Convert Word to RTF
Turn a Word file into an RTF online. No account needed.
or drop your Word file anywhere on this page
Takes DOCX and DOC files · DOCX → RTF
Why some places still ask for RTF
This Word to RTF converter opens your .docx or .doc on our server and writes it out as Rich Text Format, keeping the name, so report.docx comes back as report.rtf. It is a single step either way, which is why DOCX to RTF and DOC to RTF are both graded Exact: nothing is interpreted on the way.
RTF is formatted text that almost anything can open: bold, fonts, tables and pictures written out as plain characters, not zipped up the way a .docx is. That is why older programs that cannot read a .docx, and some upload forms and record systems, still ask for it by name.
How to convert DOCX to RTF
- 1Select or drop your Word file
Nothing uploads until you press convert.
- 2Choose your options
We show the route and its fidelity grade up front.
- 3Download your RTF
Then it is deleted after 24 hours, automatically.
Modern Word. The default way the working world writes things down.
Formatted text that almost anything can open. The lowest common denominator with bold.
One step, one tool. Nothing is interpreted on the way.
What makes it into the RTF
We made a Word report with the parts real documents carry, converted it here and read through the RTF it produced. This is what the RTF held:
- Character formatting: bold, italic, underline, colours, highlighting, alignment, and each font at its size.
- Structure: headings still in their Heading 1 and Heading 2 styles, real bulleted and numbered lists, and a table with borders, a grey top row and a merged cell.
- Pictures: a PNG chart and a JPEG photo, stored byte for byte, each with its alt text.
- Page layout: the header, a footer whose page number still counts, a page break and a later section turned to landscape.
- Review marks: a comment with its author, and a tracked insertion and deletion with the reviewer's name and date.
- The rest: a footnote, a working web link, and accents, £, €, Greek, Cyrillic and Chinese.
An older .doc made from the same report gave the same RTF, apart from the alt text, which was already missing from that .doc.
Why the RTF is bigger than the Word file
RTF has no compression, and it writes each picture out as text, two characters for every byte. Our 755 KB photo took up 1.5 million characters, so the 761 KB Word file became a 1.5 MB RTF, about twice the size. Without its pictures the same report went from 6 KB to 15 KB. If an upload form has a size limit, photos are what push an RTF over it, so make them smaller in Word before you convert.
RTF, ODT, PDF or plain text?
Pick by what the person receiving the file will do with it:
- RTF, on this page: they need to edit it, and you do not know which program they use.
- ODT: they asked for OpenDocument, the open standard of open-source office suites, so save Word as OpenDocument.
- PDF: the document is final and must look the same everywhere, so make a PDF instead.
- TXT: only the words matter. Word to Text keeps every word of the main text and drops the rest.
RTF can also start from other files: convert PDF to RTF when all you have is a PDF, convert HTML to RTF for a saved web page, or convert text to RTF for a plain .txt file.
Questions people ask
How do I convert a Word document to RTF?
Drop your .docx or .doc on this page, or press Select Word file. There are no settings: press Convert to RTF and download the .rtf when it is ready. Your Word file and the RTF are both deleted from our server 24 hours later.
Can I convert a .doc file to RTF?
Yes. The page takes DOCX and DOC files, and an older .doc takes the same single step to RTF, also graded Exact. Our .doc test file gave the same RTF as the .docx, picture for picture.
Are pictures and tables kept in the RTF?
Yes, in our test. A PNG and a JPEG went into the RTF byte for byte, and a table kept its borders, its shaded top row and a merged cell. Expect a bigger file: RTF writes pictures out as text, so our report with a photo came out about twice its Word size.
Can I turn the RTF back into a Word document?
Yes: convert RTF back to Word, one step the other way, also graded Exact. When we sent our test RTF back, every part we checked came through again.
Is converting Word to RTF free?
Yes. Up to 25 MB and three conversions a day are free, with no account. Pro and Business lift the file limit to 100 MB and remove the daily cap.
What happens to my files?
Both your Word and the RTF we produce are deleted 24 hours after each conversion, automatically. Try again and Continue to another tool start a new conversion, with its own 24 hours. Nothing is used for training and no human looks at your documents.
Will the RTF look exactly like the Word?
This pair grades as “Exact”. We show the exact route and that grade before you convert, so there are no surprises about what survives the trip.
Do I need to install anything?
No. Nothing to install. Pick or drop a file here, it's converted on our servers, and you download the result.
How large can my file be?
25 MB on the free plan, and 100 MB on Pro and Business.
Can I convert several files at once?
On Pro and Business, yes: add up to 100 files before converting. The free plan converts one file at a time.
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