RTF to Word (DOCX) Converter
Turn a Rich Text file into a .docx that opens in Word, Google Docs, LibreOffice and Pages.
Drop an RTF file here
You get a Word (.docx) file. Converted on this device: the file is not uploaded. Up to 50 MB.
Converting happens inside your browser, so this needs JavaScript turned on.
Preview
The preview shows the start of the document; the downloaded file has all of it.
Convert RTF to DOCX in three steps
- Add the RTF file with the button above, or drag it from a folder onto this page.
- Look it over. The preview shows the document as it will be in Word, and any part that could not be carried over is listed above it.
- Click Download Word (.docx). The new file keeps your file’s name with a .docx ending.
The RTF file is read by this tab of your browser and the Word file is written there too. No account, no queue, no copy on someone else’s server.
What carries over to Word
| From the RTF file | In the .docx |
|---|---|
| Text in any language, including old Windows code pages | Kept, as Unicode |
| Font names and sizes, bold, italic, underline, strikethrough, superscript, subscript | Kept |
| Text color and highlight | Kept |
| Alignment, indents, line spacing, space before and after paragraphs | Kept |
| Bulleted and numbered lists, nested levels | Kept, as Word lists |
| Links | Kept |
| PNG and JPEG pictures, with their size | Kept |
| Paper size and margins | Kept (US Letter or A4) |
| Tables | Tab-separated lines |
| Headers, footers, footnotes, WMF and EMF pictures, embedded objects | Not carried over |
When a .docx is the better file
- Someone asks for a Word file. Many job sites, schools and offices accept .docx and nothing else.
- The file is large. RTF writes pictures as long runs of hexadecimal text; in a .docx they are compressed images, so the file is far smaller to email.
- You will keep editing in Word or Google Docs. RTF stopped growing in 2008; Word features added since then are saved only in Word’s own format.
Need it the other way round? Open the .docx in the RTF editor and save it as Rich Text (.rtf), or edit it first in the DOCX editor.
Questions
Can’t Word open RTF files by itself?
It can: Word opens .rtf files directly. Converting is for when a person, a job site or a form asks for a .docx, or when you want to keep working in Word’s own format. Microsoft stopped adding features to RTF after version 1.9.1 in 2008, so newer Word features have no RTF form.
How do I convert RTF to DOCX in Word itself?
Open the .rtf file in Word, choose File → Save As, pick Word Document (*.docx) as the file type and save. This page does the same without Word: drop the file above and download the .docx.
Will the Word file open in Google Docs, LibreOffice and Pages?
Yes. The result is a standard .docx (Office Open XML) file, the format Word, Google Docs, LibreOffice Writer, Pages and WPS read. It holds the text, formatting, lists, links, pictures and page setup of your RTF file.
Why is the .docx so much smaller than my RTF file?
RTF stores pictures as hexadecimal text, two characters for every byte of the image, and spells out its formatting codes in plain text. A .docx keeps pictures as ordinary image files inside a compressed zip package, so a document with photos often shrinks to a fraction of its RTF size.
What happens to tables in the RTF file?
They become lines of text with a tab between cells, one line per row, as in the RTF editor here. The words stay in order; to get a real table back, select those lines in Word and use Insert → Table → Convert Text to Table with tabs as the separator.
Does anyone else see my document?
No. Your browser reads the RTF file and writes the .docx on your own device; nothing is sent to a server, and no copy is kept after you close the page.