.RTF File Format – Header

Order

<header> = \rtf <charset> \deff? <fonttbl> <filetbl>? <colortbl>? <stylesheet>? <listtables>? <revtbl>?

The tables that are present come in this order. Document properties may come before and between them. Anything must be defined before it is used: the style sheet before any style is applied, the font table before any font is named, and \deff before any text that has no font of its own.

Version and character set

The character set word must come before any text or table control word. All RTF files must declare one of the four, even when every font sets its own character set, so that old readers still work. The Unicode escapes \u, \uc, \upr and \ud are described with the syntax.

Font table

The font table is a destination, {\fonttbl …}, with one entry per font, each ending in a semicolon and usually in its own braces. Text selects a font with \fN, the number given to the entry here.

<fonttbl>      = '{' \fonttbl (<fontinfo> | ('{' <fontinfo> '}'))+ '}'
<fontinfo>     = <fontnum> <fontfamily> <fcharset>? <fprq>? <panose>? <nontaggedname>?
                 <fontemb>? <codepage>? <fontname> <fontaltname>? ';'
<fontnum>      = \f
<fontfamily>   = \fnil | \froman | \fswiss | \fmodern | \fscript | \fdecor | \ftech | \fbidi
<fcharset>     = \fcharset
<fprq>         = \fprq
<panose>       = <data>
<nontaggedname> = \*\fname
<fontname>     = #PCDATA
<fontaltname>  = '{\*' \falt #PCDATA '}'
<fontemb>      = '{\*' \fontemb <fonttype> <fontfname>? <data>? '}'
<fonttype>     = \ftnil | \fttruetype
<fontfname>    = '{\*' \fontfile <codepage>? #PCDATA '}'
<codepage>     = \cpg

The table may list fonts the document does not use.

Font entry control words

Font families

The family lets a reader pick a similar font when the named one is missing. The specification’s index also lists a font table flag \fetch, not described anywhere; it is probably a misprint of \ftech.

Character set codes

The values of \fcharset are the Windows LOGFONT character set numbers. Each implies a code page, given here for reading \'hh bytes in that font; the code page column is the usual Windows mapping, not part of the RTF table.

The 1.6 specification lists exactly these. Later versions add more Macintosh values (78 and up); they are not listed here because the later specifications are only published as Word documents, which this site has not checked.

Code pages

Values of \cpgN and \ansicpgN listed in the specification:

A font can use another character set than the document: the Symbol font, for example, has the same characters in the same places on Windows and the Macintosh.

File table

The file table lists other files the document refers to. Word writes it only when a master document has subdocuments, which the text includes with \subdocumentN.

<filetbl>   = '{\*' \filetbl ('{' <fileinfo> '}')+ '}'
<fileinfo>  = \file <filenum> <relpath>? <osnum>? <filesource>+ <file name>
<filenum>   = \fid
<relpath>   = \frelative
<osnum>     = \fosnum
<filesource> = \fvalidmac | \fvaliddos | \fvalidntfs | \fvalidhpfs | \fnetwork
<file name> = #PCDATA

Colour table

<colortbl> = '{' \colortbl <colordef>+ '}'
<colordef> = \red? & \green? & \blue? ';'

Every entry ends in a semicolon, even an empty one; an empty entry means the reader’s default colour. Entries are numbered from 0 in order, and text, borders, shading and highlighting refer to them by number (\cfN, \cbN, \brdrcfN and so on). Word leaves entry 0 empty, which makes colour 0 the “auto” colour. Word’s default table, as printed in the specification:

{\colortbl;\red0\green0\blue0;\red0\green0\blue255;\red0\green255\blue255;
\red0\green255\blue0;\red255\green0\blue255;\red255\green0\blue0;\red255\green255\blue0;
\red255\green255\blue255;\red0\green0\blue128;\red0\green128\blue128;
\red0\green128\blue0;\red128\green0\blue128;\red128\green0\blue0;
\red128\green128\blue0;\red128\green128\blue128;\red192\green192\blue192;}

That is auto, then black, blue, cyan, green, magenta, red, yellow, white, dark blue, dark cyan, dark green, dark magenta, dark red, dark yellow, dark grey and light grey, numbered 0 to 16. A reader that does not show colour ignores the table.

Style sheet

A style is a named set of character, paragraph or section formatting. The style sheet defines them, and the text applies one with \sN, \csN or \dsN.

<stylesheet> = '{' \stylesheet <style>+ '}'
<style>      = '{' <styledef>? <keycode>? <formatting> <additive>? <based>? <next>?
               <autoupd>? <hidden>? <personal>? <compose>? <reply>? <stylename>? ';' '}'
<styledef>   = \s | \*\cs | \ds
<keycode>    = '{' \keycode <keys> '}'
<keys>       = (\shift? & \ctrl? & \alt?) <key>
<key>        = \fn | #PCDATA
<formatting> = (<brdrdef> | <parfmt> | <apoctl> | <tabdef> | <shading> | <chrfmt>)+
<stylename>  = #PCDATA

With no style word the entry is paragraph style 0. Word for the Macintosh reads commas in the name as separating alternative names. A <key> is exactly one character.

Word writes a style’s formatting again after the style number wherever the style is used, so that readers that do not apply styles still get the formatting, and so that extra formatting can be added on top. A reader should not rely on the style number alone. An example from the specification:

{\stylesheet{\ql \li0\ri0\widctlpar\aspalpha\aspnum\faauto\adjustright\rin0\lin0\itap0
\fs24\lang1033\langfe1033\cgrid\langnp1033\langfenp1033 \snext0 Normal;}
{\*\cs10 \additive Default Paragraph Font;}
{\*\cs15 \additive \b\ul\cf6 \sbasedon10 UNDERLINE;}
{\s16\qc \li0\ri0\widctlpar\aspalpha\aspnum\faauto\adjustright\rin0\lin0\itap0
\b\fs24\cf2\lang1033\langfe1033\cgrid\langnp1033\langfenp1033 \sbasedon0 \snext16 \sautoupd CENTER;}}

Revision table

A revision conflict, such as one author deleting another’s insertion, is stored in one group as the current author’s name, a zero byte, a byte giving the length of the previous author’s name, that name, a zero byte and the time of the previous revision. The four bytes of the time are written as characters, with values above 127 as \'hh.

Date and time (DTTM)

Revision times are 32-bit DTTM values, written as a long integer, for example in \revdttmN. The bits are:

For example 13:45 on Thursday 12 November 2026 is minute 45, hour 13, day 12, month 11, year 126 and weekday 4: 45 + 13×64 + 12×2,048 + 11×65,536 + 126×1,048,576 + 4×536,870,912 = 2,280,350,573. That is above 2³¹, so as a signed 32-bit number it is written \revdttm-2014616723.