Rich Text (.rtf)
The great survivor of dead software: RTF has been the "save as…" format of word processors and screenwriting tools since 1987, making it a workhorse of format rescue.
Format facts
- Created
- 1987
- Created by
- Microsoft
- Status
- Current — in active use
- Reference
- Wikipedia: Rich Text Format ↗
Software that uses it
Also written by DramaQueen, Google Docs (for screenwriting), Hollywood Screenwriter, Microsoft Word (for screenwriting), Montage, Scrivener, Trelby, WriterDuet.
What it carries
- paragraph styles that name screenplay elements in most writing-tool exports
- bold, italic and underline runs, document info (title, author)
- imports from nearly every word processor and dead screenwriting app that ever exported RTF
What it can't represent
- unstyled RTF falls back to layout heuristics (uppercase cues, indentation)
- positioning-only RTF exports lose element types on the way out
Where it came from
Rich Text Format was created by Microsoft in 1987 as a document exchange format; the final specification (1.9.1) landed in 2008 and was never updated, but nearly every discontinued screenwriting application could export it.