About RTF → PDF

Convert a Rich Text (.rtf) file into a PDF. Part of the DevTools Surf developer suite. Browse more tools in the PDF collection.

Use Cases

• Convert legacy RTF documents into modern PDFs
• Archive WordPad or TextEdit notes as shareable documents
• Preview RTF attachments from email without opening an office suite
• Batch-convert historical RTF libraries into PDFs

Tips

• Upload a Rich Text Format (.rtf) file from Word, TextEdit, or WordPad
• Text content is extracted and rendered into a PDF — formatting is simplified
• Embedded images and tables are not preserved

Fun Facts

• RTF was created by Microsoft in 1987 as a cross-platform alternative to binary .doc — it is plain ASCII with curly-brace control groups.
• Microsoft stopped updating the RTF specification in 2008; version 1.9.1 is the final published spec.
• RTF files are technically human-readable — open one in a text editor and you can see the raw \b, \i, and \par control words.

FAQ

What is RTF?

Rich Text Format — Microsoft's pre-DOCX word-processor format. Still used for email signatures, legacy exports, and cross-platform document interchange.

What gets preserved?

Bold, italic, underline, colors, font sizes, alignment, lists, tables. More than TXT, less than DOCX.

Are images included?

Yes — RTF can embed images. The converter preserves them in the PDF.

Why convert to PDF?

RTF rendering varies between applications (Word, LibreOffice, TextEdit all slightly different). PDF freezes the rendering so everyone sees the same thing.