odt

ODT stands for OpenDocument Text, the word-processing document format of the OpenDocument Format (ODF) standard. It is used by office suites such as LibreOffice and Apache OpenOffice, and is the default format for their Writer applications. The file extension is .odt. ODT is an open, XML-based format designed to be platform- and vendor-neutral to support long-term access to documents.

An ODT file is a ZIP archive containing a set of XML files and other resources. The essential parts include mimetype, content.xml, styles.xml, meta.xml, and settings.xml, together with a manifest.xml. The mimetype entry identifies the format and must be the first, stored uncompressed. Content.xml holds the document text and its markup; styles.xml defines paragraph and character styles; meta.xml stores metadata such as author and date; settings.xml captures application preferences.

ODT supports rich text formatting, images and drawings, tables, styles, footnotes and endnotes, hyperlinks, outlines, annotations, and embedded objects. It also supports metadata, accessibility features, and document-level settings. The use of styles enables consistent formatting and easier global changes.

Standardization and history: ODT is part of the OpenDocument Format and standardized as ISO/IEC 26300. The format has evolved through versions such as 1.0/1.1/1.2/1.3, expanding features for word processing while maintaining interoperability among implementations.

Interoperability and usage: ODT is widely supported by open-source suites (LibreOffice, Apache OpenOffice, Collabora) and by commercial products that provide import/export filters. It is used in government, education, and organizations seeking open formats, and it can be opened or converted to and from other formats (for example, DOCX) by many editors and conversion tools.