How do I convert OpenDocument Text to Rich Text?

Upload your OpenDocument Text file using the box above, confirm Rich Text as the output format, then select Convert. The converted file is ready to download as soon as processing finishes — usually in a few seconds.

Is converting ODT to RTF free?

Yes, and there is nothing to sign up for. Every conversion route is free on every plan — paying raises limits such as file size and how many conversions you get, and removes advertising. It never unlocks a format, adds a watermark or degrades the output.

Will the quality change when converting to Rich Text?

RTF uses lossy compression, so some data is discarded to keep the file small. The default quality setting is tuned to be visually or audibly transparent for most material, and you can raise it in the conversion settings.

What happens to my file afterwards?

The uploaded file is deleted as soon as the conversion completes, and the converted file is removed automatically once its retention window ends. Download links are signed and expire within minutes.

odtrtf

Convert OpenDocument Text to Rich Text

Free online converter for OpenDocument Text files. Portable formatted text interchange format. Nothing to install, no watermark, and every file is deleted automatically.

Drag and drop your files

Upload a OpenDocument Text file to convert it to Rich Text. Up to 3 files at once, 100 MB each.

Free · up to 3 files · 100 MB each · files deleted automatically after 1 hour.

About ODT and RTF

OpenDocument Text .odt

The OpenDocument text format — an ISO-standardised, vendor-neutral alternative to DOCX, and the native format of LibreOffice.

Good for

An open standard, not tied to one vendor
Native to LibreOffice and OpenOffice
Preferred or mandated by many public bodies

Trade-offs

Word opens it but does not always round-trip it cleanly
Less common in commercial workflows

application/vnd.oasis.opendocument.text

Rich Text .rtf

Rich Text Format: formatted text stored as readable plain text markup. A lowest common denominator that almost every word processor understands.

Good for

Opens in essentially any word processor, on any platform
Keeps basic formatting where plain text cannot
Human-readable if you open it in an editor

Trade-offs

Much larger than DOCX for the same content
No modern layout features
Images balloon the file size

application/rtf

ODT and RTF side by side

OpenDocument Text compared with Rich Text
	ODT	RTF
Compression	Zipped XML	Plain text markup
Animation	No	No
Typically used for	LibreOffice documents, public-sector exchange	Exchange between unlike word processors

What changes when you convert ODT to RTF

Rendered by LibreOffice

The conversion runs through headless LibreOffice — the same engine behind the desktop suite, not a lookalike parser. It handles ordinary documents faithfully. Where it can drift is on the elaborate: a document leaning on fonts the server does not have will have them substituted, and the substitute rarely occupies exactly the same width, so line and page breaks can move. Heavily designed layouts are worth checking against the original.

RTF carries less than it looks like it does

Rich Text Format dates from 1987 and exists so that any word processor can open a file with its formatting broadly intact. Bold, italics, fonts and simple tables survive. Modern structure does not: tracked changes, comments, footnotes in some layouts and anything embedded tend to be dropped or flattened. Choose it for interchange with something old, not as a working format.

Comments and tracked changes

Editorial metadata is the first thing to go in a format conversion: comments, tracked changes and revision history rarely have an equivalent in RTF and are generally dropped or flattened into the text. Treat the output as a clean copy of the current state of the document. If the review history matters, keep the ODT alongside it.

Other OpenDocument Text conversions

Other ways to get Rich Text

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