unrtf

Convert an RTF file to HTML

$ unrtf --html [document.rtf] > [document.html]

$ unrtf --text [document.rtf] > [document.txt]

$ unrtf --latex [document.rtf] > [document.tex]

$ unrtf --nopict --html [document.rtf] > [document.html]

$ unrtf --verbose --html [document.rtf]

$ cat [document.rtf] | unrtf --text

unrtf [options] [file...]

unrtf is a GNU command-line converter that transforms documents in Rich Text Format (RTF) into other formats including HTML, plain text, LaTeX, and VT100-escaped text. It supports tables, fonts, hyperlinks, paragraph alignment, foreground and background colors. Embedded images are extracted as separate files unless disabled with --nopict. If no file is specified, unrtf reads from standard input. Output is written to standard output.
Since version 0.21.0, all codepage conversion is done through the iconv library and output control is managed through runtime configuration files, making it highly customizable.

--html

Select HTML output (default)

Select plain ASCII text output

Select text output with VT100 terminal escape codes

Select LaTeX document output

Select RTF output (typically more compact than input)

Disable extraction of embedded pictures to the current directory

Disable charset conversion (only works for 8-bit character sets)

Print additional processing information

Suppress leading comments in the output

Specify an output configuration file to use

Specify directories (colon-separated) to search for configuration files. Defaults to /usr/share/unrtf/

Print program version

Display help information

Output is controlled via runtime configuration files located in /usr/share/unrtf/. Custom tag files can be specified with -t and alternate search paths with -P. The SYMBOL font mapping is stored in /usr/share/unrtf/SYMBOL.charmap.

Multiple security vulnerabilities (CVEs) have been found in older versions, including out-of-bounds memory access when processing maliciously crafted RTF files. Always use an up-to-date version. The --noremap option only works for 8-bit character sets. PostScript output was removed in version 0.19.5 due to defects. Not all RTF features are fully supported; complex documents with advanced formatting or unusual encodings may not convert perfectly.

Originally written by Zachary T. Smith around 2000 as a program called rtf2htm, it was later renamed to UnRTF and adopted as an official GNU project under the Free Software Foundation. Other contributors include David F. Davey and Jean-Francois Dockes. The latest release version is 0.21.11. Licensed under the GNU General Public License.

pandoc(1), iconv(1), enscript(1)