Convert RTF to PDF Online
Convert RTF to PDF with real, selectable text that keeps styling, colours, tables, pictures and links. Free, no sign-up, and the file never leaves your browser.
- Free, no sign-up
- Files stay on your device
- No watermark
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RTF to PDF in 3 steps
Upload one or more .rtf files. They are read on your device, nothing is uploaded.
Check the live preview and keep the document page size or pick A4, Letter, margins and page numbers.
Click Convert to PDF, then download the PDF or turn it into Word, JPG or PNG in the same dialog.
An RTF converter that reads the whole document
Formatting that survives
Bold, italic, underline, strikethrough, font sizes, colours, highlights, superscript, alignment, indents, line spacing and tab stops with dot leaders are laid out as in your word processor.
Tables, pictures and links
Tables keep their column widths, borders, shading and merged cells and continue on the next page with repeated header rows. PNG and JPEG pictures are embedded and web links stay clickable.
Real text in every language
The PDF holds selectable, searchable vector text, not a picture. Latin, Central European, Cyrillic and Greek documents in any Windows code page are decoded correctly.
Preview, batch and privacy
See page 1 before you convert, change the page size or margins, add page numbers and convert many files at once, separately or merged into one PDF. Files never leave your device.
How to convert RTF to PDF in your browser
RTF (Rich Text Format) is the plain-text document format behind WordPad, TextEdit and many older programs, and it is still a common export from legal, medical and accounting software. A PDF of the same document looks identical on every device, cannot be changed by accident and is what most portals and email recipients expect. BestConverter turns RTF into PDF directly in your browser: pick the file, check the preview and download.
What is kept from your RTF
- Character formatting: bold, italic, underline, double underline, strikethrough, font size, text colour, highlight, superscript, subscript and all or small capitals. Hidden and deleted text stays out of the PDF, as when printing.
- Paragraphs: left, centre, right and justified alignment, indents and hanging indents for lists, space before and after, line spacing, page breaks and section breaks.
- Tab stops including right-aligned tabs with dot leaders, so tables of contents and invoices line up.
- Tables with column widths, borders, cell shading, merged cells and header rows that repeat on every page.
- Embedded PNG and JPEG pictures at their original size, clickable web and email links, and the title, author and keywords as PDF properties.
Page size, margins and page numbers
By default the PDF uses the paper size, orientation and margins saved in the RTF, so a Letter document stays Letter and an A4 document stays A4. You can switch to A4, Letter, Legal, A5 or A3, force portrait or landscape, choose narrow or wide margins or type your own in millimetres. Wide tables and large pictures are scaled to fit the page. The preview updates as you change the options. Serif and monospace text keeps a Times-like or Courier-like look; switch that off to set the whole PDF in one sans-serif font.
Good to know
The PDF contains real text, so you can search it, copy from it and read it with a screen reader. Headers, footers, footnotes, text boxes and old WMF or EMF drawings are not converted yet. If your file is actually a .doc or .docx document with an .rtf name, the converter tells you and you can use Word to PDF instead.
More ways to create PDFs
Frequently asked questions
Is it safe to convert RTF to PDF online?
Yes. BestConverter reads the RTF and builds the PDF inside your browser on your own device. The document is never sent anywhere, so it is safe for contracts, letters and other private files.
Will the PDF look like my document in Word or WordPad?
Very close. Text formatting, paragraph alignment and spacing, tab stops, tables, pictures and links are kept, and the page size and margins come from the file. Text is set in Liberation Sans (metric-compatible with Arial), Times or Courier, so a decorative font is replaced by the nearest of these and line breaks can differ slightly.
Does the RTF to PDF converter keep headers and footers?
Not yet. Headers, footers, footnotes and comments are left out of the PDF. If you need page numbers, switch on Add page numbers before converting.
Why is a picture missing from my PDF?
PNG and JPEG pictures are embedded. Some older programs store pictures only as Windows metafiles (WMF or EMF), which cannot be drawn in the browser; the result dialog tells you when this happened. Re-inserting the picture as PNG or JPEG and saving again fixes it.
Can I convert several RTF files to PDF at once?
Yes. Select or drop as many .rtf files as you like. You get one PDF per file, downloadable together as a ZIP, or switch on Merge all into one PDF to get a single document.
Can I convert an RTF with Chinese, Japanese or Arabic text?
The text is read correctly from any code page, but the built-in font has no Chinese, Japanese or Korean characters and Arabic and Hebrew are not shaped right to left. The converter warns you when characters may show as empty boxes.