18 Best PDF to ODT Converters in 2026 (Free and Paid)

PDF to ODT is the conversion for the LibreOffice / OpenOffice ecosystem. ODT is the OpenDocument Text format used by LibreOffice Writer, OpenOffice, and several government / academic systems that mandate open document standards. Converting PDF to ODT lets you edit the content in Writer with proper structure (paragraphs, headings, tables) rather than treating the PDF as flat text. This guide compares 18 PDF to ODT converters in 2026.

How to Convert is listed first because it is made by the same indie developer who writes this blog. PDF → ODT has the same fundamental challenge as PDF → DOCX or PDF → PPTX — reconstructing structured content from a print-layout source.

Quick Picks for PDF → ODT

• Best: LibreOffice Writer itself — open the PDF in Draw, copy content into Writer.
• Best CLI: LibreOffice headless mode, or Pandoc.
• Best for scanned PDFs: a tool with OCR (Adobe Acrobat, ABBYY FineReader).
• One-shot: How to Convert.

One-shot: PDF to ODT converter.

1. How to Convert

Drop PDFs in, pick ODT, hit convert. Uses LibreOffice headless under the hood. Local.

Pricing

• One-time license; free trial.

2. LibreOffice (CLI + GUI)

Best free option. CLI:

libreoffice --headless --infilter="writer_pdf_import" --convert-to odt input.pdf

GUI: open PDF in Draw (which keeps layout fidelity), then File → Send → Outline to Writer for editable text.

Pricing

• Free, open source.

3. Pandoc

pandoc input.pdf -o output.odt

Best for clean text content; struggles with complex layout PDFs.

Pricing

• Free, open source.

4. Adobe Acrobat Pro

Export to Word DOCX, then open in Writer and Save As ODT. Best OCR for scanned PDFs.

Pricing

• Subscription.

5. ABBYY FineReader

Best OCR engine on the market. Exports to ODT directly. Right for scanned documents or PDFs of physical books.

Pricing

• Paid.

6. PDF24

Free Windows toolkit with PDF → ODT via LibreOffice backend.

Pricing

• Free for personal use.

7. CloudConvert

Web PDF → ODT.

Pricing

• Free tier; paid above.

8. Convertio

Web PDF → ODT.

Pricing

• Free with caps; paid above.

9. Zamzar

Long-running web converter.

Pricing

• Free with daily limits; paid above.

10. Online-Convert

Web converter.

Pricing

• Free with limits; paid above.

11. FreeConvert

Web converter.

Pricing

• Free with caps; paid above.

12. Smallpdf

Limited ODT support; better to convert PDF → DOCX → ODT.

Pricing

• Free with daily limits; paid above.

13. iLovePDF

PDF → DOCX is offered; open the DOCX in Writer and Save As ODT.

Pricing

• Free with limits; paid above.

14. Foxit PDF Editor

Acrobat alternative. Exports to DOCX; open in Writer and save as ODT.

Pricing

• Subscription or perpetual.

15. Nitro PDF

Team Adobe alternative.

Pricing

• Subscription.

16. PDFelement

Wondershare's PDF editor.

Pricing

• Paid.

17. PDF Expert (Mac)

Mac-native; exports to DOCX which you then save as ODT.

Pricing

• Subscription or one-time.

18. Google Docs (DOCX intermediate)

Upload PDF to Drive, open in Docs, download as DOCX, then open in Writer and save as ODT.

Pricing

• Free with Google account.

How to Choose

• Free, direct: LibreOffice or How to Convert.
• Scanned PDF: Acrobat or ABBYY FineReader for OCR.
• Batch: LibreOffice headless.
• Clean text content: Pandoc.

Final Thoughts

PDF → ODT is most useful in the LibreOffice ecosystem and for institutions that mandate open document formats. LibreOffice itself handles the conversion best because it understands its own format. For scanned PDFs, OCR matters more than the converter — pair Acrobat or ABBYY with LibreOffice. For sensitive documents, stay local.