TXT

TXT is the simplest computer file format: raw text with no formatting, stored in an encoding such as ASCII or UTF-8. Because every operating system and programming language can read and write plain text, .txt files have been used since the earliest mainframes. The format stores only the characters themselves, so layout, fonts, and images must be handled by the application reading the file.

File extensions	.txt
MIME type	text/plain
Developer	Various (no single author)
First released	1963
Category	Documents
Open standard	Yes

What opens TXT files

• Notepad (Windows)
• TextEdit (macOS)
• Any code editor
• All modern web browsers

Browse File Formats

Reference details for 53 file formats — extensions, MIME types, what opens each one, and how they convert.

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