ODT to TXT
ODT is the rich document format from LibreOffice and OpenOffice, complete with styles, tables, and images. But when all you want is the raw text, that richness is just baggage. Converting ODT to TXT extracts the plain words — no formatting, no images, no markup — into a universal text file that any program can read. That's exactly what you need to feed content into a script, paste text without dragging styles along, or import into a system that only accepts plain text. FluidConvert strips your OpenDocument file down to clean UTF-8 text. Just remember it's one-directional for formatting: bold, colors, tables, and images are all discarded. FluidConvert does this free, with no account required.
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Accepts: application/vnd.oasis.opendocument.text, .odt · Max 1GB · always free
Your files are encrypted with TLS and automatically deleted after conversion.
Simply upload your .ODT file and we'll convert it to .TXT format — fast, free, and secure.
Fast & Free
Convert files up to 1GB completely free. No account, no limits.
Secure
Files are encrypted and automatically deleted after conversion.
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Industry-leading conversion with no quality loss.
How to Convert ODT to TXT
Upload Your File
Click the upload area above or drag and drop your .ODT file. We support files up to 1GB, completely free.
Choose Output Format
Select .TXT as your target format. Adjust any conversion settings if needed.
Download Your File
Click Convert Now and wait a few seconds. Once complete, download your converted file instantly.
About ODT to TXT
Last updated: September 2026
What is ODT?
ODT (OpenDocument Text) is the native document format for LibreOffice Writer, Apache OpenOffice, and other OpenDocument applications. It's an open, XML-based, ISO-standardized format, valued for being free of any single vendor's control. Inside a ZIP container, an ODT stores rich content: formatted text with paragraph and character styles, tables, images, headers, footers, and metadata like author and edit history. That richness makes ODT excellent for authoring documents, but it also means the file is far more than plain text — it carries a whole layer of presentation and structure on top of the words themselves, which isn't always what you need.
Why convert to TXT?
Plain text is the universal common denominator — every editor, terminal, and programming language reads it instantly without special software. You'd convert ODT to TXT when you want only the words: to feed content into a script or data pipeline, to paste clean text without carrying LibreOffice's formatting, to import into a system that accepts only plain text, or to store content in a tiny, future-proof format. Stripping to TXT also removes hidden metadata like author names and revision history, which is handy when you want to share content without exposing who wrote or edited it. TXT files never go obsolete and open anywhere.
What to expect from the conversion
This keeps the words and discards everything else. All formatting is removed: fonts, sizes, bold, italics, colors, headings, and paragraph styles collapse into flat plain text. Images, charts, and embedded objects are stripped out entirely, since TXT can't hold them. Tables are flattened — cell contents survive but the grid structure is gone, so columns may run together or split onto separate lines. Hidden metadata and edit history are dropped. What remains is the readable text in its correct reading order, encoded as UTF-8 so accented characters and symbols come through intact. The output file is dramatically smaller than the original ODT.
How FluidConvert handles it
FluidConvert unpacks your ODT file on secure servers, reads its content in reading order, and extracts just the text into a clean UTF-8 plain-text file. Uploads are encrypted in transit and automatically deleted after conversion completes, so we never retain your documents. The service is free and requires no account.
Common reasons to convert ODT to TXT
- Extracting the raw text from a LibreOffice document to feed into a script or data pipeline
- Pasting document content somewhere without dragging along fonts, styles, and formatting
- Removing hidden author info and revision history before sharing the plain content
- Importing text from an ODT file into a system or database that only accepts plain text
- Archiving a document's written content in a tiny, universally readable format that never goes obsolete
Frequently Asked Questions
Does any formatting survive when I convert ODT to TXT?
No. Plain text holds only characters, so fonts, bold, italics, colors, headings, and paragraph styles are all removed. This is fundamental to the TXT format rather than a shortcoming of the conversion. You keep the words in their correct order and lose all visual presentation. If you need to preserve formatting, convert to DOCX or PDF instead; TXT exists precisely for when you want nothing but the raw text.
What happens to tables and images in my ODT document?
Images, charts, and embedded objects are removed completely because plain text can't contain them. Tables are flattened: the text in each cell is preserved, but the table's grid vanishes, so cell contents may end up separated by spaces, tabs, or line breaks. A complex table can look jumbled in the output as a result. Only the textual content survives the conversion, never the visual layout or any graphics.
Will converting to TXT remove the document's author info and edit history?
Generally yes. The conversion extracts the visible text of the document, so hidden metadata like author names, timestamps, and revision history is not carried into the plain text file. This makes ODT-to-TXT a convenient way to share content without exposing who created or edited it. Only the readable words come through — the behind-the-scenes information stored in the ODT is left behind.
What encoding will the text file use?
FluidConvert outputs UTF-8, the modern standard that supports virtually every character and language. This means accented letters, curly quotes, em dashes, symbols, and non-Latin scripts from your ODT are preserved as real text instead of being turned into question marks. UTF-8 is compatible with nearly all software and is the safest, most portable choice, so your special characters remain intact wherever you open the file.
Do I need LibreOffice installed to do the conversion?
No. FluidConvert reads the ODT and produces the TXT entirely on our servers, so you don't need LibreOffice, OpenOffice, or any office software on your device. You just upload the ODT file and download the plain-text result. Any basic text editor — Notepad, TextEdit, or your code editor — will open the output, since plain text is supported everywhere.