---
id: pyth3
version: "0.7"
license: unclear
license_treatment: permissive
maintenance: abandoned
---

# pyth3 — Python text markup and conversion

License: permissive · Maintenance: abandoned · Downloads: 3.6M/mo

## What it is and what it does

Pyth3 is a Python 3 port of an older text conversion library designed to move marked-up documents between common formats. It handles basic document structures—paragraphs, headings, bold/italic/underline, links, bullet lists, and simple tables—while intentionally ignoring layout details, fonts, and specific text sizes. The library uses a plugin architecture to support different input and output formats.

The port is incomplete and partially broken. Only three components are confirmed working on Python 3: reading RTF files, writing XHTML, and writing plain text. The package has been abandoned since its single release in February 2019, with no maintenance or updates since. If you need RTF-to-HTML or RTF-to-plain-text conversion and can tolerate a dormant codebase, it may work; for other format combinations or Python 3 features beyond basic text handling, expect to debug or fork the code yourself.

Use it for:

- Convert RTF documents from Microsoft Word or Wordpad to HTML for web publishing.
- Extract plain text from RTF files while preserving basic formatting like bold and italic.
- Build a document pipeline that reads RTF and outputs XHTML for further processing.
- Migrate legacy Python 2 text-processing code that relied on the original library.

## Worth the install?

AI-flagged interpretation of the facts above — verify before relying.

Converts marked-up text between formats including plain text, XHTML, RTF, and PDF, preserving basic structure like paragraphs, headings, lists, and simple tables.

No, unless you have a very specific need for RTF-to-XHTML or RTF-to-plain-text conversion and cannot use maintained alternatives. The package is abandoned, incomplete on Python 3, and most functionality is broken or untested. The maintainers explicitly warn that many tests fail and most components will not work without significant porting effort.

## Install

pip install pyth3
uv add pyth3
poetry add pyth3

## Installing pyth3

Before you install: Package is abandoned as of 2019 with no updates since release. Python 3 migration is incomplete—only RTF reading, XHTML writing, and plain text writing are debugged; other components remain broken or untested on Python 3.

License in practice: Licensed under MIT (permissive), allowing commercial and private use with minimal restrictions.

Quickstart:

pip install pyth3

from pyth3 import read_rtf, write_xhtml

with open('document.rtf', 'rb') as f:
    doc = read_rtf(f)
    html = write_xhtml(doc)

Only RTF reading, XHTML writing, and plain text writing are functional on Python 3; other format support is broken or untested.

Verify before relying:

- Whether PDF output actually works on Python 3 (reportlab dependency declared but functionality status unclear).
- Current state of LatexWriter and other undocumented plugins on Python 3.
- Whether the package will receive any maintenance or security updates in the future.
- Exact API signatures and import paths for all working format readers and writers.

## Package facts

- License: not declared (permissive)
- Python support: unspecified
- Install friction: low
- Maintenance: abandoned
- Downloads: 3.6M/month (top 5,000 on PyPI)
- Known vulnerabilities: none known

## Tags

text format conversion, markup to html converter, rtf to plain text, document format conversion, text markup parser, multi-format text converter, rtf xhtml conversion, abandoned, incomplete-python3-port

[View on SkillFed](https://skillfed.io/packages/pyth3) · [View on PyPI](https://pypi.org/project/pyth3/)