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The document will go back and forth. Plan for the round trip.

ODT is usually requested by someone on LibreOffice, a school, or a public body that requires open formats. Then they edit it and send it back, and it's converted to Word again. Slide to see how each part of a document holds up after several trips.

report.docxarrow_forward.odtarrow_forward.docxarrow_forward.odtarrow_forward.docxarrow_forward

round trips2 round trips

document contains

check_boxText and stylescheck_boxSimple tablescheck_boxImagescheck_boxTable of contentscheck_boxTracked changescheck_boxCommentscheck_box_outline_blankWord fieldscheck_box_outline_blankSmartArt and charts

change_circleAfter 2 trips, check images and table of contents and 2 more before sending.

unchanged2slightly different4broken or lost0

after tripODT×1×2×3×4×5

Text and stylesHeadings, bold, listscheckcheckcheckmore_horizmore_horizmore_horiz

Simple tablesborders, merged cellscheckcheckcheckmore_horizmore_horizmore_horiz

Imagesplaced inline or wrappedcheckremoveremovemore_horizmore_horizmore_horiz

Table of contentsgenerated from headingscheckcheckremovemore_horizmore_horizmore_horiz

Tracked changesinsertions and deletionscheckremoveremovemore_horizmore_horizmore_horiz

Commentsmargin notes and repliescheckcheckremovemore_horizmore_horizmore_horiz

Word fieldsdates, page X of Y, cross-referencescheckremoveclosemore_horizmore_horizmore_horiz

SmartArt and chartsWord-only graphicscheckcloseclosemore_horizmore_horizmore_horiz

unchangedslightly differentbroken or lost

1 · your file

folder_openOpen filedescriptionSample .docx

The converter engine (doc-engine.js) failed to load: Failed to fetch dynamically imported module: http://127.0.0.1:9777/js/main/general/doc-engine.jsDrop any of 17 readable formats here: Word, ODT, RTF, AbiWord, KWord, StarOffice, EPUB, DocBook, XPS, HTML, Markdown, CSV or text. The format is read from the bytes, not the name.

2 · convert to

.pdfshare, print.docxedit in Word.odtLibreOffice.epube-readers.mdREADMEs.txtwords only

searchAll 28 formats · 14 written hereexpand_more

A4Letter

PDF 1.7 with the standard 14 fonts (nothing embedded), lines wrapped with Helvetica metrics, link annotations.

swap_horizConvert to .pdf

What survives waiting for a file

partin sourceread backstatus

text_fieldsWords---

titleHeadings---

format_list_bulletedList items---

tableTables · cells---

format_boldBold runs---

format_italicItalic runs---

linkLinks---

imageImages---

rate_reviewComments---

translateCharacters---

Open a document or the sample. The table fills in from the file itself; after converting, the output is read back and counted again.

~/one-document-ten-outputs

What each format does to your document.

We converted one source document into every major output format and measured the file that came out. The source was a 37.4 KB DOCX with headings, bold and italic text, a table, numbered and bulleted lists, and one embedded image.

289%PDF, the largest output

166%RTF, bloated but portable

3%Markdown and TXT, image dropped

formattypeoutput size · vs 37.4 KB sourcelayoutkeepsverdict

.docxEditable37.4 KB · 100%ReflowsEverythingThe editing default

.docEditable51 KB · 136%ReflowsEverythingLegacy, larger than DOCX

.odtEditable33.5 KB · 90%ReflowsEverythingOpen standard, smallest office format

.rtfEditable62.1 KB · 166%ReflowsText, styling, tablesVery portable but bloated

.pdfFixed108 KB · 289%ExactExact appearanceFor sharing and printing, not editing

.epubReflowable31.3 KB · 84%Adapts to screenText, styling, imagesFor e-readers

.htmlMarkup1.5 KB · 4%ReflowsText, styling, tablesOpens in any browser

.mdPlain text1.2 KB · 3%ReflowsText, basic stylingSmallest, great for docs and notes

.txtPlain text1.1 KB · 3%NoneText onlyUniversal, but drops all formatting

.dbkMarkup3.5 KB · 9%StructuredText, structureTechnical documentation only

Plain text is tiny because the image goesMarkdown and TXT both came out at 3% of the source, against 100% for DOCX: the embedded image is the bulk of the file, and neither format can hold it.

PDF pays for a fixed pageAt 289% of the source, PDF was the largest output. That is the cost of fixing the layout, fonts and image into a page that looks identical everywhere.

RTF is the surpriseIt keeps formatting but grew to 166% of the DOCX, so it is only worth using when the receiving program cannot read anything better.

Sizes are from one representative document converted with Pandoc and LibreOffice. Your own files will differ, especially with more images, but the relative ordering holds.

~/is-your-pdf-really-text

Why PDF to Word is the hard direction.

A PDF has no paragraphs. It stores “draw these glyphs at x, y in this font”, often one word or one line at a time, and a scanned page stores only a picture. Drop any PDF to see which kind you have and what its page instructions look like.

picture_as_pdfInspect a PDFText PDF sampleScanned PDF sample

Nothing inspected yet. The two samples are written here: one with real text, one that is only a JPEG of a page.

~/same-idea-different-words

Both are ZIPs of XML. They just describe things differently.

DOCX and ODT are built the same way, but name everything differently. Converting means translating each idea. Simple ones map one-to-one; others have no exact match, which is where the drift above comes from. Pick one to compare.

Paragraph with a styleA tracked insertionA date fieldSmartArt diagram

Word · document.xml

<w:ins w:author="Sam" w:date="2026-09-29T10:00"> <w:r><w:t>new clause</w:t></w:r></w:ins>

LibreOffice · content.xml

<text:changed-region text:id="ct1"> <text:insertion> … </text:insertion></text:changed-region><text:change-start text:change-id="ct1"/>

change_circleBoth record changes, but in different shapes. Simple insertions survive; changes to formatting or tables are often accepted silently on conversion.

~/who-requires-odt

Why someone asked you for ODT.

ODT is an international standard that no single company controls. That's why some organisations require it, and why it's worth sending them the format they asked for.

account_balancePublic bodiesSeveral governments, including the UK for sharing documents, set ODF as their standard for editable files.send ODT, keep a DOCX copy

schoolSchools and universitiesMany run LibreOffice on shared computers to avoid licence costs.check the file opens before submitting

volunteer_activismCharities and co-opsOpen formats mean anyone can open the files, free, for decades.avoid Word-only features

desktop_windowsLinux usersLibreOffice is the default office suite on most Linux systems.ODT is their native format

~/other-routes

The way back, and a safer alternative.

If nobody needs to edit it, a PDF avoids round-trip drift entirely.

swap_horizODT to DOCXWhen the edited file comes back for Word.report.odtarrow_forward.docx picture_as_pdfWord to PDFFor anything that only needs to be read or printed.report.docxarrow_forward.pdf descriptionDocument converterEvery word-processor format in one place.letter.rtfarrow_forward.odt

Sources

[1]OpenDocument (ODF) 1.3The open standard behind ODT.OASIS ↗[2]Open standards for government documentsThe UK’s policy on ODF.GOV.UK ↗[3]Microsoft Word and ODFWhich features differ between the formats.Microsoft Support ↗