OXT Files Explained: How It Works and Key Features

This article explains what an OXT file is and how to use it on your computer.

What Are OXT Files?

Files with the OXT extension are Apache OpenOffice files, which add features to OpenOffice applications, such as the Writer word processor, Calc spreadsheet program, and Impress presentation software.

You can download OXT files from the Apache OpenOffice Extensions site.

How to Open OXT Files

OpenOffice can open OXT files through the built-in Extension Manager tool. For v2.2 and above, you just need to double-click the OXT file to install.

If not, see our guide on how to install and use the OpenOffice extension to learn how to manually install OXT files in OpenOffice. In short, you need to go to Tools > Extension Manager > Add.

Tip: Extension Manager is also where you update, disable, or delete extensions.

OpenOffice can open OXT files directly but it also supports loading extensions from ZIP files. This means you don't necessarily need to extract the file from the archive if that's how the file was downloaded. OpenOffice can also open files ending with the UNO.PKG extension.

That means, some OXT files are downloaded in ZIP or other archives because they include more information or other files that you need to do something about. For example, some ZIP files have "Help me" PDF documents, fonts, and other related data included.

OXT files will also work with LibreOffice and NeoOffice.

How to Convert OXT Files

It is unlikely that there are any converters that can convert OXT files to other file formats as it is mainly intended for Office suites such as OpenOffice. Other programs use their own file formats for extensions (for example, XPI for Mozilla products).

Still Can't Open the File?

The OXT file extension is spelled very similarly to some other extensions, such as POTX, making them easily confused with each other. This is the main reason why files cannot be opened with OpenOffice's Extension Manager tool, because it is not a compatible tool.

 If you closely examine the file extension and see that it actually reads .ODT instead of .OXT, then what you actually have is a text document that can only be opened with a word processor.

OTX is another format that looks a lot like OXT, but actually belongs to a file format called "theWord Encrypted Old Testament Text Module". OTX files store an encrypted copy of the Bible Old Testament for use with a program called theWord.

If you're not sure, make sure to check the extension of the file you need to open. If it's not an OXT file, research the file extension on Google to see if you can find a program that can open or convert the file.