What is an RTF file?
RTF is a text-based document format introduced by Microsoft in 1987 for exchanging formatted text between word processors. Formatting is written as control words in plain ASCII, such as \b for bold or \par for a paragraph, so an RTF file can be inspected in any editor and is almost impossible to damage beyond repair.
The format supports fonts, colours, paragraph styles, tables, images and footnotes, but not the richer features of modern DOCX such as tracked changes, comments threads or content controls. Microsoft stopped extending the specification in 2008, so RTF is now a compatibility format rather than a working one.
When RTF is the right choice
Strengths
- Opened by practically every word processor, old and new
- Cannot contain macros, which makes it a safe attachment
- Human-readable structure that survives partial corruption
Limitations
- No tracked changes, comments, or modern layout features
- Files with images grow large, since pictures are stored as hex text
- Frozen specification: new Word features have no RTF equivalent
How to open an RTF file
Word, LibreOffice Writer, Google Docs, Apple TextEdit and WordPad open RTF directly. If a file will not open, it is often a DOC or DOCX with the wrong extension; convert it with RTF to DOCX or rename it after checking the real format.
How to convert an RTF file
RTF to DOCX brings a legacy document into the current Word format, RTF to ODT targets LibreOffice, and RTF to TXT keeps just the words. Going back, DOCX to RTF produces a file for software that predates DOCX.