WaywardTools

Small tools. Local when they can be.

RTF PDF Swap

RTF to PDF

Your file never leaves this device. Conversion runs in your browser. The document itself is not uploaded.

1 · Choose a RTF file

…or drop a RTF file here

.rtf · stays in this tab

2 · Convert

3 · Download

Choose a file to convert. It is not uploaded.

FAQ and format details
Why convert RTF to PDF?

Quick sharing and 'we only accept PDF' forms. If the RTF is a letter, this is often enough. If it is a designed flyer, print from an office app instead.

How this conversion runs

RTF parse → HTML → pdf-lib Times layout, US Letter. PNG/JPEG picts that became data URLs can be painted; WMF/EMF cannot.

Keep in mind for RTF → PDF

Fidelity is medium-to-low by construction. Special characters need to survive the RTF Unicode pass and then WinAnsi in the PDF font. Double substitution is possible; check the warnings.

After you have a PDF file

Read the PDF. For comments, go RTF→DOCX. For a book, RTF→EPUB if headings exist (they often do not in RTF).

Why are pictures missing?

Only PNG and JPEG \pict hex is read. Word often stores a WMF fallback (\nonshppict) plus a PNG in \shppict — if only the WMF is present, the image is skipped.

Can I keep WordPad's font size?

Font size control words are not mapped to PDF sizes in this version. Headings in the PDF come from HTML heading tags, which RTF rarely produces.

This pair at a glance
Accepts
.rtf
Writes
.pdf · application/pdf
Read fidelity
medium (RTF → HTML)
Write fidelity
medium (HTML → PDF)
Source size
Plan for files under 7.6 MB

The file is read in this tab. It is not uploaded.

Something off with this pair? Send feedback.

About Rich Text Format and PDF

Source file

Rich Text Format

A text-based interchange format from Microsoft for basic rich text: fonts, colors, bold/italic, and simple pictures.

RTF was designed so Word, WordPad, TextEdit, and mail clients could exchange formatted text without the full Word binary. It is verbose (control words like \b, \i, \par) but human-inspectable. Fidelity is lower than DOCX: no modern styles, limited tables, and vendor-specific extensions.

Extensions
.rtf
MIME types
application/rtf, text/rtf
Kind
text · mixed
Category
word processing
Standard
Open format · since 1987
Comfortable size
Up to about 7.6 MB in this browser converter
Read into HTML
medium fidelity · implemented — Control-word subset: paragraphs, bold/italic/underline/strike/sub/sup, Unicode escapes, simple lists and tables, PNG/JPEG picts, and HYPERLINK fields.

What this format can hold

  • paragraphs
  • lists
  • inline formatting
  • images
  • tables

Usually dropped on the way in

  • embedded ole
  • page setup
  • complex tables
  • theme fonts

Apps that consume RTF

  • Microsoft Word (Microsoft) — creates and opens on Windows, macOS
  • WordPad (Microsoft) — creates and opens on Windows
  • TextEdit (Apple) — creates and opens on macOS
  • LibreOffice Writer (The Document Foundation) — creates and opens on Windows, macOS, Linux
  • Apple Notes (Apple) — creates and opens on macOS, iOS

Catalog notes

  • WordPad-era RTF is the target subset — not the full Word RTF dump.
  • WMF/EMF and OLE picts are skipped; PNG/JPEG picts are inlined as data URLs.

Destination file

PDF

A page-description format that paints glyphs and graphics onto fixed pages. Universal for print, archival, and sharing.

PDF (Portable Document Format) describes pages, not a flowing document tree. Incoming PDFs are reconstructed as HTML: designed pages keep positioned text, fonts, images, and vectors; simpler reading documents become flowing articles. Export to PDF paints HTML onto pages via pdf-lib. Pixel-perfect Word/InDesign layout is not the goal.

Extensions
.pdf
MIME types
application/pdf
Kind
binary · binary
Category
page description
Standard
Open format · since 1993
Spec
ISO 32000
Comfortable size
Up to about 38 MB in this browser converter
Written from HTML
medium fidelity · implemented — HTML is paginated onto US Letter pages via pdf-lib. Embedded PNG/JPEG data URLs are painted. Print-to-PDF from the preview remains the highest-fidelity path.

What this format can hold

  • page layout
  • paragraphs
  • images
  • links
  • embedded fonts

Usually dropped on the way out

  • css absolute layout
  • webfonts unless embedded
  • interactive forms

Apps that consume PDF

  • Adobe Acrobat / Reader (Adobe) — creates and opens on Windows, macOS, iOS, Android
  • Chrome (Google) — opens on Windows, macOS, Linux, Android
  • Edge (Microsoft) — opens on Windows, macOS
  • Preview (Apple) — opens on macOS, iOS
  • Foxit — creates and opens on Windows, macOS
  • Okular (KDE) — opens on Linux

Catalog notes

  • Encrypted PDFs cannot be opened in-browser without the password (not collected).
  • OCR for image-only scans is out of scope for v1.
Other conversions

Other conversions from RTF: HTMLMarkdownWordOpenDocumentEPUB

Other ways to get PDF: HTMLMarkdownWordOpenDocumentEPUB