---
id: rtfunicode
version: "2.3"
license: BSD-2-Clause
license_treatment: permissive
maintenance: active
---

# rtfunicode — Encoder for unicode to RTF 1.5 command sequences

License: permissive · Maintenance: active · Downloads: 134.0K/mo

## What it is and what it does

rtfunicode is a codec module that bridges Unicode and RTF by converting Unicode strings into valid RTF 1.5 command sequences. When imported, it registers a new codec that allows you to call `.encode('rtfunicode')` on any Unicode string, transforming international characters into RTF escape codes of the form `\uN?`, where N is a signed 16-bit integer and ? is a placeholder character for older RTF readers.

The package is lightweight with no external dependencies and is designed for developers who need to generate RTF documents containing non-ASCII characters. It has been maintained since 2012 and currently requires Python 3.10 or newer. The implementation is straightforward: it converts each Unicode character to its RTF command equivalent, making it useful for applications that export text data to RTF format while preserving international characters.

Use it for:

- Export Unicode text to RTF documents with proper international character encoding for word processors.
- Generate RTF reports or templates containing non-ASCII characters from Python applications.
- Convert user-supplied Unicode strings to RTF-compatible bytecode in document generation pipelines.
- Ensure backward compatibility with older RTF readers by encoding Unicode as RTF escape sequences.

## Worth the install?

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

Encodes Unicode strings to RTF 1.5 command sequences, registering a codec that converts Unicode characters into valid RTF bytecode for international character support.

Yes. The package is lightweight, actively maintained, has no dependencies, and solves a specific problem with a clean API. It carries permissive licensing and no known vulnerabilities. Install it if you need to generate RTF output with international characters; skip it if you don't work with RTF.

## Install

pip install rtfunicode
uv add rtfunicode
poetry add rtfunicode

## Installing rtfunicode

Before you install: Low install friction with no runtime dependencies. Actively maintained with recent commits and a stable release history since 2012; last release was 2026-01-17.

License in practice: BSD-2-Clause is permissive, allowing commercial and private use with minimal restrictions; attribution and license text preservation are required.

Quickstart:

import rtfunicode
'RTF and unicode mix just fine! \u263A'.encode('rtfunicode')

Requires Python 3.10 or newer.

Verify before relying:

- Whether the codec handles all Unicode planes or only the Basic Multilingual Plane (BMP) via 16-bit signed integers.
- Performance characteristics when encoding large documents or streams with many non-ASCII characters.

## Package facts

- License: BSD-2-Clause (permissive)
- Python support: supports_current
- Install friction: low
- Maintenance: active
- Downloads: 134.0K/month (top 15,000 on PyPI)
- Known vulnerabilities: none known

## Tags

unicode to rtf encoding, rtf codec python, international characters rtf, unicode rtf conversion, rtf command sequences, rtf bytecode encoder, rtf-export, unicode-codec, text-encoding

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