.txt File — Plain Text File

TXT files are the simplest form of digital documents, containing only unformatted text characters with no styling, fonts, images, or structural markup. They typically use ASCII, UTF-8, or other character encodings to represent text. The format has existed since the earliest days of computing and remains universally supported by virtually every operating system, text editor, and programming language. TXT files are used for README files, configuration notes, log output, data exchange, and any context where simplicity and universal readability are paramount. Because they contain no executable code or macros, plain text files are inherently safe from malware. Line endings vary by platform — Windows uses CR+LF, Unix/Linux uses LF, and classic Mac OS used CR. Despite their simplicity, plain text files are the foundation of computing — source code, configuration files, and many data formats are essentially structured plain text with specific naming conventions and syntax rules.