Convert RTF to Plain Text Online

CONVERT RTF to TXT ONLINE

1) Upload RTF file to convert

Drop files here, or Click to select

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Allowed file types: one, docx, doc, wbk, rtf, rvf, odt, abw, txt, dotx, docm, hwp, wpd, wps, tmd

2) Set converting RTF to TXT options

3) Get converted file

DOWNLOAD CONVERTED FILE

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Convert RTF to TXT and in many other formats
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Total Doc Converter

Total Doc Converter supports DocX (the format of Word 2007 documents). Installed this free Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack to convert DocX files to HTML, PDF, XLS, JPG, TIFF, TXT with Total Doc Converter.

Total Doc Converter converts Doc to PDF and allows you to add a digital signature to the final document.

Convert and combine several documents into one multi-page file (PDF, DOC, TIFF or a very long TXT file). All done in one go!

Total Doc Converter can convert Word 2010 to Word 2003 if you need a file compatible with older Microsoft Word.

Have an outdated Microsoft Office 2003? Update all your old files to the new format in one go. Convert Doc files to DocX with our Total Doc Converter.

Total Doc Converter allows setting your default font for text files.

Total Doc Converter can print out, fax to send to OneNote any file you select. It will also create detailed reports on your Doc files in PDF, XLS, CSV, TXT formats. It's the esiest way to learn how many files you have and their parameters.

Total Doc Converter has a clear, easy-to-follow interface. You won't get lost in settings!

The widest list of supported file types: convert Word, Doc, DocX, DocM, RTF, RVF, or TXT files to RTF, DOCX, XLS, JPEG, PNG, TIFF, HTML, XHTML, PDF, TXT in a batch mode. It's a powerful all-in-one doc converter!

Total Doc Converter supports several types of compression for TIFF. If you are at a loss the program will automatically choose the best value.

Every document is displayed in Preview panel. You can zoom it or view the document full-sized. Use preview option to quickly find a file.

Add your logo or any other image to the header or the footer of the output file.

Do you want more order? Total Doc Converter will add page counters or a date to every page of the output files. The app is great for stamping legal bates too!

Total Doc Converter can copy original time stamps if you want to keep them.

Total Doc Converter offers a lot of additional settings for Doc to PDF conversions. Set user permissions, password-protect your files or sign with a digital signature. Get PDF, PDF/A and non-searchable PDFs.

Total Doc Converter can be run via command line (get the ready-to-use command line from GUI).

How to convert RTF to TXT?

💾 Upload Your File: Go to the site, click on «Upload File,» and select your RTF file.

✍️ Set Conversion Options: Choose TXT as the output format and adjust any additional options if needed.

Convert and Download: Click 👉«Download Converted File»👈 to get your TXT file.

Cloud Based

There is no need to install any software to convert RTF to TXT with CoolUtils. Simply access the internet, and you can easily convert your file online with our service.

Secure

Our hardware operates in top-tier, highly secure data centers equipped with advanced electronic surveillance and multi-factor access control systems.

Ease of Use

Converting RTF to TXT online has never been so simple. Drop your Rich Text Format document and the converter strips all formatting and produces clean plain text — ready for database imports, NLP processing, content management systems, and any system that requires unformatted text input. No software required.

Privacy

We understand the importance of privacy, which is why we've developed a comprehensive privacy policy detailing how we handle your files and personal information. You can read the policy here.

RTF File

File extension	.RTF
Category	Document File
Description	RTF is a text file type for exchanging data between various platforms and text editors. This format is friendlier to word processors than HTML. Originally it was a meta-tag format for MS Word, and now it is widely used by numerous third-party office packages. The supported character packs include ANSI, Macintosh, IPM PC, PC-8. RTF is a unite format for all operating systems, the same file is compatible with all apps that support RTF. Besides texts, RTF file contains control commands.
Associated programs	AbiWord Kword Microsoft Word TextEdit WordPad
Developed by	Microsoft
MIME type	text/rtf application/rtf
Useful links	More detailed information on RTF files
Conversion type	RTF to TXT

TXT File

File extension	.TXT, .TEXT
Category	Document File
Description	TXT format is the simplest text file standard that doesn’t support formatting. Such file contains text characters, tab and line feed characters. Being outdated in functionality it has one major advantage - compact file size, comfortable for sharing, data export/import. It supports various charsets (DOS, WIN, ISO, KOI-8). The charset can be changed to make TXT file compatible with any text reader. The lack of formatting is solved by setting up format params in the reader program.
Associated programs	Notepad TextEdit WordPad
Developed by	Various
MIME type
Useful links

2026-02-09

Stripped RTF formatting from a large corpus of legal documents to feed into a text analysis pipeline — the plain text output was clean, with no RTF control words or binary fragments remaining.

Natalia Popova

2026-04-01

Used RTF-to-TXT to extract content from a database of customer support RTF files for import into our new ticketing system; the batch conversion processed 1,000 files without errors.

Tobias Eriksson

2026-05-16

Needed plain text from RTF medical records for NLP preprocessing — the converter correctly handled multi-language RTF files with mixed Latin and Arabic character sets.

Amira Khalil

Rating RTF to TXT

4.6 (380 votes)Rate It

Convert RTF to TXT — Frequently Asked Questions ▼

What formatting is removed when converting RTF to TXT?

All RTF control words are stripped, including font definitions, color specifications, bold, italic, underline, paragraph spacing, tables, and embedded images. Only the plain text content remains.

Will the paragraph structure be preserved in the TXT output?

Paragraph breaks are preserved as newlines in the TXT output. However, visual spacing, indentation, and tab stops defined by RTF formatting codes are not present in plain text.

Can I convert RTF files created by WordPad or older versions of Word?

Yes. RTF is a standardized format and files produced by any RTF-compatible application — including WordPad, Word 6, Word 97, and modern LibreOffice — are supported.

What happens to tables in the RTF file?

Table content is extracted as plain text. Cell values appear sequentially with tab or space separators. The visual table structure cannot be preserved in a plain-text format.

What encoding does the TXT output use?

The output uses UTF-8 encoding, which correctly represents all Unicode characters present in the source RTF, including accented Latin characters and non-Latin scripts.

Does the converter handle RTF files with embedded images?

Embedded images are dropped from the TXT output, as plain text files cannot store binary image data. Only the text content surrounding the images is preserved.

How do I convert a large collection of RTF files to TXT for text analysis?

Total Doc Converter ($29.90) handles batch conversion: TotalDocConvertor.exe C:\rtf_folder C:\txt_output /ConvertTo txt /ProcessRecursively. This processes entire document libraries in a single command.

Convert RTF to TXT Online

Developers, data scientists, and content processors convert RTF files to plain TXT to strip formatting and extract raw text for text analysis, indexing, database ingestion, or migration to plain-text systems.

Clean plain text — all RTF control words, color tables, font definitions, and styling codes are removed
Readable by any tool — TXT files are accepted by every programming language, text editor, and terminal
Smaller file size — RTF files contain significant overhead; TXT output is 30–70% smaller
NLP and text analysis ready — feed the output directly into Python, R, or any text processing pipeline
No Word or LibreOffice required — convert RTF to plain text without installing any office software

What Is RTF?

RTF (Rich Text Format) is Microsoft's cross-platform document format introduced in 1987. It encodes text formatting (fonts, colors, bold, italic, tables, images) using backslash control words in an ASCII container. RTF is human-readable in theory but practically unreadable without a parser, due to its dense formatting instructions embedded throughout the text content.

What Is TXT?

TXT (plain text) is the simplest possible document format — raw characters with no embedded styling, metadata, or binary data. Plain text is processed by every application, programming language, and operating system without any special library. It is the required input format for many text analysis, search indexing, and data ingestion workflows.

Online Converter vs Desktop Converter

Feature	Online (this page)	Total Doc Converter (desktop)
Batch conversion	✓ Single file	✓ Entire folders, recursive
File size limit	Up to 50 MB	No limit
Automation / scripting	✗	✓ Command-line, .bat, Task Scheduler
Files stay local	✗	✓ No upload required
Price	Free	From $29.90

Batch CLI example: TotalDocConvertor.exe C:\rtf_files C:\txt_output /ConvertTo txt /ProcessRecursively

How to Convert RTF to TXT

Click Choose File and select your .rtf file
The format is detected automatically
Select TXT as the output format
Click Convert — processing takes a few seconds
Click Download to save your TXT file
Open the TXT file in a text editor to confirm all body text was extracted cleanly

When Do You Need RTF to TXT?

Text indexing — search engines and document indexers require plain text input
NLP pipelines — feed documents into sentiment analysis, topic modeling, or classification tools
Database import — store document text in a database column without RTF encoding
Legacy document processing — extract readable text from old RTF documents produced by Word 6 or WordPad
Content migration — migrate document text to a CMS or wiki that expects plain text input

Feature	Online Converters	CoolUtils Desktop	WinWord Built-in	Other Software
Batch Conversion	Limited	✅ Unlimited	Manual only	Limited
File Size Limit	1-5MB	✅ No limits	System dependent	Varies
Privacy & Security	Upload required	✅ 100% offline	✅ Local only	Varies
Conversion Speed	Internet dependent	✅ Fast local processing	Slow	Medium
Advanced Options	Basic	✅ Full customization	Limited	Basic
Cost	Free/Premium	One-time purchase	Requires Office	Subscription
Formatting Preservation	Good	✅ Excellent	Good	Varies
Multiple Formats Support	Limited	✅ 40+ formats	Few formats	Limited