rtf

RTF, short for Rich Text Format, is a cross-platform document file format developed by Microsoft for data interchange. Published in 1987, RTF is intended to preserve formatting when documents are moved between different word processors and operating systems. An RTF file is plain text containing groups delineated by braces and a sequence of control words and symbols that describe formatting, fonts, and other document properties. In a typical RTF file, formatting such as bold, italics, font size, color, alignment, and lists is encoded with control words; a font table and color table may be declared at the beginning; Unicode characters are supported via the \u control word.

RTF can also embed graphics and objects using specialized groups, and supports tables and various paragraph attributes. Because it is stored as plain text, RTF files are readable by a human if only basic formatting is present, though the primary purpose is machine interpretation. The format is designed to be platform independent to facilitate document exchange between applications on different operating systems.

Although RTF achieved broad adoption as a common interchange format, its behavior is not fully standardized across applications. Different programs may support different subsets of features, leading to round‑trip inconsistencies when complex documents are opened and saved in different software. For this reason, RTF is typically used for simple documents or as an intermediate format rather than as a final archival format for highly complex layouts.

RTF is supported by many word processors, including Microsoft Word and WordPad on Windows, Apple TextEdit, LibreOffice, and Google Docs (import/export). Its extension is .rtf, and it remains in use for compatibility and lightweight document exchange, even as other formats like OOXML and PDF are more common for final distribution.