All about OTT files

OTT stands for OpenDocument Text Template and is the template format for text documents in the OpenDocument standard. OTT files are used by LibreOffice Writer (and OpenOffice Writer) to save formatting templates, page layouts, and styles as templates. When an OTT file is opened, a new, untitled document is automatically created, and the template itself remains unedited.

Technically, OTT is a ZIP archive containing XML files, and its structure complies with the specifications of the OASIS OpenDocument Format (ODF), which has been standardized since 2006 (ISO/IEC 26300). Microsoft Word has been able to open OTT files since version 2013, but does not treat them as templates.

Many OTT files are also saved "by mistake" as such and confused with ODT files.

Last updated on 24. March 2026 by Sören with the experience of more than 128,058,417 converted files since 2013.