How to Convert RTF to TIFF Using Python

Converting Rich Text Format (RTF) files to Tagged Image File Format (TIFF) can be useful for archiving, printing, or processing documents as images. Python makes this task straightforward with the right libraries. In this guide, we'll use the Pillow module, a popular Python imaging library, to achieve this conversion.

Prerequisites

Before proceeding, ensure you have the following installed:

Python 3.6 or later
The Pillow library (for image processing)
The pyth library (for RTF parsing, optional)

Install the required libraries using pip:

pip install Pillow pyth

Step-by-Step Conversion Process

1. Read the RTF File

First, we need to extract text or formatting from the RTF file. While Pillow doesn't directly handle RTF, we can use the pyth library to parse RTF content.

from pyth.plugins.rtf15.reader import Rtf15Reader
from pyth.plugins.plaintext.writer import PlaintextWriter

def read_rtf(file_path):
    with open(file_path, 'rb') as file:
        doc = Rtf15Reader.read(file)
    return PlaintextWriter.write(doc).getvalue()

2. Convert Text to an Image

Once the RTF content is extracted as plain text, we can render it as an image using Pillow.

from PIL import Image, ImageDraw, ImageFont

def text_to_image(text, output_path, font_size=12):
    # Create a blank image with white background
    font = ImageFont.load_default()
    width, height = 800, 600  # Adjust as needed
    image = Image.new('RGB', (width, height), color='white')
    draw = ImageDraw.Draw(image)
    
    # Draw the text
    draw.text((10, 10), text, font=font, fill='black')
    
    # Save as TIFF
    image.save(output_path, format='TIFF')

3. Combine Both Steps

Now, let's combine the RTF reading and image conversion into a single function:

def rtf_to_tiff(rtf_path, tiff_path):
    text = read_rtf(rtf_path)
    text_to_image(text, tiff_path)

Testing the Conversion

To test the script, create an RTF file (e.g., sample.rtf) and run:

rtf_to_tiff('sample.rtf', 'output.tiff')

This will generate a TIFF file containing the text from your RTF document.

Alternative Approach: Using External Tools

If you need more advanced RTF formatting (e.g., tables, images), consider converting RTF to PDF first (using tools like LibreOffice in headless mode), then converting the PDF to TIFF with Python.

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