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TXT Converter – Transform Plain Text Files

Convert plain text TXT files to PDF, Word, and other document formats.

Step 1: Upload your files

You can also Drag and drop files.

Step 2: Choose format
Step 3: Convert files

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What is TXT?

TXT (Plain Text) is the simplest and most universal text file format. It contains only readable characters without any formatting, styling, or embedded objects.

Plain text files have existed since the earliest days of computing and remain essential today. Every operating system, programming language, and text editor can read and write TXT files, making them the most compatible document format in existence.

TXT files use standard character encodings like ASCII or UTF-8, ensuring the content can be read on any computer system regardless of the software installed.

Why Convert TXT Files?

While TXT files offer maximum compatibility, their lack of formatting creates limitations that conversion can solve:

  • Adding professional formatting – Convert to DOCX or PDF to add headers, fonts, styles, and professional document structure
  • Creating printable documents – PDF conversion ensures consistent printing with margins and page layout
  • Web publishing – HTML conversion adds structure and styling for online display
  • Email compatibility – RTF format preserves basic formatting in email attachments
  • Document archiving – PDF/A conversion creates long-term archival documents
  • Extracting text – Convert formatted documents TO TXT to get clean, editable plain text

Convert TXT to Other Formats

Transform your plain text files into professionally formatted documents:

TXT to PDF

Create printable PDF documents from plain text. Perfect for converting text-based reports, logs, or notes into shareable PDF files with proper page formatting and margins.

TXT to DOCX

Import plain text into Microsoft Word format for editing. Add formatting, headers, styles, bullet points, and professional document structure to your text content.

TXT to DOC

Convert to the legacy Word format for compatibility with older Microsoft Office versions. Useful when recipients need to edit the document in Word 2003 or earlier.

TXT to RTF

Transform to Rich Text Format which maintains compatibility across word processors while allowing basic formatting to be added.

TXT to HTML

Convert plain text to HTML for web publishing. Adds proper paragraph tags and structure for displaying text content on websites.

TXT to ODT

Create OpenDocument files for editing in LibreOffice or OpenOffice. Allows you to add formatting while keeping the document in an open standard format.

Convert Other Formats to TXT

Extract plain text content from formatted documents:

PDF to TXT

Extract readable text from PDF files. Strips all formatting, images, and layout to give you clean, editable plain text that can be used anywhere.

DOCX to TXT

Pull plain text from Word documents. Perfect for extracting content for use in code editors, databases, or applications that require plain text input.

DOC to TXT

Convert legacy Word documents to plain text. Removes all formatting while preserving the text content for maximum compatibility.

HTML to TXT

Strip HTML tags to extract readable text from web pages. Useful for cleaning up copied web content or processing HTML files.

RTF to TXT

Remove Rich Text formatting to get clean plain text. Simplifies formatted documents to their essential text content.

ODT to TXT

Extract text from OpenDocument files for use in text-only applications or further processing.

TXT Technical Specifications

  • Full name: Plain Text File
  • Developer: Universal standard (no single developer)
  • First used: 1960s (earliest computer systems)
  • File extension: .txt
  • MIME type: text/plain
  • Character encodings: ASCII, UTF-8, UTF-16, ISO-8859-1
  • Formatting: None (plain text only)
  • Compression: None (uncompressed)
  • Maximum file size: Limited only by storage capacity

TXT Compatibility

Software That Opens TXT Files

  • Notepad (Windows)
  • TextEdit (Mac)
  • Every text editor ever created
  • All code editors (VS Code, Sublime, Atom)
  • Microsoft Word and all word processors
  • Web browsers
  • All operating systems (Windows, Mac, Linux, mobile)

TXT Limitations

  • No text formatting (bold, italic, underline)
  • No fonts or font sizes
  • No images or embedded objects
  • No tables or structured layouts
  • No headers, footers, or page numbers

How to Convert TXT Files

  1. Upload your TXT file – Drag and drop your plain text file or click to browse. We handle files of any size.
  2. Choose your output format – Select PDF for printable documents, DOCX for Word editing, HTML for web use, or other supported formats.
  3. Download your converted file – Get your formatted document instantly. No registration or email required.

Pro Tip

TXT files with UTF-8 encoding can contain any language or special characters. If you see garbled characters when opening a TXT file, the encoding may be wrong. Try opening it with UTF-8 encoding explicitly selected in your text editor.

Common Mistake

Copying formatted text into a TXT file and expecting it to retain formatting. TXT files strip ALL formatting - if you need to preserve bold, italics, or structure, convert to RTF or DOCX instead.

Best For

TXT is perfect for configuration files, programming, data processing, README files, quick notes, and any text that needs to work everywhere. It's the universal format that never fails to open.

Not Recommended

Avoid TXT for professional documents, reports, or anything requiring visual formatting. Convert to PDF for finalized documents or DOCX for documents that need editing with formatting.

Frequently Asked Questions

A TXT file is a plain text file containing only readable characters without any formatting. It's the simplest document format and can be opened by any text editor on any operating system. TXT files use standard character encodings like ASCII or UTF-8.

Upload your TXT file to ChangeMyFile, select PDF as your output format, and download the converted file. The conversion adds proper page layout, margins, and formatting to create a printable PDF document from your plain text.

TXT files cannot contain formatting directly, but you can convert them to formats that support formatting. Convert to DOCX to add fonts, styles, and structure in Word, or to HTML for web formatting, or to PDF for print-ready formatting.

TXT files contain only plain text characters with no formatting, while DOCX files can include fonts, styles, images, tables, headers, and complex formatting. DOCX files are larger but offer rich document features. TXT files are smaller and universally compatible.

Upload your PDF to ChangeMyFile and convert it to TXT format. This extracts all readable text while removing formatting, images, and layout. The result is clean plain text you can edit in any text editor.

Yes, ChangeMyFile supports batch conversion. Upload multiple TXT files and convert them all to your chosen format simultaneously, saving time when processing many text files.

TXT files can use various character encodings. The most common are ASCII (basic English characters) and UTF-8 (supports all languages and special characters). Our converter automatically detects and preserves the correct encoding during conversion.

Converting to TXT is useful for extracting clean text for programming, data processing, or copying content without formatting. TXT files work with any software and are ideal for logs, configuration files, or text that needs to be processed by scripts.

Yes, our converter applies clean formatting with readable fonts, proper margins, and appropriate line spacing. The resulting PDF looks professional and is suitable for printing or sharing, despite starting from plain text.

TXT specifically refers to plain text files without formatting. 'Text document' is a broader term that can include formatted documents like DOCX or RTF. When you need truly plain text with maximum compatibility, TXT is the format to use.

TXT Conversions & Related Converters

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