Reference

ODT (OpenDocument Text)

ODT is the OpenDocument Text format — an open, ISO-standardized word-processing file used by default in LibreOffice Writer and other open-source office suites. It is the free, vendor-neutral counterpart to Microsoft Word’s DOCX.

Files & formatsGeneral

ODT (OpenDocument Text)

Also known as: OpenDocument Text, odt file, LibreOffice Writer document

Open ISO standard (ODF), not owned by one vendor
Native format of LibreOffice and OpenOffice Writer
Word can open it; export to DOCX or PDF to share

What ODT is

ODT files use the OpenDocument Format (ODF), an open standard published as ISO/IEC 26300 and developed by OASIS. Like DOCX, an .odt file is really a ZIP container of XML parts holding the text, styles, and any embedded images.

Because the format is open and royalty-free, any program can implement it without licensing. LibreOffice Writer, OpenOffice Writer, and Collabora Office use ODT as their native document format.

Opening and converting ODT

Microsoft Word can open and save ODT files, though some advanced formatting may shift on round-trips. To share with Word users reliably, export to DOCX; to lock down layout for anyone, export to PDF from the File > Export menu.

ODT documents are typically small — plain text with light formatting takes very little space. Embedded high-resolution images are what make any office document grow.

Related terms

Keep reading the reference.

Files & formatsDOCX (Word)DOCX is the default file format for Microsoft Word documents since Word 2007. It is a ZIP package of compressed XML, so a text-heavy document stays small — but embedded photos and fonts are what actually inflate the file size.General Files & formatsRTFRTF (Rich Text Format) is a plain-text document format that encodes basic formatting — bold, italics, fonts, and colors — using readable markup. It opens in almost any word processor on any platform, which makes it a reliable lowest-common-denominator for portable formatted text.General Files & formatsPDFPDF (Portable Document Format) is a fixed-layout document format that looks the same on any device. Most PDFs are small, but scanned documents and image-heavy files can grow large, and they accumulate quietly in Downloads and the Files app.General Files & formatsPlain text (.txt)A plain-text file (`.txt`) contains only unformatted text — characters with no fonts, colors, images, or layout. It is the simplest, most universal document format, readable by virtually any device or program.General

Act on it

Guides and tools for this topic.

Word to PDF