How to open .RTF files (Rich Text Format) on Android, Windows and Linux

You exported a report from some business software and it came out as .rtf. Or you found old notes written in WordPad, or someone sent a document from Apple’s TextEdit. Open it in a plain text editor and you get lines like {\rtf1\ansi\deff0 instead of your text, and WordPad, the program that used to open these on Windows, is gone from recent versions.

RTF is a simple, old and very widely supported format, and it’s easy to read again. Folders, a free file manager for Android, Windows and Linux, opens .rtf files in its document viewer, lets you edit and save them, and can make a .docx copy.

What is an .rtf file?

RTF stands for Rich Text Format. Microsoft introduced it in 1987 as a way to move formatted text between different programs and computers, and kept updating it until 2008. It’s still everywhere because it’s so simple: almost every word processor can read and write it.

Unlike DOCX or ODT, an RTF file isn’t a ZIP or a binary file. It’s plain text with formatting codes written in curly braces and backslashes. A tiny RTF file looks like this:

{\rtf1\ansi {\b Hello} world.}

\rtf1 says “this is RTF”, {\b ...} makes the text inside bold. A word processor turns those codes into formatting; a plain text editor just shows them, which is why Notepad displays a jumble of backslashes.

Where RTF files come from:

• WordPad, Windows’ old built-in editor, used RTF as its default format. Microsoft has removed WordPad from recent Windows 11 updates, leaving many .rtf files without an obvious app.
• Apple’s TextEdit saves RTF by default.
• Business and database software that offers an “export to Word” option often writes RTF.
• Writing apps such as Scrivener export RTF for manuscripts.

RTF can’t contain macros. Pictures are stored as long runs of hexadecimal text inside the file, which is why an RTF with a few photos can be surprisingly large.

How to open an .rtf file with Folders

On Android

1. Get Folders from the download section, install it, and grant it file access when prompted.
2. Find the file, usually in Download or Documents. Typing .rtf in the search box lists every RTF in the folder you’re in and the folders inside it.
3. Tap the file. It opens in Folders’ document viewer, with its bold, italics, headings and colours.
4. From an email or chat app, choose Open with → Folders.

On Windows and Linux

1. Install Folders on Windows 10 or 11, or on Linux as a deb, rpm, AppImage, Flatpak, Snap or tar.gz package.
2. Browse to the file in Folders and double-click it.
3. On Windows, right-click the .rtf in File Explorer and choose Open with → Folders, which is handy on a PC where WordPad has disappeared.

What you can do with it in Folders

• Read in a clean view or Print layout, and switch on Dark page at night.
• Find a word, use Outline to jump between headings, and Copy text to paste it elsewhere.
• Document info shows the format, pages, words and characters.
• Edit the text and Save it back as RTF, or Save as copy.
• Save as .docx makes a modern Word copy beside the original, ready to send to someone who works in Word.

Folders is careful when it saves. If the RTF has headers, footers, footnotes, lists or fields that its editor can’t write back, it tells you so and saves your edits as a copy rather than overwriting the original. Tables and pictures stay in place but can’t be edited in Folders.

Other ways to open .rtf files

• Microsoft Word opens and saves RTF on Windows.
• LibreOffice Writer: free on Windows and Linux, with good RTF support.
• Google Docs imports .rtf files uploaded to Google Drive.
• WordPad, if you’re on an older version of Windows that still has it.

Problems opening an .rtf file?

It opens as a mess of codes. You opened it in a plain text editor, which shows the formatting instructions instead of following them. Open it in a word processor or in Folders’ document viewer instead.

The file is enormous for a few pages. It probably contains pictures, which RTF stores as text and so roughly doubles their size. A copy saved as .docx, where pictures are stored as ordinary image files, usually comes out noticeably smaller.

Some characters show as �. RTF files from older programs can use a character encoding from before Unicode. Folders shows a note when some text uses an encoding it can’t display; most of the document still reads normally.

You have an .rtfd, not an .rtf. That’s Apple’s “RTF with attachments”, and it’s really a folder. Open it like a folder and you’ll find the text in a file called TXT.rtf, with the pictures beside it.

Questions people ask

Can I open RTF files on Android? Yes. Install Folders and tap the file, or choose Open with → Folders from another app.

What opens RTF files now that WordPad is gone? Folders, Microsoft Word, LibreOffice Writer and Google Docs all do. Folders can also edit and save the file as RTF.

How do I convert RTF to DOCX? Open it in Folders and choose Save as .docx. For a PDF, use Word’s Save As → PDF or LibreOffice’s File → Export as PDF; Folders doesn’t make PDFs from documents.

RTF vs DOCX vs TXT: what’s the difference? TXT is text with no formatting. RTF adds formatting using codes in plain text and works almost anywhere. DOCX is Word’s modern format, more compact and with far more features.

More document guides: how to open DOCX files and how to open TXT and other text files. Or see all 382 file types Folders opens.