RTF to PDF
Choose an .rtf file and download a plain PDF containing its text. A quick way to read or share RTF content without a word processor.
RTF, short for Rich Text Format, was created in the 1980s as a way to move formatted text between different word processors. It is still produced by older programs, by some email and note applications, and by systems that export reports. Many people receive an .rtf file and just want to read it or forward it as a PDF. This tool reads the file, pulls out its words, and writes them into a simple PDF.
Converting a file
- Click the upload area, or drag an .rtf file onto it.
- Press Convert.
- The browser downloads
rtf-converted.pdf.
If no file is selected, the tool asks for one. If the file contains no readable text, you see "No text found in that RTF file" and no PDF is created.
What is inside an RTF file
An RTF file is plain text sprinkled with commands. A fragment might read {\rtf1\ansi{\fonttbl{\f0 Arial;}}\f0\b Hello\b0 world.}. The backslash words are control words that set fonts, bold, paragraphs and so on, and braces group them. A viewer applies the commands and shows only "Hello world." The converter does that cleaning job in reverse: it walks through the file, skips the groups that hold font tables, colour tables, stylesheets, headers, footers, footnotes and embedded pictures, turns paragraph and line commands into line breaks, decodes escaped characters, and keeps the actual wording.
What you get in the PDF
| Preserved | Not preserved |
|---|---|
| The words, in order | Fonts and font sizes |
| Paragraph breaks and line breaks | Bold, italic and underline |
| Common accented characters | Colours and highlights |
| Basic punctuation and symbols | Columns, tables as grids and text boxes |
| Images and embedded objects | |
| Headers, footers and footnotes |
The text is placed on A4 pages in 11-point Helvetica, with 50-point margins, automatic wrapping and automatic page breaks. Every paragraph uses the same style, so a heading looks like any other line.
Text only. If appearance matters, such as a letterhead, a table, a logo or specific fonts, open the file in a word processor and use its Save as PDF or Export option instead.
Character support
The PDF font covers English letters, digits and common Western European accents. Letters outside that range, for example Bengali, Arabic, Cyrillic, Hindi and Chinese, are replaced with a question mark in the PDF, and the tool reports how many characters were swapped after the download. RTF files can store such characters as numeric codes; the converter reads them but the output font cannot draw them. If your document is in another script, convert it through a word processor.
When this is useful
- Reading an old .rtf attachment on a device that has no program for it.
- Producing a quick PDF of the wording in a plain-text-like document.
- Checking what text an RTF file really contains, since the PDF removes the commands.
- Archiving text from legacy software that exports only RTF.
- Preparing text for a system that accepts PDF but not RTF.
Troubleshooting
- "No text found." The file may be empty, damaged, or not really RTF. A file renamed from another format, such as .doc or .docx, will not work, because those are binary or zipped formats.
- Odd symbols or question marks. The file contains characters outside the supported set.
- Missing tables. Table content may appear as lines of text, with cells separated loosely.
- Lines run together. Some generators use unusual paragraph commands; open the file in a word processor if the layout matters.
Other formats
Word files in .docx format are not supported by this tool. The ODT to PDF tool handles OpenDocument text from LibreOffice, and the TXT to PDF tool converts plain text. For formatted documents of any kind, a word processor's built-in export is the better route.
Handling large or unusual RTF files
Most RTF files convert in a moment, but a file that contains many embedded pictures can be large because the images are stored as long strings of hexadecimal digits inside the file. The converter skips those picture groups, so the output is usually much smaller than the input. If the converted text looks incomplete, the document may hold its content in text boxes, headers or footnotes, all of which are skipped. You can check by opening the RTF in any word processor and comparing. When the RTF was generated by a program, such as a report writer, its paragraph commands may be unusual, which can lead to lines running together; adding a blank line in the source usually helps. For important documents, always compare the PDF with the original before you send it.
Privacy
The file is read and converted inside your browser. It is not uploaded to a server.
Frequently asked questions
Will the PDF look like my RTF document?
No. Only the text is kept, in one plain style.
Can I convert a Word .docx file here?
No. It supports RTF files only. Use a word processor to save .docx as PDF.
What does the output file contain for images?
Nothing. Images are skipped.
Is there a size limit?
No fixed limit. Very large files are limited by browser memory.