{"id":2157,"date":"2015-07-08T17:52:15","date_gmt":"2015-07-08T17:52:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/rich-text-format\/"},"modified":"2015-07-08T17:52:15","modified_gmt":"2015-07-08T17:52:15","slug":"rich-text-format","status":"publish","type":"definition","link":"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/1897\/rich-text-format-rtf","title":{"rendered":"Rich Text Format"},"content":{"rendered":"

What Does Rich Text Format Mean?<\/span><\/h2>\n

Rich text format (RTF) is a specific type of word processing document format evolved by Microsoft. This universal format helps provide compatibility between different word processing applications and operating systems, which is important for a diversified system where text document files move from one user’s desktop to another.\n<\/p>\n

Rich text format is also known simply as rich text.<\/p>\n

Techopedia Explains Rich Text Format<\/span><\/h2>\n

The rich text format allows for encoding basic elements of the file, such as the size, color and font of text. This format may not support more nuanced visual features in specific word processing applications like a modern version of Microsoft Word, but it does preserve a lot of the core design of the document file as it has been rendered in a particular word processor. For example, proprietary formats such as .docx, .doc or .wp may not translate as well between different systems as an .rtf version. For that reason, rich text format is often used when emailing documents to a wide set of recipients or otherwise transporting them between different parties that may be using radically different word processing setups.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What Does Rich Text Format Mean? Rich text format (RTF) is a specific type of word processing document format evolved by Microsoft. This universal format helps provide compatibility between different word processing applications and operating systems, which is important for a diversified system where text document files move from one user’s desktop to another. Rich […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7813,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"definitioncat":[226,257],"class_list":["post-2157","definition","type-definition","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","definitioncat-home-networks","definitioncat-personal-tech"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nWhat is Rich Text Format (RTF)? - Definition from Techopedia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"This definition explains the meaning of Rich Text Format and why it matters.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Rich Text Format\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This definition explains the meaning of Rich Text Format and why it matters.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/1897\/rich-text-format-rtf\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Techopedia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/techopedia\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@techopedia\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/1897\/rich-text-format-rtf#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/1897\/rich-text-format-rtf\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Margaret Rouse\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f5dd538e31ee352d105b8af36c4268a5\"},\"headline\":\"Rich Text Format\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-07-08T17:52:15+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/1897\/rich-text-format-rtf\"},\"wordCount\":195,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/#organization\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/1897\/rich-text-format-rtf#respond\"]}],\"articleSection\":\"\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/1897\/rich-text-format-rtf\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/1897\/rich-text-format-rtf\",\"name\":\"What is Rich Text Format (RTF)? 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