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Topic: RTF vs DOC (Read 11068 times) previous topic - next topic
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RTF vs DOC

Hi, I search for info about comparing these two formats, Now I know that:

1) RTF can be read on many platforms, using many programs (including Wordpad). DOC not. DOC saved with newer version of Word is unreadable on older one.

2) RTF is loading faster in Word

3) Uncompressed RTF is slightly larger than uncompressed DOC file in some cases

4) bzip2`ed RTF compressed file is smaller than bzip2`ed DOC file

5) there are no macroviruses for RTF - RTF is more secure

6) RTF does not contain hidden, possibly private, data, DOC contains!

7) RTF is open - everyone can read specification (is it true?)

8) DOC has more features like text areas etc.

Anyone know more info about comparsion? Any comments?

RTF vs DOC

Reply #1 –
personally I prefer the .SXW format that OpenOffice uses, and that works on Solaris/*nix/windows/Macintosh

RTF vs DOC

Reply #2 –
The bottom line is that you must use DOC because everyone else is.  A friend of mine is an editor at O'Reilly and even they exchange documents in DOC format.  I know it's pathetic and downright vulgar, but it's true.
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RTF vs DOC

Reply #3 –
I have MS Word XP installed for one reason only - easy table creation that is sorely lacking in OpenOoffice still and for my custom CD-inserts that use said tables.

I do almost everything else in OpenOffice and a small bit in WordPerect.

edit: repeated word

RTF vs DOC

Reply #4 –
Quote
The bottom line is that you must use DOC because everyone else is.  A friend of mine is an editor at O'Reilly and even they exchange documents in DOC format.  I know it's pathetic and downright vulgar, but it's true.

Ahem, but you can make your document in Worxd and save as RTF, especially if you publish your document...

RTF vs DOC

Reply #5 –
You should open an RTF with notepad, this might give you a better understanding of the format (it's plain-text with some formatting tags). Basically you can compare RTF to HTML, although HTML can probably do a lot more (at least in combination with CSS). It's even possible to write RTF files yourself in notepad, you just need to know the right tags.
Compared to MS's DOC RTF is much simpler and has less features (not all formatting possible with Word can be saved to RTF). On the other hand it's much more widely supported and a much more open format. For things like a simple letter or article RTF is excellent, if you want to use all kinds of complicated formatting RTF probably doesn't suffice (the formatting will be partially lost).