More free conversions, where you upload. The Fylane extension does the same work inside any upload form, on its own free share every day.Add to Chrome
How to convert RTF to Word
- Drop the file.
- Nothing to choose.
- Press Convert and download.
What happens to your file
The document is opened by LibreOffice on Fylane’s servers and saved as DOCX with its text, headings, lists, tables and pictures; layout that the target format cannot express is simplified rather than invented. The file is deleted on schedule.
As with OpenDocument, you may not need this at all: Word opens .rtf directly and always has — Rich Text Format is Microsoft’s own invention, from 1987. Converting is for when you want a real .docx as the copy of record, or a system is refusing the file by its extension.
The reason to convert rather than leave it is that RTF is a poor place to keep a document. It stores formatting as plain-text control words, so files balloon, images inflate, and editing one in anything other than Word tends to shuffle the layout. DOCX is smaller and more precise about the same content.
Questions
Can Word open an RTF file already?
Yes, natively and without any conversion — Microsoft created the format. Convert when you need an actual .docx, either because a system demands that extension or because you want the document stored in a better format.
Why do I still get RTF files?
Older systems, WordPad, and a lot of medical, legal and government software export it because it is the safest common denominator. It is readable almost anywhere, which is exactly why it has outlived its usefulness as an editing format.
Will my formatting survive?
Text, headings, bold and italic, lists, tables and embedded images all come through. Very old RTF from the 1990s sometimes carries fonts nobody has any more, which Word will substitute.
Why is my RTF file so large?
Because images inside an RTF are stored as hexadecimal text rather than binary, which roughly doubles them. Converting to DOCX usually shrinks the file noticeably for that reason alone.
Are my files kept?
Uploads are deleted after 24 hours and results after 7 days; nobody opens them in between. See the data safety page for the exact policy.
Do it once, not on every form
Fixing a file here means downloading it and going back to the form. The Fylane extension does this work inside the form instead, on the file you already have.
And it keeps the result. The next application that asks for a résumé, a cover letter and a photo fills all three from one tap, each one refitted to what that site accepts.
Your files stay in the browser, encrypted, on your machine. Nothing is uploaded to keep them and nothing is sent anywhere to fill a form.
Related tools
Do this in code
curl -X POST https://api.fylane.dev/v1/jobs \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $FYLANE_API_KEY" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{
"file_id": "<file id>",
"operation": "convert",
"options": {
"to": "docx"
}
}'The same operation, convert — Documents into another document format: Office, text and HTML to PDF by default, or by `to` into docx, odt, rtf, txt, html, xlsx, ods, csv, pptx, odp, md or epub (Markdown and EPUB through pandoc). Images to WebP. Upload first with the quickstart; every option is on the operations page. 500 free credits a month, then $5 per thousand.