RTF File: What It Is, How to Open One and How to Convert It To or From PDF
Rich Text Format still turns up in old exports and templates. Here's what opens it, and when a PDF or Word file is the better choice.
An RTF file is a Rich Text Format document: text with basic formatting like bold, fonts, colors and tables, readable by Word, LibreOffice and TextEdit. You open one in Microsoft Word, LibreOffice Writer or TextEdit on a Mac, and you can turn it into a PDF (or a PDF back into RTF) for free.
What an RTF File Is
Rich Text Format is a document format the Microsoft Word team created in the 1980s for moving documents between programs. The last version of the specification, 1.9.1, dates from 2008, and Microsoft hasn't added to it since.
Inside, an RTF file is plain text full of formatting codes. Every program reads those codes its own way, so the same file can lay out a little differently in Word than in LibreOffice. A file that doesn't set a paper size gets US Letter, the default in the RTF specification.
How to Open an RTF File
- Windows: Microsoft Word or the free LibreOffice Writer. Microsoft says WordPad is removed from all editions starting with Windows 11, version 24H2, which leaves Windows with no built-in default RTF reader until you install one of these.
- Mac: TextEdit opens and saves RTF out of the box. It's TextEdit's default format.
To save a document as RTF, use File, then Save As in Word or LibreOffice and pick Rich Text Format (.rtf).
RTF Compared With PDF, DOCX and TXT
This is a rough guide to where each format fits. The size row is what we measured, and the next section has the figures.
| Feature | RTF | DOCX | TXT | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Formatting Preservation | Excellent | Good | Excellent | None |
| Editability | Limited | Excellent | Excellent | Excellent |
| File Size | Medium | Largest | Smallest of the three | 67.9 KB for our text test |
| Best Use Case | Final sharing | Cross-platform editing | Advanced editing | Plain text only |
| Password Protection | Yes | No | Yes | No |
In practice, RTF makes sense when the receiving program reads RTF but not DOCX. For a finished document that should look the same everywhere, send a PDF.
How Big Is the Same Document as RTF, DOCX and PDF?
RTF came out largest in both of our tests, and DOCX smallest. We saved two generated documents with LibreOffice 25.2 in November 2026:
| Test document | RTF | DOCX | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 400 paragraphs of text, 16 pages | 143.0 KB | 6.5 KB | 102.6 KB |
| Two paragraphs and one 259.9 KB JPEG | 526.9 KB | 265.0 KB | 293.8 KB |
The RTF with the picture was about twice the size of the picture, and the RTF article on Wikipedia gives the reason: images are stored as hexadecimal text. Word writes its own files, so its sizes will differ. If an attachment limit is your problem, send the DOCX or the PDF.
How to Convert an RTF File to PDF
Our RTF to PDF converter runs LibreOffice Writer on our server, so you don't need Word.
- Pick one .rtf file (up to 25 MB).
- Click Convert To PDF.
- Download the PDF and check the pages.
In October 2026 we converted an RTF with a bold heading, red, italic and underlined words, a bordered table and an embedded picture. The 32.8 KB file came back as one US Letter page of 79.4 KB, with all the formatting, the table and the picture kept. Our tiny 143-byte test.rtf became a 37.3 KB PDF.
You can also print to PDF from Word or TextEdit, or use File, then Export as PDF in TextEdit. For a whole folder of RTF and Word files, see our guide to converting many files to PDF at once.
How to Convert a PDF to an RTF File
Our PDF to RTF converter also uses LibreOffice. Set your expectations first: it doesn't rebuild paragraphs. Every line of the PDF becomes its own text box pinned where it sat on the page.
That's fine for changing a word or a date. It's poor for rewriting text.
If you want paragraphs you can type into, PDF to Word is the better pick. For just the words, use PDF to TXT.
Word on Windows can do it too: open the PDF in Word (it converts the file when it opens), then save it as Rich Text Format.
Scanned and Locked PDFs
A scan holds pictures of pages, so a PDF to RTF conversion comes out with little or nothing to edit. Run it through OCR PDF first; our OCR reads English text.
If the PDF needs a password to open and you know it, take it off with Unlock PDF before converting.
Frequently Asked Questions about RTF File
Is an RTF file the same as a Word document?
No. Word documents are .docx files with many more features. Word reads and writes RTF, but RTF only covers basic formatting.
Why won't my RTF file open on Windows 11?
Microsoft removed WordPad starting with Windows 11, version 24H2, so Windows has no built-in RTF reader. Install LibreOffice or use Word.
Is RTF safe to open?
RTF files can carry embedded objects, and attackers have used that, so treat one from an unknown sender with care. Don't rely on it for privacy either: Adobe's guide to the format says RTF has no encryption or password protection.
Should I send an RTF or a PDF?
Send a PDF when the layout must look the same for everyone. Send RTF only when the other person has to edit it in a program that doesn't read DOCX.
