Document

What is a .rft file?

A .rft file is an IBM DisplayWrite Revisable Form Text File. This is a document format, so it holds text and layout meant to be read. Confusingly, this extension has been used by 7 different formats over the years — they're all listed below.

This extension has been used by more than one format

7 different formats have claimed .rft over the years, so two files with the same extension aren't necessarily the same kind of thing.

How to open a .rft file

Try LibreOffice (free, Windows/Mac/Linux) — it opens an enormous range of current and historic document formats.
Microsoft Word and Google Docs handle most mainstream document types.
If nothing opens it, open it in a text editor: many older document formats have readable text inside.

The registry records this extension against IBM DisplayWrite Revisable Form Text File, Revit Family Template, Autodesk Revit File and others, so software from that family is the most likely match.

How to convert a .rft file

Once it opens in LibreOffice or Word, Save As .docx or .pdf to get it into a format you can use anywhere.

MIME type

When a .rft file travels over the web, servers label it with this MIME type:

application/octet-stream

What's a MIME type?

The technical record

For archivists, developers and the merely curious: these are the PRONOM registry entries for .rft.