Convert Always

Runs on your device

RTF to Plain text converter

This page converts RTF to Plain text without installing anything. Everything below explains what changes between the two formats so you know what to expect from the output.

Drop files here

Up to 20 files, 100.0 MB each. Conversion happens on your device — nothing is uploaded.

What is RTF?

RTF is a plain-text document format that encodes basic formatting — bold, italics, fonts, colours — as inline control words, making it a safe interchange format between word processors.

Created by Microsoft in 1987 and frozen since 2008.

  • Keeps simple formatting while remaining readable text
  • Opens in essentially every word processor, including WordPad and TextEdit
  • Cannot carry macros, so it is safer to exchange than DOC

What is Plain text?

TXT is unformatted text with no styling, images or layout — just characters and line breaks in a chosen encoding.

As old as computing itself; UTF-8 is today's default encoding.

  • Opens anywhere, forever, with no dependencies
  • The smallest possible representation of written content
  • Ideal input for scripts, search indexes and language models

Why convert RTF to Plain text?

  • Plain text is the better fit for raw content extraction, notes, logs and data pipelines, while RTF is built for simple formatted documents exchanged between different word processors.
  • It sidesteps the main drawback of RTF: no modern layout features, tracked changes or comments.
  • You gain opens anywhere, forever, with no dependencies.
  • Compatibility improves where it counts: Every text editor, terminal and programming language ever written.

Quality and file size after conversion

Both formats are lossless, so nothing is thrown away. The output is a byte-faithful representation of the input; only the container and the compression scheme change, which is why sizes differ while the content does not.

Compatibility

RTF opens in Word, WordPad, TextEdit, LibreOffice, Google Docs. Plain text opens in Every text editor, terminal and programming language ever written.

If the file has to work for someone else, choose the format their software already understands rather than the one with the best specification.

Limitations to know about

  • No formatting, headings, links or images
  • Tables and columns collapse into flat lines

When to keep RTF instead

RTF is still the right choice for simple formatted documents exchanged between different word processors. Keep the original alongside the converted copy whenever you might need to re-export at a different size or quality — conversion is quick, but recovering discarded detail is impossible.

How to convert RTF to Plain text

  1. 1

    Drag your RTF file onto the drop zone above, or click to browse. Up to 20 files can be queued at once.

  2. 2

    Plain text is already selected as the output format — change it in the dropdown if you need something else.

  3. 3

    Press Convert and watch the per-file progress bar.

  4. 4

    Download the Plain text result, or grab everything as a single ZIP when you converted a batch.

Frequently asked questions

Is this RTF to Plain text converter free?

Yes. Every conversion on Convert Always is free, with no account, no watermark and no daily download cap. The site is funded by advertising rather than subscriptions.

Are my RTF files uploaded to a server?

No. RTF to Plain text runs entirely inside your browser using WebAssembly, so the file never leaves your device. You can even disconnect from the internet after the page loads.

Will converting to Plain text reduce the quality?

Both formats are lossless, so nothing is thrown away. The output is a byte-faithful representation of the input; only the container and the compression scheme change, which is why sizes differ while the content does not.

Can I convert several RTF files at once?

Yes. Add up to 20 files to the queue, convert them in one pass and download the results individually or bundled into a single ZIP archive.

What is the maximum RTF file size?

Files up to 100 MB each are accepted. Browser-side conversions are limited mainly by your device's memory, so very large video files convert faster on a desktop than on a phone.

Does it work on mobile?

Yes. The converter is built mobile-first and works in Safari and Chrome on phones and tablets. Heavy media conversions are slower on mobile hardware but still run locally.

Related conversions

See every documents conversion we support.

Your recent conversions

Stored in this browser only, never on our servers.

No conversions yet

Your conversion history is stored privately in this browser — never on a server.