What happens when you convert PDF to TXT
- The text layer of each page is extracted in order, with a blank line between pages.
- Scanned PDFs are pictures of pages and have no text layer, so they give no text. Use JPG to TXT on an image of the page to read it with OCR instead.
How to convert PDF to TXT online
- Press "Choose PDF files" and select one or more files, or drag them onto the box. You can add files of any size your device can hold in memory.
- There are no settings to choose: the converter keeps everything the target format can hold.
- Press "Convert to TXT". A small document library loads the first time; documents then convert in a second or two.
- Save each TXT with its download button. Close the tab and every trace of the files is gone from memory.
Why convert PDF to TXT?
PDF files usually come from documents, forms, invoices and print-ready files. People convert them to TXT because plain text opens everywhere and is easy to search, copy, edit and paste into other tools.
In short, PDF is good at what it was made for, and TXT is the more practical choice when the file has to open, upload or print somewhere else. PDF opens in every browser's built-in viewer, while TXT opens in every browser, text editor and phone.
How to convert PDF to TXT on Windows, Mac, iPhone and Android
On Windows
Open this page in Chrome, Edge or Firefox, drag your PDF files in from File Explorer, and press Convert. Each TXT is saved to your Downloads folder.
On a Mac
Safari, Chrome and Firefox all work. Drag the PDF files from Finder onto the drop zone and the TXT files land in Downloads.
On iPhone and iPad
Open the page in Safari and tap Choose PDF files. You can pick from Photos or from the Files app. The converted TXT appears in Files, in the Downloads folder.
On Android
Open the page in Chrome, tap Choose PDF files and pick them from Files or your gallery. The TXT is saved to the Download folder, where any file manager can find it.
Best settings for PDF to TXT
There are no settings: the PDF is read and written as UTF-8 plain text.
For a scanned PDF, convert a page to JPG first and then use JPG to TXT, which reads the text with OCR.
PDF vs TXT: the differences
| TXT | ||
|---|---|---|
| Full name | Portable Document Format | Plain text |
| Type | document | document |
| Created by | Adobe | no single author |
| First released | 1993 | 1963 |
| Compression | Lossy or lossless | Lossless |
| Transparency | No | n/a |
| Animation | No | n/a |
| Vector or raster | Vector | n/a |
| Colour | any colour, pages can mix text, vectors and images | n/a |
| What it holds | any colour, pages can mix text, vectors and images | characters only, with no formatting |
| In a browser | opens in every browser's built-in viewer | opens in every browser, text editor and phone |
| Common uses | documents, forms, invoices and print-ready files | notes, logs, extracted text and anything that must open everywhere |
| MIME type | application/pdf | text/plain |
About PDF and TXT files
What is a PDF file?
A PDF fixes the layout of every page so it looks the same on any device. Converting a PDF to an image renders each page to pixels; converting an image to PDF wraps it as a page.
What is a TXT file?
A TXT file holds nothing but characters: no fonts, images or layout. Modern text files are usually UTF-8, which covers every language.
PDF to TXT not working? Common problems
- The result is empty. For PDFs, this means the pages are images without a text layer; use OCR through JPG to TXT instead.
- Some formatting is missing. Plain text and simple HTML have no place for page layout, fonts or colours; only structure and words are kept.
- Characters show as boxes in the PDF. The embedded font does not cover that script, such as Chinese or Hindi.
Convert PDF to TXT from the command line
The pdftotext tool from Poppler extracts the text layer:
pdftotext -layout input.pdf output.txtThe converter on this page does the same job in your browser, without installing anything.
PDF to TXT converter FAQ
Will I lose quality converting PDF to TXT?
The words are kept; formatting, images and layout are not, because plain text has none.
Why is the TXT a different size from the PDF?
Plain text and simple HTML contain only words and tags, so the result is usually much smaller than the original.
Are my PDF files uploaded anywhere?
No. The conversion runs inside this browser tab using open-source document libraries (mammoth.js, PDF.js and pdf-lib), so your files stay on your device. You can disconnect from the internet after the page and converter engine have loaded and it still works.
Can I convert several PDF files to TXT at once?
Yes. Select or drop as many files as you like; they are converted one after another and each gets its own download button.
How do I open a TXT file?
TXT opens in every browser, text editor and phone. TXT is common for notes, logs, extracted text and anything that must open everywhere.
Is this PDF to TXT converter free?
Yes. There is no sign-up, no watermark and no limit on how many files you convert. The site is paid for by advertising, and because conversions run on your device there is no server cost per file.
Can I convert PDF to TXT on my phone?
Yes. The converter works in Safari on iPhone and iPad and in Chrome on Android. Converted files are saved to the Downloads folder.