Text Format, Microsoft's plain-ASCII document interchange format. Hence the need for TXT. A RTF to TXT job turns one office document into another without retyping anything. Styles, pagination and embedded content cross the bridge cleanly because we use the same engine that powers professional document pipelines. Upload a RTF file above, adjust any Advanced options, and download a ready-to-use TXT. One more beat. RTF is the 1987-era Rich Text Format, Microsoft's plain-ASCII document interchange format. Receiving format: TXT is the plain-text format — just characters and line breaks, no formatting.
Rich Text Format
Source formatRTF is a cross-platform document format that supports basic text formatting like bold, italic, fonts, and colors. It is readable by virtually all word processors, making it useful for maximum compatibility.
Plain Text
Target formatTXT files contain unformatted plain text with no styling, images, or layout information. They are universally readable by any device and operating system, making them the simplest document format.
Why convert RTF to TXT
Opening RTF in the tool that natively reads TXT is rarely clean. Converting upstream rebuilds the document in the target format so headings become headings, lists stay lists, and the receiving tool does not flag layout warnings.
HOW TO CONVERT
RTF → TXT
Drop the RTF file
Upload your document — or a ZIP of several documents for batch conversion — through the web form.
Convert through libreoffice
Our libreoffice-based pipeline opens the RTF, preserves structure and typography, and writes the TXT.
Retrieve the document
Click the download button; the TXT is delivered as a single file (or ZIP of files for batch jobs).
Common Use Cases
Email distribution
Office recipients open TXT in their default reader; RTF may arrive with a missing-font warning or layout shift.
Signing and notarisation
TXT is the standard format for DocuSign, Adobe Sign and notary workflows; RTF usually needs converting first.
Contract handoff
Legal teams exchange contracts as TXT because it preserves formatting and supports digital signatures out of the box.
Form distribution
Fillable forms — tax documents, applications, surveys — live in TXT and work on any platform that reads the format.
RTF vs TXT — Strengths and limitations
What each format does best, and where it falls short.
RTF Strengths
- Plain ASCII — portable, grep-able, and diff-friendly.
- Supported by every word processor on every OS since 1990.
- Cannot carry macros or embedded code — relatively safe to open.
- Simple enough to parse by hand or generate with a small script.
- Good interchange format when DOCX compatibility is shaky.
Limitations
- Frozen in 2008 — no modern features (no comments, poor styles, no track changes).
- File sizes are bigger than DOCX for the same content (no compression).
- Images are base64-encoded inline, inflating files further.
TXT Strengths
- Universally readable — every operating system, every editor, every programming language.
- Zero metadata overhead: the file size equals the character count (for ASCII).
- Safe to diff, grep, version-control, and pipe through command-line tools.
- Immune to format obsolescence: a text file from 1970 still opens today.
- Tiny footprint for structured data like logs or configuration.
Limitations
- No styling, images, or embedded structure — just characters.
- Character encoding ambiguity (ISO-8859-1 vs UTF-8 vs Windows-1252) causes "mojibake".
- Line-ending differences between OSes still cause subtle bugs today.
RTF vs TXT — Technical specifications
Side-by-side comparison of the technical details.
| Specification | RTF | TXT |
|---|---|---|
| MIME type | application/rtf | text/plain |
| Extensions | .rtf | — |
| Standard | RTF Specification 1.9.1 (2008) | — |
| Character set | ASCII with Unicode escapes (\u) | — |
| Common encodings | — | UTF-8, UTF-16, ASCII, ISO-8859-1, Windows-1252 |
| Line endings | — | LF (Unix), CRLF (Windows), CR (classic Mac) |
| Max file size | — | Limited only by filesystem (no format-level limit) |
| Structure | — | None — flat sequence of characters |
RTF vs TXT — Typical file sizes
Approximate file sizes for common scenarios.
RTF
- Short formatted letter 15-50 KB
- 20-page report with styling 150 KB - 1 MB
- Document with embedded images 2-20 MB
TXT
- Short note < 1 KB
- README file 2–20 KB
- Full novel (~90,000 words) 500 KB – 1 MB
- Server log file (daily) 10 MB – 1 GB
Quality & Compatibility
Headings, paragraphs, lists, tables, hyperlinks and inline images all survive the conversion with their semantic structure intact. Rare features unique to RTF — legacy macros, form fields, obscure frame styles — are flattened to static content where no direct TXT equivalent exists. Tracked changes, where both formats support them, transfer cleanly.
Tips for Best Results
- Round-tripping between RTF and TXT (converting back and forth) can accumulate small formatting drift — do one conversion and stay in that format.
- If the RTF has tracked changes, accept or reject them before converting to avoid surprises in the TXT output.
- Very long documents split cleanly at existing section breaks; add section breaks deliberately if you need precise page boundaries.
Frequently Asked Questions
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, as long as the fonts are standard (system fonts or common office fonts like Arial, Calibri, Times, Helvetica). Custom corporate fonts survive if they are embedded in the source document; otherwise the conversion substitutes the closest available match, which can shift line breaks by a character or two.
Yes. Inline images are embedded into the TXT at full resolution, editable tables become native TXT tables, and hyperlinks keep their URLs. Complex features unique to RTF — macros, form fields, track-changes — are mapped where an equivalent exists in TXT and flattened into static content otherwise.
All uploads go over TLS, files are processed in isolated containers and both the source and the output are deleted within two hours. No account is required, file contents are never indexed or used for training, and the paid plan adds a signable data-processing agreement for regulated workflows.
Related comparisons
See these formats side by side to understand which fits your use case best.
Related Guides
RTF Rich Text Format: The Complete Technical Guide
Everything about RTF: file structure, control words, groups, character and paragraph formatting, compatibility across Word/LibreOffice/Google Docs, and how to convert RTF files.
Read guideRTF Format: Rich Text Format Document Guide — Structure, Compatibility & Conversion
Learn what RTF files are, how Rich Text Format stores formatted text, why it remains a universal document standard, and how to convert RTF to DOCX, PDF, or ODT.
Read guideRTF Files: Rich Text Format — History, Syntax, and Conversion Guide
Complete guide to RTF (Rich Text Format) files — syntax and control words, encoding, application support, Python/Pandoc conversion to DOCX/PDF/HTML/Markdown, embedded images, and RTF vs DOCX comparison.
Read guideSecure & Private Conversion
Your files are encrypted during transfer, processed in isolated containers, and automatically deleted within 60 minutes. We never read, share, or store your data.