What is "Rich Text Format (rtf)?"

Rich Text Format is a generic file format that allows the file to be opened (and edited!) in just about any word processing program.  You can easily identify this file format by its .rtf ending.  If you click on the "RichTextFormat" links on my website, your preferred word processing program will open the file.  You can edit it, then save it anywhere on your computer with whatever file name you choose -- just go to "save as" in your word processor.  This is a great option for things like worksheets.  

It used to be that 'text,' the .txt file format, was the only one that could be opened in a large number of word processing programs.  The problem though is that a lot of the formatting in the file gets lost.  The .txt file format doesn't support things like fonts and tables.