ODT Tools

Convert ODT to and from various formats

About ODT

ODT (Open Document Text) is a file format used for word processing documents in open-source office suites like LibreOffice and OpenOffice. ODT files contain text, images, and formatting, providing a standardized format for document interchange.

Common Uses

LibreOffice documents
Open-source documents
Cross-platform text

ODT Conversion FAQ

What is an ODT file?

ODT (OpenDocument Text) is an open document format used by LibreOffice and OpenOffice.

Will my ODT look the same on someone else's computer?

Approximately, not exactly. An ODT describes flowing content — styles, tables, images — and leaves the final layout to whatever program opens it, so a missing font or a different version reflows pages and moves page breaks. That is a feature when the document is still being written and a problem when it is being sent out for signature. Convert to a fixed-layout format for the second case. ODT round-trips imperfectly through Microsoft Word — complex tables, footnote numbering and change tracking are the usual casualties.

Do tracked changes and comments survive converting an ODT?

Between word-processor formats, usually — revision marks and margin comments are part of the document and travel with it, even if two programs draw them differently. Into a fixed-layout or plain-text target they do not survive at all: the text is flattened to whatever the current view shows, which can silently accept every pending edit. Resolve the revisions first when the output has to be the final wording.

Why is ODT the format everyone at work sends?

Because it is what the software on the machine saves by default, and defaults decide almost everything about which formats spread. The awkward cases are the predictable ones: a recipient on different software, an older version, or a system that only accepts one specific format for upload. All three are one conversion away from working. ODT is the OpenDocument Text format, the ISO-standard word processor format used by LibreOffice and OpenOffice.

What if my ODT is a scan rather than real text?

Then nothing downstream can read it until OCR has run. A scanned page is a picture of words: it looks fine, and searching, copying or converting to an editable document all come back empty. Optical character recognition adds a real text layer over the image, after which the words are selectable and the conversion produces an actual document instead of a wrapper around a photograph.

What happens to embedded images and tables in an ODT?

They come across, with the layout re-derived rather than copied. Pictures keep their resolution and their anchor; tables keep their cells and normally their borders. What moves is the fine positioning — a figure pinned beside a paragraph can end up above or below it once the text reflows at a different page size. A document where that matters is one to export to a fixed layout instead.

Does an ODT have fixed pages?

No — content flows, and pages appear only when something decides on a page size. Change the font, the margins or the screen and the page numbering changes with it. That is why a page reference from an ODT is unreliable, and why converting to a fixed-layout format is the step that makes page numbers mean something.

Can I keep editing after converting my ODT?

That depends entirely on the target. Converting to another editable document format keeps the structure — styles, headings, tables — so work continues normally. Converting to a page or image format produces something for reading rather than writing, and getting back from there means a second conversion that reconstructs structure rather than restoring it. Keep the ODT as the working copy either way.

Who controls the ODT format?

Nobody, and that is the point of it. The specification is public, anyone may implement it without asking or paying, and no company can change the terms later — which is why archives, standards bodies and public institutions specify formats like this one for anything that still has to open in twenty years. The trade is not compatibility, which is excellent; it is that there is no vendor to call when some tool implements the spec badly.

What happens to my ODT file after the conversion?

It is deleted automatically. The upload and the converted result stay on our servers for about 24 hours, which leaves time to download the result, and are then removed by an automatic cleanup. The transfer runs over HTTPS in both directions. Nobody reads the contents, nothing is indexed, and nothing is passed to anyone else.

How long does converting an ODT take?

Usually seconds. Small files are effectively instant, and the cases that take real time are the ones doing real work: a long recording that has to be re-encoded frame by frame, a scanned document going through character recognition, or a very large batch. Where a conversion only rewraps or repackages the existing data it stays fast no matter how big the file is, because nothing is being decoded.

What is the best way to process ODT files?

Upload your file by dragging it onto the page or clicking to browse, choose the output format, then start the conversion. The converted file is ready to download when it finishes.