How to open a .txt file?

TXT files can be opened by most office suites and text editors. You can also convert TXT to other formats online using SquishConvert.

How to convert a .txt file?

Upload your .txt file to SquishConvert, select an output format, and click Convert. Your converted file will be ready to download in seconds.

Document format

.txt

Plain Text File

TXT is the simplest document format — pure text with no formatting. It's universally compatible, lightweight, and readable by every operating system and text editor in existence.

MIME type

text/plain

Developer

N/A (universal standard)

Introduced

1960s

Advantages

Universal compatibility — works everywhere
Tiny file sizes
No formatting issues or version problems
Human-readable and machine-parseable

Limitations

No formatting, images, or styling
No structure beyond line breaks
No metadata or document properties
Not suitable for professional documents

When to use TXT

Configuration files and logs

Quick notes and drafts

Data exchange between systems

README files and documentation

Technical details

TXT files contain raw character data encoded in UTF-8, ASCII, or other character encodings. There is no header, metadata, or structural markup — just bytes representing characters.